An Update on Kiwi the Chameleon

One of my chameleon rescues, Kiwi, came back to me a couple months ago and I put her immediately into a new foster home. After a month or two, Kiwi stopped eating and I had a vet tech friend take her. The 2nd move stressed her out and she ended up at my Utah vets’ office today where they found her belly and throat filled with fluid. It’s not looking good for her. 

Right now I’m waiting on the blood work results to come back. 

Kiwi was a spontaneous pet store purchase. She didn’t have a good cage or a good UVB light and had severe Metabolic Bone Disease when I got her. Her bones were so fragile that the moment she started crawling along her new screen tank, her arm & leg bones broke. She spent several months in a flat 10 gallon sick tank while we strengthened her bones. MBD has long lasting consequences on bones and internal organs (like the kidneys & liver). 

Changes for Kiwi

The stress of moving Kiwi and putting her into a bigger tank has really taken its toll on her. Poor baby has even worse coordination in her back legs than before. I feel so bad that I didn't start off putting her into a short, sick tank in the beginning.

I took her out of the tall Reptibreeze cage and put her into a small one with no climbing branches. This is the same thing I had to do with Newt years ago because his coordination was so bad.

While I was swapping out the cages, I had my girl hold Kiwi. Kiwi is super happy to just sit, curled up in a ball. It's very adorable, but very tragic. 

I added in a tiny bed that Newt used to love for her. She wasn't thrilled with it and tried to climb the mesh instead. At one point, she even reached out flailing with her front arm and latched on to her eyeball instead. It looked just like Newt! So sad! 

I've been chatting with my chameleon expert friends so I can get a better idea of what to do with Kiwi. Until today, she didn't seem that bad. Her legs were a little wobbly yesterday, but I thought she was okay. Today I can see how bad it is. Our guess is that she has poor coordination and mobility due to Metabolic Bone Disease and possibly some nutritional deficiencies. 

She's got a brand new Mercury Vapor bulb on her tank and today I gave her some carnivore Critical Care mixed with Repashy's Calcium Plus powder. I'll keep doing that every day for awhile so we can get her calcium levels back up. I may or may not take her to the vet this week. 

I know people think chameleons are cool, but they are HARD! Especially in Utah where it's so dry. I'm glad this little girl is with me now. I'll work my hardest to get her all better and then she'll go to my friend in California who has Lotus, Akime, and Hazel (the last female cham who I never named). California's climate is much better for chameleons than Utah's is. 

Rescue Chaos & Overlaod

My house looks like a rescue bomb went off. I got home from vacation a week ago and had vacation things and Christmas things and everyday stuff to put away. Add to that 6 separate rescues in 5 days, and my house is crazy. And I had to open my Etsy shop back up. On top of all it, I got sick while we were in California and I can't seem to get the cold out of my lungs. And it's ridiculously frozen here-- like the high is 17 degrees.

Here's the thermometer on the dashboard yesterday as I was picking up Lily and Kiwi. Ignore the dust. I obviously need to clean out my van again. 17 degrees.

Blah.

So here's an in-depth look at a few of the areas in my house where things sorta exploded.

I've tried to use my shelves to keep things organized. Um, I'm pretty much failing at this.

Once upon a time, I had a nice desk set up for writing at. Now it just holds random light bulbs- are they dead or not? I can't remember-- and random supplies I set down and never put away.

Lily & Leo are on the floor of my bedroom since all the shelf space was taken by other tanks.

We recently moved my crafty room/Etsy shop down into our front room. I think there were, like, 12 seconds when it was actually organized. Now? Nope.

Supplies from Christmas, new Etsy material I haven't listed, a Halloween decoration or two, and more tanks that didn't have anywhere else to be put.

This was originally my "Critical Care" area with Gumby, Sunny (the baby ball python), and Baby Sawyer. It keeps me from using my table for working on Etsy, but it got the tanks off my kitchen counter.

We added 8 foot bookcases in the craft room to store our massive collections of books (I love books!) and the shelves end up housing random reptile equipment too.

My fridge supplies are sorta contained to one shelf in the fridge. So I keep the Critical Care between the Oyster sauce, pineapple juice, and horseradish. Oh and the extra ketchup package from Chick-fil-A.

Also in the kitchen-- in plain sight so I don't forget-- are my baggies of syringes for the sicklies I'm feeding. They are right next to the Christmas goodies that were given to us that we haven't eaten yet.

The living room isn't quite as bad either. I've been trying to move Georgie around and put her in a bigger box by herself. She keeps getting bumped off the list and I haven't gotten around to her yet. I let her free roam a couple days ago and she's quite happy with it.

The chameleon cage-- which I keep promising myself to not use for a long time-- actually sat in the garage for a week and a half! Woo hoo! It is now back on the side table in front of two south facing windows in my living room. Kiwi is having a hard time with her back legs and so I have the bottom of her cage lined with blankets so she can't fall and hurt herself. Just in case, I also have my small cage set out in case I need to downsize her.

The grandfather clock that I inherited when my grandparents died is one of my favorite possessions in my house. I recently just got it fixed so it's back to chiming every 15 minutes. It too gets to share in the rescue chaos. It's my "Shed Storage." Here's sheds from at least 5 different snakes. Under my great horned owl puppet, there's a baggie with a lot of interesting beardie sheds.

Yesterday all of the beardie tanks were cleaned too. . . . Not that you can tell!  Dash did some serious poop painting and Neville has been rearranging his.

Maybe one of these days I'll actually get myself organized, but definitely not until I get over this stupid cold (both the one in my body and the nasty cold outside!) Can't wait until Spring!!

How NOT to make a Chameleon Cage

The chameleon I rescued today was in a 29 gallon tall tank. No branches, no vines. Just 4 fake plants on one wall. 

Chameleons need to be able to climb close to their heat lamp when they want to warm up. They need lots and lots of vines and branches and places to climb. They need mesh walls so air can flow in and out. Glass tanks cause nasty respiratory infections in chameleons. 

This chameleon has soft bones and the start of Metabolic Bone Disease. He had only a small coil UVB light on top of the tank and its rays did not penetrate far enough to help the Cham absorb the UVB rays. Without the UVB, his body couldn't process and absorb the calcium and his bones grew soft. 

As his bones replace the calcium levels and firm up, they will get rather lumpy and thick. 

Here's his new set up: 

Lots of branches and vines and sticks and ladders. Even a live plant. He can get right up under the new Mercury Vapor bulb to heat up and absorb UVB. He'll do much much better now. 

Crazy Day

Today might have set a record for craziness. And it didn't have a single thing to do with Thanksgiving tomorrow! 

Here's a good pic of the chaos: 

I brought home a full grown Argentinian tegu, 2 young ball pythons, and a young chameleon with metabolic bone disease. 

The snakes ended up in the living room. I don't like overhead lights for snake tanks, but this is temporary. 

Luckily, I learned my lesson after the last two chameleons and saved my nice set up. The chameleon was in a 29 gallon tall tank with fake plants on one side and the wrong kind of lights. Now she's in a good mesh cage with a ton of climbing branches and a mercury vapor bulb on top. 

The tegu will stay with us for a couple days and then go to his new home. My boys love tegus. But I don't have a picture of him. 

Everyone is in a basic set up and is fine for the night. Tomorrow I'll fix them all up better. I've been fighting a chest cold all week and I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I can improve all the set ups. 

Sweet Mango

Lil Mango pooped normally once this afternoon and then passed a very large (considering his body weight) a blood clot. He died shortly after that. 

Obviously something very bad went wrong internally. Poor baby. 

He was warm & toasty & at peace when he died. 

Mid-Afternoon Mango

Mango's color improved after the trauma of being held and poked with a shot. 

That's the good news. 

The bad news is that I found him laying on his side. :( 

If he makes it through until the morning, I'll give him food, a baby food slurry with some vitamins. 

There's still some hope that he'll pull through since he's still alive, but it's going to take a miracle for the lil guy. 

The Second Saline Shot

The second saline injection really took its toll on Mango. He looks dreadful again. :( 

It's such a roller coaster of ups and downs. 

Rescue is not for the faint of heart. 

Mango made it through the Night

Mango made it through the night. I'm making a warm steam tent for him for a bit to bring up the humidity. 

His colors look better too. 

Peaceful Mango

I found Lil Mango limply hanging onto the towel in his cage earlier and I thought he was gone. 

But when I picked him up, he still responded to me. 

Now he's sleeping peacefully on his side and looking like he's already died. 

But when I touched him lightly, he still responded. He is less dehydrated looking which is good, but his colors are still bad and his eyes are super sunk in. 

I'm not sure if he'll still be alive when I wake up in the morning, but I'm very grateful he's in a warm, cozy, and soft place. He is peaceful and I am happy for that. 

Mango

Today I was asked to help try to save the life of this poor little baby. Mango is a jackson's chameleon. 

Yes, he's in very bad shape. I gave him a saline injection and have him in a special 10 gallon sick tank. It's just going to be a waiting game now to see if he has enough fight left to make it through. 

Mango is severely dehydrated and malnourished. It could be a genetic problem or it could be from being in a bad environment. At this point, it's hard to say. 

Sometimes reptiles fight for so long to survive that when they don't have to fight their bodies just quit. Sometimes their bodies react poorly to nutrition and hydration and they die. It's all a waiting game to see. 

The Girls made it!

Check out the stink eye they are giving! 

They got to their new home quickly and were put on their new free roaming areas. 

Lotus-- 

Akime has a "handicapped" one while she builds up strength. 

Akime immediately ate. She's never turned down food. Ever. 

I can't tell how amazing their new home is. They will live in Chameleon Paradise for the rest of their lives. 

Special Shipping

Akime & Lotus are headed to a chameleon sanctuary in California tonight. I made specialized travel cups for them. 

House of Chameleons took Newt last year and adopted my two baby tortoises this past summer. I trust them completely and these two girls will be so happy there. 

Updates on the others from the Vet

Akime got her special bandage off today. Hooray! Her skin is all healed over for arm. Because the skin is so fragile, we put a simple wrap cover on it to protect it from her grabbing. When she gets stressed, she grabs at the bandage with her good arm and can't let go. 

She and Lotus are going to a their new home at a Chameleon Sanctuary next week! Woo hoo! We've just been waiting for the bandage to come off. 

Drake appears to have defective or blocked tear ducts that prevent his eyes from draining properly. He will always have weepy eyes that need wiped frequently so they don't get crusty. 

He's been shedding off the nasty sand stained skin too which is making him into a handsome Beardie. I'll start looking for a home for him soon. 

Georgie got an injection of antibiotics to help with her runny nose and goopy eyes. She was not happy to be examined and eventually outlasted the vet who wanted to look in her mouth. 

Baby Foot got his nails clipped since they had curled up and under his feet. We did get to see that he is for sure a boy. Until now, his shell has been too deformed to tell. Definitely a boy. :) 

The next vet trip will be for Midnight the iguana. Everyone else -- so far-- is healthy. 

Field Trip to the Vet

It's another big vet visit today. 

I have Georgie (runny nose) and Baby Foot (nail & beak trim). 

Drake still has runny eyes. 

Akime needs her arm bandage off. 

And Henry is a new guy who is a mess. 

Luckily, they scheduled me a full hour. I'm going to use it!