Who has bought WC adults and in what condition were they?

[Aminah Undone]

My new Nosy Be is a WC adult female. I was told she was a tail amputee ..suggested that it probably happened at a young age, as it was fully healed. Then I got her home.. she arrived, today.

Not only is most of her tail gone, but one of her feet has 3 toes almost completely severed. They are quite literally hanging by dry, necrotic threads of tissue.

Should I have expected this?

I usually don't encourage WC anything and I've only had a couple LTC animals in my care, over the years (rescues that someone dumped on me), so I am at a loss. When I saw her being auctioned off, I felt sorry for her and threw out a random bid. As I watched the auction throughout the rest of the day, my heart strings started pulling... and I waited to throw out the winning bid, in the last few seconds. But I did not know she was going to be a twice amputee (once those toes are removed by my Vet) and possibly gravid and who knows what else is going on.

I'm not looking for any solution, nor am I looking to put salt on anyone (the seller). I am genuinely curious if this is commonplace with WC Chams, so I will know to never ever let my heart strings drive my bidding finger again.

 

[kinyonga]

When I first started keeping chameleons over 25 year ago all you could get were WC's. Some would come in in beautiful condition and others had broken toes, infections in the ankles, mouth rot, internal parasites, scrapes, bruises...you name it they could have it....so the condition of the one you just bought is not unusual when it comes to WC's. Its sad that in all the years since I started keeping them that they can not arrive in better condition.

 

[Carlton]

My new Nosy Be is a WC adult female. I was told she was a tail amputee ..suggested that it probably happened at a young age, as it was fully healed. Then I got her home.. she arrived, today.

Not only is most of her tail gone, but one of her feet has 3 toes almost completely severed. They are quite literally hanging by dry, necrotic threads of tissue.

When a rough collector grabs a cham off a branch they can easily break toes. But, life in the wild is hard too and many wcs I've seen had damaged toes, tail tips or eyes. The loss of an entire tail is less common as the cham would have a harder time surviving without it.

I guess you could look at it this way: she was probably doomed if left in the wild. At least she'll have an easier life with a human to bring her everything.

 

[Aminah Undone]

Thank you both for the input. I appreciate it very much.

My peace of mind has increased, at least. I feel more confident that she will thrive, once settled in, and this can be a "good thing".

 

[Vegas Chad]

That is a little extra beat up… I hope that it was reflected in the price for you. They are tough and with some TLC they usually settle in nicely. Good luck with her!

 

[yokman]

I seen a TON of "graceful" chameleon this past week at the expo here that we all WC and looked BAD BAD BAD. I felt for the poor guy's as the need lots of TLC. A guy had about 10 WC carpets that were beautiful though and I fell in love with them pretty lil things. He was charging 60.00 a piece or 100.00 a pair with a wide range of colors. My jackson has a tiny ball on the end of her tail were sumthing has happened to her b4 I got her and think it adds chareter to her. But atleast she has all her toe nails and is doing fine for me.

 

[Aminah Undone]

She definitely appears to be a little worse for wear, aesthetically, but her overall actions tell me she is going to work it all out and be okay. She arrived yesterday morning, and I have only approached to check temps with a tempgun (she is terrified of it, btw) and mist her a little extra, as her urate has a slight orange tint.. very slight.

I observed her checking out a few bugs in her food cup, yesterday. She didn't eat anything, but she spent a good amount of time watching the dubia, crickets and calci-worms (I put 2 of each, so not to stress her out.. but just in case she might be hungry).

She does seem to be gravid, though. That is really my biggest concern, at this point. Her backbone is prominent over a full, rounded belly and there are clear "jelly bean" protrusions. I set her up with a lay bin, just in case.

Btw, I "stole" her in the auction... shipped for less than $100. I think that is very fortunate, seeing that I may have quite a Vet bill coming up

 

[Psi]

I don't think I would ever buy a WC Female.
Despite the fact they knew what it was, who knows who could have lied down the chain.
WC Males on the other had ... those I would get.

 

[Aminah Undone]

Psi.. I really try not to support anything WC, just on "GP" ..but Sela definitely trumped that. Just one of those moments when you listen to your heart

 

[LVmama]

Good luck with her! make sure you get a fecal done and just give her time to settle, you will love to watch her get healthy.
I scored a beat up, starved montium 6 months ago, it was a joy to watch it color up and fill out.