when should i worry/go to the vet

F

Folded

New Member
Over the last two days I've seen (what I view as) a rapid decline in my chams(~10month old Ambilobe) health. He is usually very active and eats and drinks well. About a week ago I noticed him showing stress colors(black barring) more frequently for no apparent reason but in all other regards seemed healthy.

Sunday he did not eat, he has been eating 6-12 crickets everyday.

Starting yesterday he seems very lethargic resting his chin on a branch and letting one or both front limbs hang.

The lethargy continues today and he is showing no interest in crickets or water. I found a mass of undigested crickets. I am unsure of whether or not this was vomited or pooped as there was no obvious urate attached.

To me his turrets look very dehydrated today though his casque still appears full.



For reference, here he is 1 month ago:



Your Chameleon - Ambilobe Panther, male, ~10months old. In my care about 6-7months.
Handling - Very rarely
Feeding -up to 12 3/4 in crickets daily. Gutloaded with Bug burger.
Supplements - SuperCal NoD monday, tuesday, thursday, saturday, sunday. 50/50 mix of SuperCal NoD and Repashy calcium plus Wednesday and Friday.
Watering - mistking mister set for 1m every 3hrs. Dripper throughout the day.
Fecal Description - Have been dark Brown with bright white to slight orange urates. No visible/obvious movements in last couple days.
Cage Info:

Cage Type - 18x18x36 reptibreeze
Lighting - Arcadia 6%, 150w exoterra basking lamp on a dimmer. I was unable to get adequate temps with a standard incandescent.
Temperature - lowest branch is 70 basking is currently 90.
Humidity - 60-80.
Plants - Live hibiscus, live pothos
Placement - In his own room. The only traffic is me checking in on him. Probably to often. Top of the cage is about 6.5ft from the ground.
Location - Kansas

Picture soon
 
Take a close look at your chameleon's mouth area and look for signs of any injury. (You may have to look inside at the tongue and teeth.) Look for any dark areas or bruising on the tongue or swelling by the teeth. If you see any, this could explain the behavior. It is possible that there has been some sort of injury that has caused an infection. (Not the only possibility, but one possible cause.)

I'd try to get to a vet if you don't see any improvement because they can go downhill fast if there is an internal issue. I will look for your "Help" form and see if there is anything else that I could recommend. (If you have a current picture it may help as well.)

Best of luck and I hope he is feeling better soon!
 
Hi hope all goes well i had a beardie that had gout after xray blood test a weekend on a drip and a £450 vet bill i had to put him to sleep very hard thing to have to do
 
He is at the vets now, they are going to see him in between appointments

I will update as soon as I can

:(
 
His physical examination showed nothing (no obvious infection, mbd, etc.)aside from fatigue but we knew that.

They are going to do bloodwork, xray, and give fluids and hold him for 24-48hours

They did say with as weak as he is prognosis is only 12-20%, and it sounded more like they were calling to prepare me for the worst. I'm a wreck right now...he acted perfectly healthy just a couple days ago.
 
Folded, I'm sorry to hear that your little guy is not doing well. He looks very dehydrated in that picture. Hopefully the fluids will pick him up and give him the strength to fight what is ailing him. Hoping for the best.
 
Zephalia said:
Folded, I'm sorry to hear that your little guy is not doing well. He looks very dehydrated in that picture. Hopefully the fluids will pick him up and give him the strength to fight what is ailing him. Hoping for the best.
Click to expand...

Just a reminder....sunken eyes (that showed in the pic referred to) can be a sign of dehydration but also of other problems. When a cham is severely stressed or ill they also tend to pull in their eyes. I agree this cham is quite ill, but not necessarily dehydrated.
 
Carlton said:
Just a reminder....sunken eyes (that showed in the pic referred to) can be a sign of dehydration but also of other problems. When a cham is severely stressed or ill they also tend to pull in their eyes. I agree this cham is quite ill, but not necessarily dehydrated.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I always associated it with dehydration from what I've read. Good to know otherwise. :)
 
Interesting. Perhaps the bloodwork will show what's going on.. Maybe internal failures going on.. Doesn't sound too good but that doesn't mean he won't regain his health. Maybe the fluids will helps bring him back.
Personally I would check around in the cage and see if you find anything strange looking, I would also wonder if maybe he has a parasite?
I also would set the misting sessions to ten minutes minimum at least three times a day, and about one hour before lights out have a five minute mist session. 1 minute misting sounds far too inadequate. I know from experience that my chameleon doesn't even attempt to start drinking until the mister has been going for at least 5 minutes, but maybe your is different.
As far as stressing goes, maybe the cage is too small for him, or he needs more foliage to hide behind or more branches to climb on.
150w sounds like a lot to me, I have a 2x2x4 cage and I use a standard 65w incandescent bulb and he does fine.
I don't believe you mentioned what type of UVB you use, assuming you use one, have you changed it after six months?
These are all the things I would be checking to make sure I can rule all of this out before deciding to put him down
 
It breaks my heart to say that the vet just called and Creature has passed. Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. They were unsuccessful in their attempt to get bloodwork, and are quite honestly unsure of the cause.

cham creator: 150w full blast would certainly be too hot. I have it on a dimmer so that i can regulate the temperature, due to fluctuating temps this is the only effective method i have found.

The uvb is an arcadia 6%
 
I am so sorry for your loss. I experienced almost the exact same thing about two weeks ago. They say that chams are really good at hiding their illness until it is too late to help them, a defense mechanism.
Only time can heal your sadness. Sorry about your cham.
I had a vet student do a necropsy (for free) to try to get some answers- we got some- but not a whole picture of what happened.
I pass my time thinking about where and what kind of cham I want to get next- it helps a little.
 
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