Sinfulintent
New Member
Gotta say, good job on the rescue, he looks great minus the issues you've stated. Good luck getting him fixed up!
New veiled chameleon loaded with issues
- Thread starter Alan12013
- Start date
Vet
Good news is once the abscess is removed I think he'll be in tip top shape. This guy managed to live in a smoke filled house, in a fish tank, under a heat lamp with no UVB, no plants besides a couple pieces of drift wood, and no humidity with minimal feeding for most of his life so far I believe. He seems pretty happy and although he doesn't like to be held if I hold my hand in front of him for long enough he'll use my hand to get to another perching spot in his new home. I also talked to a local panther breeder today who recommended a good vet with experience removing and treating abscess' and infections so I will hopefully take "The Dude" to the vet this week. The cost doesn't seem like it's going to be much more than just the visit cost. It was hinted that the cost of antibiotics would be in the 30 dollar range plus how ever much it will cost to remove whatever nasty stuff is inside his head at the moment. His shedding seems to be taking a little longer than I though... He still has skin coming off of his head (the casque or whatever it's called). He absolutely hates when its misting time but I found that if I mist well above where he is at and let the tiny drops form on him on their way down he tolerates it better. I'm going to start a new project of breeding crickets and doing better gut loading this week too since I now have 2 veileds. I wish I could find a local store that had good feeders but I might just break down and start ordering them online.
Good news is once the abscess is removed I think he'll be in tip top shape. This guy managed to live in a smoke filled house, in a fish tank, under a heat lamp with no UVB, no plants besides a couple pieces of drift wood, and no humidity with minimal feeding for most of his life so far I believe. He seems pretty happy and although he doesn't like to be held if I hold my hand in front of him for long enough he'll use my hand to get to another perching spot in his new home. I also talked to a local panther breeder today who recommended a good vet with experience removing and treating abscess' and infections so I will hopefully take "The Dude" to the vet this week. The cost doesn't seem like it's going to be much more than just the visit cost. It was hinted that the cost of antibiotics would be in the 30 dollar range plus how ever much it will cost to remove whatever nasty stuff is inside his head at the moment. His shedding seems to be taking a little longer than I though... He still has skin coming off of his head (the casque or whatever it's called). He absolutely hates when its misting time but I found that if I mist well above where he is at and let the tiny drops form on him on their way down he tolerates it better. I'm going to start a new project of breeding crickets and doing better gut loading this week too since I now have 2 veileds. I wish I could find a local store that had good feeders but I might just break down and start ordering them online.
breathing problem
I think this will go away but he is shedding like I said and there appears to be a bit of dead skin stuck to a nostril. He has never breathed through his mouth but just now after a nice misting he started to puff up his neck then release a "puff" or "Phh" sound like he was forcing the air out. After the puff he will open his mouth and appears to gasp for air. He got so flustered that he almost fell (also in fault of a poorly balanced dowel that is now fixed) and I put him back on a dowel. I also added several new dowels via recommendation and made sure they are all very secure and also added a new basking light. I placed a temp guage where he hangs out and it's only 80, I have a hard time getting temps higher then that in his highly ventilated and large cage. I'm hoping that this is just caused from the excess skin and he isn't having some sort of breathing/ drinking problem. Up until this he has been fine, although I don't ever see him drink unless I give the water to him via a dripper and watch him drink his poop seems very healthy and very hydrated! I mean very healthy and hydrated! Well just a nervous post here, I'm sure it's not a big deal.
I think this will go away but he is shedding like I said and there appears to be a bit of dead skin stuck to a nostril. He has never breathed through his mouth but just now after a nice misting he started to puff up his neck then release a "puff" or "Phh" sound like he was forcing the air out. After the puff he will open his mouth and appears to gasp for air. He got so flustered that he almost fell (also in fault of a poorly balanced dowel that is now fixed) and I put him back on a dowel. I also added several new dowels via recommendation and made sure they are all very secure and also added a new basking light. I placed a temp guage where he hangs out and it's only 80, I have a hard time getting temps higher then that in his highly ventilated and large cage. I'm hoping that this is just caused from the excess skin and he isn't having some sort of breathing/ drinking problem. Up until this he has been fine, although I don't ever see him drink unless I give the water to him via a dripper and watch him drink his poop seems very healthy and very hydrated! I mean very healthy and hydrated! Well just a nervous post here, I'm sure it's not a big deal.
junglefries
Avid Member
Water temp. Read somewhere they don't like cold water. Try keeping their water and/or misting bottle near their cage. Mine seem to like it better, than when i used to bring it out from under the cold bathroom sink. Sometimes they will gape their mouths at you when you mist. Kind of a big middle finger. Doesn't always mean issues.
Thanks! I try to get the most water a little warm so I'll put the gallon of distilled water on top of my house heater.
Well I am at the vets now to get the abscess removed and cleaned. The whole thing plus his antibiotic injections costed 140 which is totally worth it and a lot less than I thought it would be. The vet just brought him in. The bump is smaller but his eyes look a thousand billion times better!!! I can tell from his coloration that he's scared and shook up really bad. There is another cham female veiled for sell with an awesome amount of yellow on her but she has swollen eyes too which might be an infection so I might not get her. Anyway I'm really really glad that his infection is taken care of. Now I just have to buy a darned mist thing so his humidity stays up.
Well I am at the vets now to get the abscess removed and cleaned. The whole thing plus his antibiotic injections costed 140 which is totally worth it and a lot less than I thought it would be. The vet just brought him in. The bump is smaller but his eyes look a thousand billion times better!!! I can tell from his coloration that he's scared and shook up really bad. There is another cham female veiled for sell with an awesome amount of yellow on her but she has swollen eyes too which might be an infection so I might not get her. Anyway I'm really really glad that his infection is taken care of. Now I just have to buy a darned mist thing so his humidity stays up.
Anyone that has administered antibiotics via injections successfully please help me! I almost don't want to do it since I feel that he has became more sad and afraid of me. I have to inject a needle into his arm every 72 hours for quite some time! He bled the first time when the vet did it to show me how. I feel so freaking bad for the guy but I know it will be for the best. I could use some advice as to how I can inject him by myself without help. The vet showed me how 2 people can do it but not one. Also do you think it would be worse to do it this way: he becomes very lethargic and slow when it's bed time so I was thinking that I would wait until he is almost asleep then hold him in my palm facing outward and put his front arm in between 2 fingers and get him then. My concern is that it would interrupt his sleep time and make him hurt and pissed before bed which could be worse then just doing it mid day when he is active. Any thoughts?
its a Zoomed 5.0 26W. I'm still not sure if its the bulb. His eyes got bad again after I took him to the vets but I think they are slowly getting better. I still flush his eyes with saline from time to time and afterwards his eyes look better and he opens them more. It's a shame but I think he has permanent damage from all this. I can tell his eye sight isn't that good. He will almost miss crickets when I hand feed him and his tongue wont grab/stick to the food all that well. That is actually a pretty big problem. I try to get his attention on the food then I will let the cricket or worm crawl on something like the dowel or screen so he can catch them on his own. Some times he does well other times I don't know if he can even see them. He has good days and bad days but I spend a lot of time working with him on it.
When I give injections by myself I wrap them in a washcloth like a little chameleon burrito. The washcloth gives him something to grip instead of you and makes it harder for him to escape so easily. In the same hand that his body is resting on all wrapped up I hold one of the back legs between my ring and pinky finger about the level of the ankle and then use my right hand to actually give the injection. It takes practice... It usually doesn't bleed btw. The first one went in just right to hit a little vessel but you most likely won't see that again. The needle just has to get under the skin for it to be a successful injection.
Thank you. I tried your trick and found that it was easier for me without the towel. Holding his arm in between my fingers palm facing up close to his ankle allowing me to "pull" his leg tight and shooting with the right hand seems to work. Did a second injection tonight with this method. He fought me when I tried to use the towel and he ended up positioning himself in a perfect location for me to inject. I was then grabbing him and the loosely wrapped towel in my left hand. Both times there was no blood involved at all and I managed to get it right in between the scales. Like I've mentioned his eyes have good and bad days. By the time I get home at 2pm the sun is off of my back porch where I like to give him sun so I've resorted to only giving him direct sunlight for about half an hour every other day and that really seems to help his eyes which make me think that the artificial lighting could just suck for him. I'm still worried that he has permanent eye damage. Hand feeding him is still hard. He might be getting lazy too because he wont spit out his tongue far at all and his tongue grasp is weak. My female will try getting close to the food but she doesn't care. She hunts crickets on her own very well but I hate super worms so I don't want them getting lose, therefore I hand feed those and she'll rip my arm off to pull one in and she's a young little girl. The Dude on the other hand almost requires me to put the thing in his mouth. His left eye is closed a lot. After I flush his eyes with saline he'll open it and I can see what appears to be a healthy eye. I seriously hope this clears up! I can't remember if I posted a picture of him when he was ticked off at the vets office so I'll try attaching one here. His colors are so awesome and even his rest colors are nice. I think he is used to me though. From looking at his actions and colors I think he can tell when its time for misting, feeding or handling and can tell the difference. Sometimes during feeding he will get excited and crawl up my arm to perch while I try to wrangle up a dusted cricket with one hand.
After a ton of research and countless hours of looking at cham pics I've decided that The Dude is an amazing looking Veild chameleon worthy of being bred. Like I've mentioned in other posts I am looking at getting this female that has a good amount of yellow on her to be his gf. I will have to wait until next year though before I breed him to Maud and this yet unnamed female due to age and I want him to be healthy first. The new female has swollen eyes and I was told that the owners before the current ones took her to the vet and received eye drops which they still have. Chances are if I get her for 40 bucks I'll have to take her to the vets and spend another 140 on her but she just looks so cool and I'll feel good about helping her. Thank you guys for bearing with my long winded posts on The Dudes health and providing me with advice. The Dude abides.
After a ton of research and countless hours of looking at cham pics I've decided that The Dude is an amazing looking Veild chameleon worthy of being bred. Like I've mentioned in other posts I am looking at getting this female that has a good amount of yellow on her to be his gf. I will have to wait until next year though before I breed him to Maud and this yet unnamed female due to age and I want him to be healthy first. The new female has swollen eyes and I was told that the owners before the current ones took her to the vet and received eye drops which they still have. Chances are if I get her for 40 bucks I'll have to take her to the vets and spend another 140 on her but she just looks so cool and I'll feel good about helping her. Thank you guys for bearing with my long winded posts on The Dudes health and providing me with advice. The Dude abides.
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Thanks 
It's really strange. It looks like there is a clear bubble like film over his left eye and then he'll puff it up super big and rub it hard against anything coarse he finds to include his arm. When he's rubbing it his eye socket looks like he's going to stretch and rip it out. After him scratching it and me flushing it the eye almost will go back to normal.
It's really strange. It looks like there is a clear bubble like film over his left eye and then he'll puff it up super big and rub it hard against anything coarse he finds to include his arm. When he's rubbing it his eye socket looks like he's going to stretch and rip it out. After him scratching it and me flushing it the eye almost will go back to normal.
