tail problems

G

georgie1992

New Member
i have a veiled chameleon, male, 1 year and 6 months old.
hes a normal guy eats regularly and everything.

HOWEVEER, i have noticed a big hole in its tail, as if somethign has eaten at it. He isnt moving is back 2 legs and theres a second hole near the first. I came home today and saw crickets eating at the hole.

im feeling so terrible because i cannot afford to bring him to a vet who charges 100 dollars just for an exam.

if anyone has any help or ideas please let me know. im feeling so terrible right now about this!
 
That doesn't sound good, and of course I'm going to say just what you don't want me to, i.e. take him to a vet. Until you can afford to, however, you can help him by getting him somewhere where crickets can't eat at him (if there are loose crickets in his cage and you can't catch them all, move him somewhere else temporarily and only give him the crickets he will eat from your hand or a cup, and remove the uneaten ones). The holes could be caused by burns, by injuries, by a variety of things, but if they're open wounds (and crix are munching at them) it couldn't hurt to treat them with a topical antibiotic. Neosporin, or a triple antibiotic cream, are available at drugstores, big stores like Walmart and Target, etc. for about $7-8 a tube.
These are the best I can offer for now.
There's a form on "How to ask for help" that would be useful to fill out, as that might help us see if there's anything obvious you could change to help him.
Best of luck!
 
Yes neosporin or polysporin would be best, and keep the crickets away from him. If it is a fungal infection there is no choice but to either bring him to the vet or to give him to someone who can. Where are you located? Some of us might be able to find you a cheaper vet, $100 is outragious. I pay $46 for vet visits for my reptiles.
 
Current Problem - He isnt moving his back 2 legs, and there are mutliple holes in his tail that look as if something had eaten into it. Crickets have been found eating at the holes too.


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, 1 year and 3 months old, male, ive had him for 1 year
* Handling - once because he is very agressive to touching
* Feeding - gut loading everytime with lettuce potatoes, apples. He is fed live crickets everyday with them put in and he eats whenever he wants, probably 20 go in the tank at a time.
* Supplements - none
* Watering - we spray him once a day and we have a dripper going on all day.
* Fecal Description - black poop like normal
* History - nothing

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - glass its 18 x 18 x 24
* Lighting - normal uva lighting with a basking lamp and night light for heat.
* Temperature - temp from 20 - 30 degress at all time
* Humidity - 80% +
* Plants - no live plants
* Placement - its about 1 meter above the floor in a quite area.
* Location - toronto canada
 
At his age, unless they're really tiny crickets, 20 in the cage at a time is considerably more than he needs. An adult is generally fine with 4-8 large crickets every other day. I doubt they're the root cause of the problem, but as I said before, the first thing to do is get him away from all those excess crickets. If he's not willing to hand feed or to feed while you're watching, try putting 4 or 5 crickets in a moderately deep cup (one they can't readily jump out of, but that he can reach in and catch them).
Your gutload (lettuce, potatoes and apples) isn't particularly high in calcium, so getting him some calcium supplementation would be helpful. Chameleons that haven't received supplemental calcium may develop something called metabolic bone disease (MBD) which causes softness in the bones among other things - I'd hesitate to say this is responsible for his sudden inability to move his back legs, but it certainly isn't helping matters any. People commonly give calcium with vitamin D3 (RepCal Calcium with D3 is a common brand) and without (Sticky Tongue Farms' MinerAll 0) and dust insects with the calcium regularly. For a one year old that has never been supplemented, you may want to try a quicker approach to begin with, e.g. 0.1 cc (0.1 ml) Mylanta by mouth for a couple weeks (I stole this advice from David Weldon; see this thread for more info).
 
Crickets that have nothing to eat in the cage and have not been fed properly or left too long in the cage with no food will chew on a chameleon.

As for not moving its back legs....could be a number of things. A vet should be able to give you some answers. You aren't supplementing at all, you aren't using a UVB light and you aren't gutloading/feeding the crickets a good diet either..so it could be MBD.

Can you post some pictures of it?
 
georgie1992 said:
how do i upload them i have a few!
Click to expand...

there's a picture of a paperclip when you hit reply, click browse, choose one you want to upload, wait, then choose another, wait, etc. then just close out of that window and click submit in this window
 
IMG_1818.jpg
IMG_1816.jpg
 
hes in a terrarium,
normal temps and humidy.
i took all the crickets out, cleaneed everything in the tank.
sprayed him with warm water.
im just hoping he will get better. i put some polysporin on his cuts/holes
 
I really suggest looking for a different vet or ask this vet if you can work out a payment plan.

He's also in an extremely small cage for his age. As adults they need to be in atleast a 2x2x4
 
georgie1992 said:
i have a veiled chameleon, male, 1 year and 6 months old.
hes a normal guy eats regularly and everything.

HOWEVEER, i have noticed a big hole in its tail, as if somethign has eaten at it. He isnt moving is back 2 legs and theres a second hole near the first. I came home today and saw crickets eating at the hole.

im feeling so terrible because i cannot afford to bring him to a vet who charges 100 dollars just for an exam.

if anyone has any help or ideas please let me know. im feeling so terrible right now about this!
Click to expand...

This is not normal

Couple questions,

1) when was the last time your cham had a BM? (poop)

2) How long has the back legs been paralyzed?

3) Is that substrate in your enclosure?

I just ask because sometimes when a cham has an intestinal blockage they can become paralyzed. That can cause poor circulation and cause the skin to necrode (die).
There is more of a problem then just tail sores here:(
Like Pssh and other memebers have mentioned you need to get him to a vet asap.
 
looks like it could be a clot if he seems painful. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do but bring him to a vet. Do a google search for vets in your area. Sometimes you may have to do a bit of driving but if it saves your chams life it's well worth it.
 
georgie1992 said:
hes in a terrarium,
normal temps and humidy.
i took all the crickets out, cleaneed everything in the tank.
sprayed him with warm water.
im just hoping he will get better. i put some polysporin on his cuts/holes
Click to expand...

I mean what is he laying in?
little pebbles? mulch? sand? mud?
 
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