Randallsparents
Member
Hello! We just wanted to share how Randall has been doing as it has been about 1 year since we adopted him!
Randall is our male veiled cham who we adopted from a store in our city that takes in rescue/surrendered exotic animals. He, unfortunately, was previously in the enclosure he was surrendered in which had a red heat light and a coil UVB light (dual fixture). He actually had shared that enclosure with a female veiled who he had been housed with and surrendered by a previous owner. Luckily they separated them immediately and we adopted him not too long after he got there. Apparently, the previous owner did not realize how big veiled chameleons can get. He was about 1 year when we got him in February/March of 2022 so he's now 2 years old!
He was treated for a URI in June with injections of ceftazidime (50 mg/ml-- only 0.06 cc every 2 days for two weeks). We had noticed he had been gaping and constantly basking/hanging out vertically so I immediately went to my nearest exotic vet for bloodwork. When we got the results back they were in the normal range. Regardless of his levels due to his obvious symptoms of URI the vet and us both agreed antibiotics were the best way to go. We alternated shoulders that we injected every two days and wrapped him in a towel, raised his temp to high 80s and by the end of the two weeks his symptoms were long gone!
We did take him to the vet again after antibiotics and the levels were almost the same with the slightest elevation in azurophil cells. (probably due to him getting so recently getting over the URI). Acting fast saved us any added costs of vet trips or more antibiotics. We listened to him/his symptoms and that allowed us to catch the URI before it got serious. We're sharing his history/story so that other new owners can learn from our experience and understand the importance of taking chameleons to the vet as soon as possible when they are exhibiting abnormal behavior or symptoms.
Although he has been a very healthy-looking boy since we wanted to ensure that he was as healthy as we thought he was. So I scheduled an appointment with the nearest exotic vet who also had a recommendation from another chameleon owner on the forum. This was the De Anza Clinic, a 1-hour drive away. A friend and coworker of mine had worked there as a vet tech for years and he had nothing but good things to say about them. While we don't drive or own a car due to living in a city we got a ride today and it paid off.
We visited the De Anza Veterinary Clinic with Dr. Greenspan today and she was amazing!!! I would 100% recommend her to any exotics owner but especially if you own a chameleon as she is very knowledgeable and has actually kept chameleons in the past!!! It is worth the drive!!! She really went above and beyond, after the exam, we had a long conversation about husbandry and questions I had about other species I work with. She said that Randall was a healthy boy!
We asked if she thought blood work was necessary but she said he looked great and that his last blood test was great so we opted to wait until this summer to schedule another checkup with a blood test. He was overweight and some folks on the forums even labeled him as grossly obese when we shared his first photos! He definitely was the most overweight chameleon I've personally seen. His cask was absolutely huge and full of excess fat!!! We have since put him on a nice diet of 2-3 gut-loaded feeders every 2 days depending on the size ofc. At his last vet visit he was 161g (had already lost some g's) and today he's down to 148g! We also expressed concern about possible gout due to his initial weight but Dr. Greenspan assured me she saw no signs of gout! His most recent blood work showed uric acid levels within the normal level.
If anyone is interested in seeing the blood work, we are happy to post.
- Randalls Parents
Here's a vid of him eating a dubia, we'll do an updated husbandry post once we add our new dragon ledges, branches, and plants.
Randall is our male veiled cham who we adopted from a store in our city that takes in rescue/surrendered exotic animals. He, unfortunately, was previously in the enclosure he was surrendered in which had a red heat light and a coil UVB light (dual fixture). He actually had shared that enclosure with a female veiled who he had been housed with and surrendered by a previous owner. Luckily they separated them immediately and we adopted him not too long after he got there. Apparently, the previous owner did not realize how big veiled chameleons can get. He was about 1 year when we got him in February/March of 2022 so he's now 2 years old!
He was treated for a URI in June with injections of ceftazidime (50 mg/ml-- only 0.06 cc every 2 days for two weeks). We had noticed he had been gaping and constantly basking/hanging out vertically so I immediately went to my nearest exotic vet for bloodwork. When we got the results back they were in the normal range. Regardless of his levels due to his obvious symptoms of URI the vet and us both agreed antibiotics were the best way to go. We alternated shoulders that we injected every two days and wrapped him in a towel, raised his temp to high 80s and by the end of the two weeks his symptoms were long gone!
We did take him to the vet again after antibiotics and the levels were almost the same with the slightest elevation in azurophil cells. (probably due to him getting so recently getting over the URI). Acting fast saved us any added costs of vet trips or more antibiotics. We listened to him/his symptoms and that allowed us to catch the URI before it got serious. We're sharing his history/story so that other new owners can learn from our experience and understand the importance of taking chameleons to the vet as soon as possible when they are exhibiting abnormal behavior or symptoms.
Although he has been a very healthy-looking boy since we wanted to ensure that he was as healthy as we thought he was. So I scheduled an appointment with the nearest exotic vet who also had a recommendation from another chameleon owner on the forum. This was the De Anza Clinic, a 1-hour drive away. A friend and coworker of mine had worked there as a vet tech for years and he had nothing but good things to say about them. While we don't drive or own a car due to living in a city we got a ride today and it paid off.
We visited the De Anza Veterinary Clinic with Dr. Greenspan today and she was amazing!!! I would 100% recommend her to any exotics owner but especially if you own a chameleon as she is very knowledgeable and has actually kept chameleons in the past!!! It is worth the drive!!! She really went above and beyond, after the exam, we had a long conversation about husbandry and questions I had about other species I work with. She said that Randall was a healthy boy!
We asked if she thought blood work was necessary but she said he looked great and that his last blood test was great so we opted to wait until this summer to schedule another checkup with a blood test. He was overweight and some folks on the forums even labeled him as grossly obese when we shared his first photos! He definitely was the most overweight chameleon I've personally seen. His cask was absolutely huge and full of excess fat!!! We have since put him on a nice diet of 2-3 gut-loaded feeders every 2 days depending on the size ofc. At his last vet visit he was 161g (had already lost some g's) and today he's down to 148g!
We also expressed concern about possible gout due to his initial weight but Dr. Greenspan assured me she saw no signs of gout! His most recent blood work showed uric acid levels within the normal level.If anyone is interested in seeing the blood work, we are happy to post.
- Randalls Parents
Here's a vid of him eating a dubia, we'll do an updated husbandry post once we add our new dragon ledges, branches, and plants.
Last edited:
