I've been asked to chime in here. There's basically a few points I can confirm and clarify.
Humidity from the glass was extremely likely to be the source, I absolutely agree. That jumped right out at me and I would have told you to change it on our first exam.
As for this:
Update:
I spoke with my Vet today as the Chloramphenical has not been working. We will be switching to Baytril, only after I refused the culture test as I was advised it's going to cost $450.00. I was advised they don't want to do a trachea swab as it will be inaccurate due to bacteria in the mouth. And that my Vet want's to sedate my chameleon. pump fluid into his lungs and suck it back out to do a culture test. which apparently is going to cost me $450.00. Has anyone asked how their Vet does a culture test? I'm very frustrated at this point.
It is absolutely 100% correct. This is something that we would do on every species that we see--I've done it on dogs, cats, horses, cows, snakes, lizards, turtles, mice, rabbits, ferrets, and on and on. It's a straightforward, very diagnostic and informative procedure. And MD's do variations of it to humans with pneumonia. So the information is correct.
The reason that we can't just swab at the trachea or something is that it will already be coverd with a dozen species of bacteria, most of them normal, and the odds are absolutely UNLIKELY that we would even get the right bug on the part that we get back. So we have to sedate (how else can I do this 100% sterile procedure with an awake, thrashing, salivating lizard?), slide a sterile tube down their trachea until we're just at or better yet, in the lungs. Take a calculated dose of sterile saline, squirt it down the tube into the lungs, some coupage (thump the chest some to break up some mucous. Lightly tap the lung of a sedated chameleon, turn him from side to side), withdraw as much as you can back into the syringe (only about 10-15% of the original dose typically comes back; the rest, being isotonic saline, has already been absorbed through the lung wall and is in the bloodstream just as if you had given a mini-IV), inspect the fluid and smile when you see a big floating yellow or green goober because that means that you got the bug, send it off to the lab for culture & sensitivity and wait for the exceedingly helpful information as to what the bacteria is that is causing the problem (so that way I know what that genus of bacteria typically does; what other areas of the body it may infect, and how it typically damages the host) and a very thorough report of which antibiotics at what doses killed this bug. With that knowledge along with corrected husbandry issue we will kill the source of the problem. Sounds great, right? Well, usually is, usually…
But sometimes you get back a report that shows no growth of bacteria. Or you pull back that syringe and perfectly clear saline comes back at you. Because sometimes the bacteria are dead already, and may have been for some time. And you're dealing with the leftover damage; scar tissue, fibrosis, bullae, broken-down walls, extra-thickened walls, whatever. And that click that you hear may be a flap of scar tissue in minimally damaged--->majorly damaged lung ( an X-ray will sometimes tell me the extent of the damage) and not fixable with any amount of antibiotics on the earth. So continuing to just try and try various antibiotics and different dosages is a waste of time, money, and is unhealthy for your chameleon.
But maybe the click you hear IS the booger bubble that holds the answer, and if you can afford it, then you should really really do it, and sooner rather than later. I have seen too many instances where I've killed the bug, but sometimes the leftover damage still proves too much and we lose them a few weeks or months later; I always confirm it on necropsy when I can.
So to the person who said "ugh, that sounds terrible", its actually not. It's a fantastic, useful, highly sensitive and specific tool. ;-)
What really is terrible is when it's a big animal, and theres no sterile tube made to reach 3' into the lungs safely, you have to do things like lightly sedate a great dane, put him on his chest with his head looking up, clip and prep the neck area, make an incision through the skin and then do this godawful wrenching, levering through the cartilage of the trachea so that you can insert your tube from there to get your sterile sample. Freaks me out everytime.
dr. o-
