Hi friends! I need help with my chameleon health and unfortunately there is no rep vet in my city.
I have a male panther chameleon, cb, he is about 5-6 months old, I have him since he was about 2mo. He is now about 6 inches from snout to the base of tail.
I mainly feed him with domestic crickets which I breed myself. I feed the crickets with DIY food which is 2 parts: dry powder (a mix of ground chicken food and rabbit food, to which I add ground barley, kelp, spirulina powder, bee pollen) and gel food which is also their only source of hydration (I mix in a blender oranges, carrots, apples, kale, dissolve some gelatin in water, add to the mix, let it set, then cut into daily dose cubes and freeze). Beside crickets he also eats the males of Turkestan roaches (he absolutely ignores the females) which are also fed the same diet as crickets. When the chameleon was well he used to eat some 6-8 adult crickets each day. I always dust the insects with either Repashy calcium with D3 or MinerAll (alternating).
He lives in a DIY cage made of glass and screen, 14x14x24”. The rear wall is heated to about 92F. The UVB is a 10% Zilla bulb (20W) on the top, SolarMeter 6.5 reading is about 20-22 units at the screen. On the bottom of the cage there is a plastic container with water and a small fountain pump, for drinking, and a few live plants (ivy and potho) for humidity. I mist the cage about twice each day. I rarely ever see my chameleon drinking.
Feces were abundant when he was eating well. Brown color, prolonged, with white matter at one end. Sometimes they were completely dry, sometimes soft and smelly.
Since about last Saturday my chameleon started to eat much less. Maybe 1-2 crickets a day. But he was still active and attempts to climb on my hand each time I open his cage door for maintenance. It seems to me that he is somewhat thinner after this week. The feces are much fewer, accordingly to the amount of food eaten, and they are all dry, unless he poops in water.
Yesterday evening I have noticed that his behavior was somewhat strange. He was opening his mouth and there was yellowish foam in it. He was also moving his tongue in the throat – it looked like he was trying to lick his lips, or that was uncomfortable about something in his mouth. I tried to give him some water from a syringe when he opened his mouth, thinking that the foam and saliva may be a result of dehydration.
This morning he is perching near the basking spot and his mouth is mostly open. He is not active as he used to be.
There are no herp vets in my city and I have to deal with this solely on my own. I talked to an overseas friend last night. He is an old school cham expert. He suggested that most probably I am facing URI and my cham needs antibiotics. He suggested Sub-Q shot of amikacin or baytril, telling that amikacin was better as it needs to be administered once in 3 days while baytril needs a shot every day and is more traumatic to the chameleon.
I can get amikacin, but I am a bit worried about the dose. My friend suggested 0.02cc but added that I need to eyeball it, to give more or less. I have absolutely no experience in dosing medication for chameleons and eyeballing is difficult for me. Can anyone please give me advise on how to determine the dose, or what else can I do for my chameleon? I would be very thankful for any advise.
I have a male panther chameleon, cb, he is about 5-6 months old, I have him since he was about 2mo. He is now about 6 inches from snout to the base of tail.
I mainly feed him with domestic crickets which I breed myself. I feed the crickets with DIY food which is 2 parts: dry powder (a mix of ground chicken food and rabbit food, to which I add ground barley, kelp, spirulina powder, bee pollen) and gel food which is also their only source of hydration (I mix in a blender oranges, carrots, apples, kale, dissolve some gelatin in water, add to the mix, let it set, then cut into daily dose cubes and freeze). Beside crickets he also eats the males of Turkestan roaches (he absolutely ignores the females) which are also fed the same diet as crickets. When the chameleon was well he used to eat some 6-8 adult crickets each day. I always dust the insects with either Repashy calcium with D3 or MinerAll (alternating).
He lives in a DIY cage made of glass and screen, 14x14x24”. The rear wall is heated to about 92F. The UVB is a 10% Zilla bulb (20W) on the top, SolarMeter 6.5 reading is about 20-22 units at the screen. On the bottom of the cage there is a plastic container with water and a small fountain pump, for drinking, and a few live plants (ivy and potho) for humidity. I mist the cage about twice each day. I rarely ever see my chameleon drinking.
Feces were abundant when he was eating well. Brown color, prolonged, with white matter at one end. Sometimes they were completely dry, sometimes soft and smelly.
Since about last Saturday my chameleon started to eat much less. Maybe 1-2 crickets a day. But he was still active and attempts to climb on my hand each time I open his cage door for maintenance. It seems to me that he is somewhat thinner after this week. The feces are much fewer, accordingly to the amount of food eaten, and they are all dry, unless he poops in water.
Yesterday evening I have noticed that his behavior was somewhat strange. He was opening his mouth and there was yellowish foam in it. He was also moving his tongue in the throat – it looked like he was trying to lick his lips, or that was uncomfortable about something in his mouth. I tried to give him some water from a syringe when he opened his mouth, thinking that the foam and saliva may be a result of dehydration.
This morning he is perching near the basking spot and his mouth is mostly open. He is not active as he used to be.
There are no herp vets in my city and I have to deal with this solely on my own. I talked to an overseas friend last night. He is an old school cham expert. He suggested that most probably I am facing URI and my cham needs antibiotics. He suggested Sub-Q shot of amikacin or baytril, telling that amikacin was better as it needs to be administered once in 3 days while baytril needs a shot every day and is more traumatic to the chameleon.
I can get amikacin, but I am a bit worried about the dose. My friend suggested 0.02cc but added that I need to eyeball it, to give more or less. I have absolutely no experience in dosing medication for chameleons and eyeballing is difficult for me. Can anyone please give me advise on how to determine the dose, or what else can I do for my chameleon? I would be very thankful for any advise.
