possibly sick chameleon on arrival. please help

[Adashek123]

Hey guys,
I purchased a beautiful young blue bar male from a chameleon forum member. He arrived today about 5 hours ago, active and healthy looking. Eyes looked slightly sunken but nothing out of the ordinary so i put him in his brand new repti breeze and misted the cage. He is almost 4 months old and already the size of my 6-7 month old from kammerflage. Anyways, about 3 hours ago I went by his cage and noticed him gaping when he wasn't even by the heat lamp. I opened his mouth just to check for symptoms of uri and ihes got bubbles I am so worried right now because he was put into a cage that's next to my other panthers. He is moved now.... what would you guys do in this situation ? Please help I am not 100 percent saying he has a uri, but he is gaping alot and has bubbles inside throat ..

 

[Adashek123]

Also, I don't actually open his mouth. he opens right when I put my hands near his face and you can see some bubbles inside his throat. He drank water when he first got here but is making weezy noises when he opens his mouth..... I know that some saliva is normal in throat but he seems to have it in the middle of the throat. I am worried because he is so young, almost 4 months old

 

[Lazy Boy]

If it was me I would make a vet apt and keep a close eye on him. If he does have a URI you want to stop it asap.

 

[antalaotra]

Contact the breeder as well as the vet!

 

[Adashek123]

Yes I am taking him to the vet this week if it does not improve by tonight. If he is indeed sick, that would mean that I purchased a sick cham. I opened the box less than 6 hours ago. The forum member I got him from seems very professional and is a great cham owner, but my question is, should he\she be held accountable to pay for the vet fees if he is sick ? Not trying to force blame on anyone but how could a cham get sick over night during shipping when all weather was good ? I mean, I did not just pay for a sick cham. He is beautiful and all, but was advertised as healthy. Paid over 400 for him. I will post pictures later tonight when I am by a PC because my phone keeps saying upload failed whenever I try to

 

[Adashek123]

I contacted the breeder right when I saw gaping

 

[pigglett79]

Yes I am taking him to the vet this week if it does not improve by tonight. If he is indeed sick, that would mean that I purchased a sick cham. I opened the box less than 6 hours ago. The forum member I got him from seems very professional and is a great cham owner, but my question is, should he\she be held accountable to pay for the vet fees if he is sick ? Not trying to force blame on anyone but how could a cham get sick over night during shipping when all weather was good ? I mean, I did not just pay for a sick cham. He is beautiful and all, but was advertised as healthy. Paid over 400 for him. I will post pictures later tonight when I am by a PC because my phone keeps saying upload failed whenever I try to

They wouldn't necessarily be responsible for vet bills. What most would do is refund you and have you ship him back. It's up to the breeder on how to handle it and they would likely want some confirmation of illness as there are lots of people out there that say animals are sick when they arent.

 

[Adashek123]

I see... it's just Ive never deat with anything like this. The breeder seems like a knowledgable person and is pretty well known on here. I can take pictures of his mouth for confirmation and even a video of him gaping and weezing. Hopefully it will pass over and not develop into a full blown uri. If it doesn't go away completely by tonight or tomorrow morning, he's going to the vet ASAP. my vet can usually get me in the next day or same day. She is awesome. But still, I did not pay 400 something bucks for a sick cham. I did not get it sick as I just received him hours ago and all of my chams are healthy. I am actually extremely worried because he was next to my other chams for a brief moment for size comparison... this guy is 4 months old and 12 inches already. I mainly hoping none of my other chams get sick

 

[Bane]

Hello - In defense of the breeder - bacteria can get out of control when an animal is under stress, such as shipping. I have a background in horses, though different, the same applies with stress and the animal taking sick. I once put a healthy horse on a trailer in the morning, she went about 3 hours to her destination. She arrived offish, but o.k, but crashed as the day went on in her new home. By evening she had a high fever and severe cough and it took lots of care and antibiotics to save her. The new owners were mad at me, of course. Well, my Vet told them that the horse was likely suppressing a bacteria that she would have otherwise fought, had she not been shipped. The shipping stress caused the bacteria to take over. I would have never shipped a sick horse and this breeder I am sure would not have shipped a sick Cham, knowingly. It happens, they are animals. I hope all will be well, not taking sides here just giving another perspective and sometimes **** just happens.

 

[Adashek123]

That's sad to hear I hope the horse made a full recovery. Yeah its honestly not the money that matters, although he was pricey. I guess he just got a little stressed during shipping or something. Guy I got him from is a super cool dude, im just trying to get to the bottom of why he is weezing and bubbling already. In my experienxce, the bubbling usually doesnt start for a few days, first its usually just heavy breathing and poppong noises.Maybe it just spread super fast??? Idk. My other chams seem fine and if he got sick overnight from shipping, then I think my chams would have already been sick from being by his cage for a few minutes... I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am 90 percent the new guy has a uri though and the bubbles seem to be getting worse I went ahead and booked an appointment for thursday morning

 

[ridgebax1]

I just lost both of my boys within weeks of each other. My panther got sick after a batch of hornworms just up and died. Not just one or two but every single one turned black and gooey and dead. Clouseau got stomatitis that progressed to a URI; he was on 3 different meds but died anyway. A couple weeks later my Omar died too. He had been battling a burn that he got when he pulled a hole in his screen and went right under his heat lamp. He battled it for many weeks and I think the stress of this lead to a URI and despite treatment he too died. I was looking at his old pictures and was shocked at the difference in his coloration; he was really just dull the last several weeks of his life so I am certain stress played a big part in his demise.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Hey could you post a picture of the mouth shot? The one with your thumb in it squeezing the chameleons head in place so you could get a picture of it.