Quick! My Jackson needs CPR!

[hpc1979]

Man!!!!! So I got lazy today while feeding MY KID'S Jackson Chameleon. So instead of hand picking out a Dubia Roach for my kids Jackson Chameleon to eat like i normally do, i brought over the small container in which I keep his roaches in and let him just snap one of those bad boys out of there. Well.... he did it alright. At first I was like, "Holly F$@# that a big roach!" Soon to realize, it was. I watched my kids Chameleon almost choke to death. It was horrible! Not only couldn't chew this bad boy up, i literally saw his eyes roll back in his head when i realized he was in trouble. Luckily when i went to help him out, he was was able the spit out this gigantor of a roach. Well that was about three hours ago and my heart rates has just come back down to normaly. Whooooooooooo! Somebody save me! Oh by the way, my kids frog died this morning of old age. Pure coninscience. I almost set myself up for a long long weekend.

 

[AllFallDown]

Thats quite a story

 

[Hoj]

Sounds like a real close call. Remember food items are to be no bigger than width of the most as a general rule.
Glad you avodied that one.

 

[DanSB]

I've had a similar event and almost panicked.

Has anyone ever heard of a chameleon actually choking? In my experience and from what I've read they are adept at spitting out food that's too big.

The danger I would guess is of impaction from too much scooting through the system as a chunk so whenever my guy eats something that looks like he had a hard time with I just make sure to give extra mistings to ensure he is very hydrated..

 

[Carlton]

I've had a similar event and almost panicked.

Has anyone ever heard of a chameleon actually choking? In my experience and from what I've read they are adept at spitting out food that's too big.

The danger I would guess is of impaction from too much scooting through the system as a chunk so whenever my guy eats something that looks like he had a hard time with I just make sure to give extra mistings to ensure he is very hydrated..

Yes, I've had a melleri choke very badly; not from a huge insect, but from aspirating a combination of water and a big superworm. I'd given her a med by mouth along with water. Released her and gave her the superworm as a treat. A few minutes later she climbed head down in her tree and aspirated. I heard her choking, ran in to see her turning completely white and orange, flailing her feet in the air, gasping. I did give CPR-type body compressions and rescue breathing until she revived enough to hurl the stuff in her throat into my mouth and bite my lip. There's a scar to this day. Don't want to EVER do that again!

 

[Zubi]

Wow you know you love someone, or something, when you give then mouth to mouth

 

[carol5208]

Yes, I've had a melleri choke very badly; not from a huge insect, but from aspirating a combination of water and a big superworm. I'd given her a med by mouth along with water. Released her and gave her the superworm as a treat. A few minutes later she climbed head down in her tree and aspirated. I heard her choking, ran in to see her turning completely white and orange, flailing her feet in the air, gasping. I did give CPR-type body compressions and rescue breathing until she revived enough to hurl the stuff in her throat into my mouth and bite my lip. There's a scar to this day. Don't want to EVER do that again!

Holy Crap! you must have needed CPR after that!! What a save!!

 

[Carlton]

Holy Crap! you must have needed CPR after that!! What a save!!

Well, not quite though my blood pressure was up there for a while. I did grab a good slug of Listerine mouthwash and for some reason haven't snacked on superworms as much.

Oh I meant to share a "humongous feeder" story earlier. My male verrucosus was out of his cage in the mellers' free range room as I handed out treats. Gave some fat, full grown hornworms to the melleri but had one more in a bowl. Before I could react the verrucosus snagged it out from under me. He could barely fit it in his mouth let alone swallow it. He wrestled it around as it whipped its tail across his face. Finally, he wedged the tail end against the cage frame and shoved it down his throat on his own. Then staggered around with a bulgy neck, squinting and gaping. Lucky those things are squishy and soft!

 

[lysinlight87]

these stories make me cringe!
my brother nearly choked to death on a carrot when he was 2, since then I run out the room whenever some coughs too hard- i'm totally useless! Recently a friend of mine had a close call with a dog that swallowed a great big lump of cheese, she had to scoop the cheese out its throat- it was an elderly dog, but luckily he recovered. It wasn't her dog, but it was her cheese...you can imagine the guilt. I hope Neelix never scares me like that!

 

[arnau666]

something similar happened to me .... horrible experiance ....

 

[Paloma]

Carlton, I should feel really bad for even saying this, but the image of the superworm being hurled from the chameleons mouth into your un-expecting one is cracking me up. It was very brave of you to cpr the chameleon. I now know from your experience to watch the size of my feeders as I have no idea how I would begin to execute that maneuver. On a serious note, am sorry it bit your lip..probably reflex but it still probably didn't feel good.
hpc1979 that was a close save.. lucky it spat it out.. the poor child would have been traumatized.

 

[DanSB]

Yes, I've had a melleri choke very badly; not from a huge insect, but from aspirating a combination of water and a big superworm. I'd given her a med by mouth along with water. Released her and gave her the superworm as a treat. A few minutes later she climbed head down in her tree and aspirated. I heard her choking, ran in to see her turning completely white and orange, flailing her feet in the air, gasping. I did give CPR-type body compressions and rescue breathing until she revived enough to hurl the stuff in her throat into my mouth and bite my lip. There's a scar to this day. Don't want to EVER do that again!

You sir one bad amf, that is a very impressive save, not sure I could have managed that one and I generally have a pretty good wherewithal in emergencies.

I do fully believe a chameleon can aspirate on liquids and have read / heard about it happening. I am just not sure a chameleon can choke from having too big of a feeder.

My Senegal powered down a Dubia that was well bigger than should have been possible. Before I had ever seen him spit anything out I go too close with the dubia bin (being very cautious none get loose on penalty of my life) and he went right for the biggest one in there that was just a bit bigger than his head. I sat there with forceps and a rubber suction syringe for a good 20 minutes before I realized he powered it down and was fine.

I wouldn't advocate feeding big feeders for other reasons (in fact I prefer small feeders for exercise and ease of digestion) but I just don't think they will actually choke from just a big feeder.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Someone posted about feeding something too big (think it was a hornworm) and it choked to death. Had the thing still lodged in its throat when it died. So it can kill...

 

[DanSB]

Someone posted about feeding something too big (think it was a hornworm) and it choked to death. Had the thing still lodged in its throat when it died. So it can kill...

Interesting so there is at least some precedent. I suppose I have to recant! I suppose it is really a moot point, you shouldn't be feeding large feeders anyway for a host of good reasons.

 

[KirbyTheCham]

Oh wow that sucks! I think I read somewhere that sometimes reptiles roll their eyes in their head to help them digest.....not sure If it's my imagination or if it's fact. Glad you and your Chameleon survived this ordeal.