rescue

[reptileguy88]

i just rescued a young cham, that I believe has a broken foot/leg, Does anyone know any way I could help it
-thanks

 

[Shawntea]

vet's office. I had the same issue with a pygmy and everyone told me get it to the vet, they can cast or use a superglue like adhesive. Probably not best to try it yourself.

 

[reptileguy88]

Thanks, but I already tried, I live in a small town, and vets wont see reptiles

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Young animals heal broken bones quickly, but only if they have proper nutrition and husbandry. Your young cham with heightened metabolic demand is going to need LOTS of calcium for regular growth in addition to healing. So good gutloading of crickets with high calcium veggies like dandelion leaves, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, escarole lettuce, butternut squash, etc. and a brand new UVB 5.0 bulb (or best of all, real sunlight for at least an hour a day!) to generate vitamin D for good calcium metabolism is the absolute best thing you can do for him right now. Dust all the crickets at every feeding with a light layer calcium powder that does not have vitD or phosphorus (the crickets should not be white). If the break is not really bad you can just let it heal on its own. Once it's healed it won't hurt, even if it's a little crooked. If it's really bad you can use something to stabilize it. It should be stiff without being tight or adhering to the skin. Vetwrap would work great, maybe you could ask your regular get for a little bit of that to use? It maintains its shape but is still flexible enough not to be uncomfortable, isn't adherent and conforms to any shape.

 

[laurie]

Can you post a picture of your cham? Then maybe we can offer any other advice but ferret has covered everything pretty well.

 

[reptileguy88]

here is a pic of my rescue cham, with a broken back right foot/leg
its leg stays yellow

for some reason I cant post a pic. but I have a pic on another forum titled "whats the difference"

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

That color is not normal. Chameleon coloration is neurohormonal (meaning the chameleon can control color with hormones/moods but the neuronal component must be intact) so it may mean that the nerves going to that leg were damaged as well as the bone. In chams with spinal injuries sometimes the whole body behind the fractured spine segment has distorted coloration due to nerve damage. Probably means it was a significant break. Looks like it's covered in scars/bruises so who knows what it's been through. May have been an overzealous collector ripping it off a branch. If the abnormal coloration was more diffuse and not localized to what looks like the distal portion of the limb I would be concerned about sepsis and spreading infection. From what I can see in the blurry picture it's confined past the knee, which would indicate the nerve damage is local to the leg, but it's a little hard to tell. IF the coloration expands or you see it elsewhere that could indicate a systemic infection much more serious than just a broken leg. The coloration may not ever be normal to that leg. Do you have a better picture? I can't see the break from that one...