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Healthy looking overbite! Call it a dental checkup. Gotta love the flexing posture of PO'd rat snakes. I use gloves with some of the more bitey animals. They don't seem to like the taste. I've heard rubber gloves are a great way to deter biters. I've since swapped out the beloved yet stylish oven mitts for leather working gloves when I deal with my male Tarahumara boa. Zero bluff with him. He's more than happy to puncture limbs. He doesn't bite the glove anymore, but has a fondness for forearms and biceps. Still, I'm working with him. The female is a sweetie fortunately.
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Oct 10, 2012 07:53
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Bobbaganoosh posted:Healthy looking overbite! Call it a dental checkup. Gotta love the flexing posture of PO'd rat snakes. I actually have some thick leather welding gloves I bought in case I ever need them, but I'm too lazy to go find them. I'm masochistic like that
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Oct 10, 2012 08:15
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Nice looking cresteds, Shachi! Good luck finding a male for them. The tank you put together is looking good as well. In case anyone was curious, the eye issue the gecko I posted 2 pages back is from a scratched cornea. Probably due to a fight with the lady I had him paired up. These are the dangers of breeding and keeping these animals together, even just a 1:1 pair. He should be ok. I have to feed him oral medication and rub a cream on his eyeball 4 times a day and he needs to go back in a couple of days for an ophthalmologist to see how he is healing.
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Oct 10, 2012 14:21
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Bobbaganoosh posted:Interesting subject! I enjoy following Dr. Fry's research and insight on the Venomdoc forums. A large garter snake chewing that left blood inexplicably dripping from my wrist years ago piqued my interest on the subject. It was clear then that garters certainly have something anticoagulant going on. Dr. Fry's research certainly shed light on questions I had from that day. Yeah, I can personally attest that California Kingsnakes have it as well. My friend's adult king decided that my left elbow smelled good enough and that she was going to eat it(I have ferrets and apparently missed a spot when I did the surgeon's scrub before going over there). I didn't even realize she was trying to eat me until I felt her tugginng the loose skin in an attempt to ratchet her jaws up further around my elbow. Took a good 30 minutes to get her off of me(she apparently had turned on her summer metabolism over the weekend and was HUNGRY, VERY HUNGRY NOW) and another hour before the bleeding stopped. No tears or slices in my skin, just a bunch teensy little punctures I couldn't even feel all bleeding like a mofo. I personally think Dr. Fry is basically correct with his "all snakes are venemous" hypothesis, seeing videos of colubrids nabbing slugs or lizards and seeing them freeze up and not even twitch post-bite heavily suggests an active mechanism of shutting resistance down. Having a salivary component that makes the nerves go haywire or drops blood pressure significantly so the snake can constrict(or just swallow alive) the prey item would be a huge evolutionary advantage for a constrictor. It wouldn't have to be built like a brick shithouse(i.e. boas and pythons,) and could efficiently hunt for prey rather than just sitting around waiting. They might not have purpose-built fangs and giant glands, but neither do the loris, european mole, and shrew family, and they're all quite venomous if you're the right(or wrong, depending on perspective) animal.
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Oct 10, 2012 16:03
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unprofessional posted:E. anthonyi terrarium and froggies. 126, how long till we start hearing these guys calling? They're growing like mad. Anthonyi mature pretty fast. You can often hear calling at six months, nine for sure. Sometimes, they start calling even earlier, though that depends on the frog. How many of those 25 were good and hatched with no SLS, all 25? That sounds like a crazy amount of frogs, and you're going to be drowning in tadpoles in a year or so. They're one of my favorite darts, cool species. Josh is pretty great; he used to spend a lot of time in the Dendroboard chat room a few years ago when I was more active in the hobby. I can buy the all snakes are venomous hypothesis. There's just so many groups with venom that we're finding, and it makes sense to figure that they all have something, or are secondarily venomless.
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Oct 10, 2012 17:44
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The most we've found in one count is 17, but the water feature covers the bottom of the tank, so it's hard to tell. Yesterday was the first time I noticed one with messed up front legs, and it was considerably smaller than a lot of the others, but it was still moving around fine and eating, so who knows. Is there any way to get the red really going on these guys? Right now the green is nice, but they're all pretty brown and not so striking.
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Oct 10, 2012 18:16
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You mentioned wanting orchid donations, and you could try BlackJungle, but you may also have luck if you have an orchid fancier's club in your area, and you probably will, because bored old people love complicated flowers. My grandma used to belong to one and I remember her donating flowers to all kinds of events that the orchid club went to, botanical expos and etc. They'd probably be interested if you could sell it right. Educating children and whatnot.
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Oct 10, 2012 18:21
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unprofessional posted:The most we've found in one count is 17, but the water feature covers the bottom of the tank, so it's hard to tell. Yesterday was the first time I noticed one with messed up front legs, and it was considerably smaller than a lot of the others, but it was still moving around fine and eating, so who knows. You generally have to euthanize these guys, it really stinks. Sometimes they manage to eat a bit and people take pity on them, though; euthanizing anything is unpleasant. They'll get redder with time, depending on which morph of anthonyi they are. I can't remember mine very well when I bred them, but give them a few months to color up. You can use Repashy super pig to help a bit, though; it's a vitamin supplement that contains various pigments they need for best color and some important biological processes. You could also use Repashy Calcium Plus, which is an all-in one supplement that also includes a percentage of super-pig.
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Oct 10, 2012 22:44
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I have a two year old Ball Python who has been extremely restless lately. Admittedly, I don't handle him as much as I should, and he still gets stressed out and makes heavy breathing sounds when I do, as well as wiggles around quite a bit sometimes. I'm trying to get better about and handle him more often. However when it comes to eating he's always been a trooper and ate his meals. This month he's refused two meals and has done nothing but crawl around his cage. I checked for mites (he had them once before and I eradicated them, not fun at all) and I didn't find any. Does anyone know why he might be so on edge? I've heard that this is mating season for ball pythons, so he might have the lady snakes on the mind and that's why he is not eating. Any ideas?
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Oct 12, 2012 05:36
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Anyone here breed O. p. coxi?
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Oct 12, 2012 06:29
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Got some video if anybody feels like watching it. He actually nabbed two at a time right before I could get the camera going; boy does he ever turn bright green and yellow when he sees that cricket bag coming. This is extra nice because my cameras can actually focus on him when he does, half the reason most of my shots are crappy cell phone pics are because my other camera can't decide where or how to focus on him(which is a credit to his abilities, I suppose). Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 06:31
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SpaceBees posted:This month he's refused two meals and has done nothing but crawl around his cage. It's only been a month and you're worried?  Serious answer: eh, it's late fall/almost winter, likely not a problem. Running around the cage constantly could be. What's the setup like? Where in the house is it? Temps?
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Oct 12, 2012 16:33
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Big Centipede posted:Anyone here breed O. p. coxi? No, but I want some~ Shachi, those are some nice looking cresties. I'd say pair with with either a 100% pinner of your liking, or like Foxy said, a kickass tri-color harley would be nice. Creamy is definitely an "in" trend for cresties right now. I can' believe 2012 breeding season is OVER. In a couple weeks (probably 1st week of November) I'll be cooling my greybands again. 
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Oct 12, 2012 18:59
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I need foxy or pardilis on this one: Found this on craigslist this morning and I desperately want to rescue him. I can't figure out from the picture what kind of chameleon it is. http://charlotte.craigslist.org/for/3315739691.html I'm pretty bummed out about the condition of the thing in general and want to make sure it goes to a good home. And for what he's asking for it I worry that some other know nothing is going to scoop him up. EDIT: The kid says its a veiled. It doesn't look right to me and I think has MDB maybe...eitherway I can't believe its a year old. Shachi fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 19:30
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That actually looks like a Carpet, especially if it's actually a year old, as they stay really small. The colors are very washed out in the picture, so I can't tell for sure; Pardalis would know better. If it is actually a Carpet cham, then experienced keepers do sometimes keep them in glass terrariums to bring the humidity levels up (they're a heavy rainfall species) so that's not entirely too bad, but a) you can probably attain the same levels in a mesh enclosure through dutiful spraying/live plants/covering it partially and b) the airflow is easier to regulate in a mesh enclosure, and this CL poster looks anything but experienced. That's also a sad, sad, bare enclosure for a cham, with pathetic fake plants and nowhere near enough of them. They live in bushy trees with heavy cover, so that's totally not ideal. If you want to rescue the little guy or gal, go ahead, but PM Pardalis for Carpet care specifications and be prepared for heartbreak, just in case this guy was lying about UVB/let the bulb burn out six months ago without realizing it and never replaced it (light will still come from the bulb, but no UVB). Also, supplementation and variety of prey items is key for these fellas, and I don't see anything about including his supplements, and just a vague mention of a 'cricket holder', no other prey. Chams can not live on crickets alone! ETA: Okay, what. If that's a Veiled, it's severely unhealthy and probably female, since it has no visible crest but is a year old. And that setup is killing it. Go get it if you want, but drat that's bad. What a loving moron. And people wonder why I'm so vehement with the cham advice. Captain Foxy fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 19:42
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Captain Foxy posted:That actually looks like a Carpet, especially if it's actually a year old, as they stay really small. The colors are very washed out in the picture, so I can't tell for sure; Pardalis would know better. I'm already pretty heartbroken about it. I'm about to go to get the little guy. The kid says it's a veiled...and that's all they sell at the local petsmart which is where I'm sure he got it from. My fiance said to be nice to the kid and if he is too far gone at least we tried. I guess I'll go by the hardware store to pic up materials to make him a decent enclosure. Any good links to a DIY cham mesh box?
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Oct 12, 2012 19:44
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Hard to tell with that crappy washed out photo but it looks like a senegal to me and I don't see obvious MBD but it is likely with that setup and husbandry. You could get it if you really wanted to but don't expect much beyond a shortened life for a stressed out animal. Senegals are all WC and only live around 4 years. E: I still think it is a senegal because of the shape of the casque but who knows. If it is a veiled, it is a severely stunted female at a year old and she is likely to eggbind later. Good luck; post photos after you get her. I wouldn't pay for her, personally, as she is going to cost you much to get back in reasonable shape. I don't suggest taking on rescues for inexperienced keepers. Be sure to quarantine her far, far away from your other animals as a respiratory infection is very plausible considering that setup. My favorite quick-cage setup, especially for an animal who may be ill, is a mesh laundry basket. They provide some level of visual barrier and they are cheap and disposable. IKEA has great round silver pop up ones for about $5. Pardalis fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 19:46
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^^^ OH GOD A SENEGAL WOULD BE SO MUCH WORSE WHY PETSMART WHYYYYShachi posted:I'm already pretty heartbroken about it. I'm about to go to get the little guy. The kid says it's a veiled...and that's all they sell at the local petsmart which is where I'm sure he got it from. My fiance said to be nice to the kid and if he is too far gone at least we tried. I guess I'll go by the hardware store to pic up materials to make him a decent enclosure. Any good links to a DIY cham mesh box? You do not need to be nice to the kid. Give him money if you must, but tell him in no uncertain terms that he has probably killed this animal if you feel like he doesn't know or realize that. I don't care if that's bitchy; there are THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of sites online for Veiled care, and they're considered an 'easy' chameleon, so poo poo, even a bad caresheet on the first page of Google would be better than nothing. loving up this badly means he did not see any of that. And that's inexcusable to me, I'm sorry. You want to have a weird exotic pet? You read about it, you don't just take it home from a petsmart and do gently caress all with it. Ikea has hanging mesh laundry bags that make great temporary cham enclosures. You can also just buy a Reptibreeze from a pet store; they're like $50. BE SURE that you have live plants (a lot of them, give the poor thing some cover and food) and get reading on chameleonforums.com about supplements. There's a great blog about rehabbing a Veiled called Raising Kitty the Veiled Chameleon, or something like that, and it's very applicable.
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Oct 12, 2012 19:51
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Pardalis posted:Hard to tell with that crappy washed out photo but it looks like a senegal to me and I don't see obvious MBD but it is likely with that setup and husbandry. So he sent me these. I'm concerned about the looks of her vent.  
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Oct 12, 2012 19:55
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He is a male senegal with what looks to be impacted hemipenes. Those bulges on the side of his tail are his junk; the tips sticking out are sperm plugs that need to be soaked and gently teased out. He looks mildly dehydrated and will have issues since that is a long-standing problem, but I see no obvious severe MBD yet and he could easily recover with proper supplementation and lighting. The first pic hints at the start of MBD- he looks weak, his jaw looks a bit off in alignment, and the way he is hanging on the branch are all making me worry.
Pardalis fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 19:58
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Yup that's a Senegal. A species that doesn't breed in captivity and never has, so this poor animal was brought from its home in the wild and thrown into that loving pathetic tank (oh and it has completely inappropriate substrate and a loving water dish that it will never recognize, yay!) like it was a god drat ball python. (No offense meant to BP owners)
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Oct 12, 2012 19:59
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Captain Foxy posted:Yup that's a Senegal. So yay/nay? Is he recoverable? Will he be able to thrive in captivity.
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Oct 12, 2012 20:01
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Once I get home I'll take measurements of the one I built, it was pretty cheap overall to build(the screening was the most expensive part). Another good thing about it is that you can scale it up to a much taller cage without changing more than 2 cuts. It's basically always better to have more than less room, plus with a tall cage you can put taller plants in and let your vines go absolutely crazy to make a cham jungle gym. Though if you go with mine, do yourself a favor and silicone some vinyl linoleum to the plywood before you screw it onto the cage frame, and then generously silicone every seam and crack. I have accidental automatic drainage in mine as a result of this oversight. e: Also poo poo like this is why I fought tooth and nail to avoid having chameleons in my department, and flat out refused to sell the ones I was forced to take on unless the person could tell me exactly what they needed. Virtually nobody that's interested in having them is willing to put in the efforts and equipment needed to care for them once they find out what it takes. e2: Since I've been curious and it's germane to Shachi getting that thing back into health, what have been the best gut loading diets in your experience thus far? I've been using romaine, sweet potatoes with tiny drizzles of molasss, apples, melon scraps, and half a tomato left over from dinner the other day (which virtually disappeared overnight, god drat do crickets love tomatoes). I haven't tried dog food yet but I do have high-quality cat food (nature's variety Prairie Chicken kibble) which I plan on tossing into their food bowls as well. Oh, and some summer squash and zucchini ends as well. Basically all my produce scraps(minus onion/onion family). Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Oct 12, 2012 |
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Oct 12, 2012 20:13
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Both Pardalis and I use a variety of fresh veggies and high-quality (see Pet Nutrition thread) dog kibble or freeze dried raw mix. Dog food is a great gutload for dubia. Shachi posted:So yay/nay? Is he recoverable? Will he be able to thrive in captivity. Many WC Senegals live well with expert hobbyists, but if this is your first experience with chameleons, I wouldn't expect this to be a happy one. You'll be putting in time and expense and there's no way to tell from the pictures how much of a chance he may have. It's ultimately your call. If you have an interest in keeping chameleons, and this is your first cham, I would honestly tell you to stay away. Yes it is incredibly sad for this chameleon and its incredibly lovely life, but it was this owner's choice to do this to the animal and then unload it on an unsuspecting CL person for $80. You could rescue it and everything could go well, I really don't know. But this is a lot to get into for a first-timer. Spend some time reading on chameleonforums, look into the different species and be aware of the time and expense needed to keep them happy, then look into ChameO Chameleon Rescue (on Facebook) if you want to get a beautiful, rehabbed adult animal shipped to you. She often has rare species too. A juvenile from a breeder is also a choice, but not necessarily the best one, unless it's a Veiled or you're okay with it possibly dying out of nowhere. ChameO really has nice animals, and you'd be rescuing if that's something you're interested in, but without the money and heartbreak risk.
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Oct 12, 2012 22:17
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Shachi posted:So yay/nay? Is he recoverable? Will he be able to thrive in captivity. I'd say get it. Even if you can't provide a perfect environment for it, you'll be able to do far better than the current owner. Once you have it and are taking better care of it, you can look around for responsible Chameleon keepers willing to take it off your hands. Then you can use the supplies you bought for it to try keeping one of the easier Chameleons.
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Oct 12, 2012 22:51
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So I just got him home. His enclosure is deplorable and it's rather astonishing he's alive. The little bit of reading I've done on Senegals so far says they're extraordinarily hardy which in this case and many others can be to their detriment because they can survive so long in terrible conditions. A couple initial questions: You mentions soaking him to ease his hemiphine impaction. Should I start doing that now or let him de-stress for a while? I just got back from Home Depot and $80 bucks later I have mats for a proper enclosure and a nice ficus and some pothos for him. I paid the guy $40 bucks for him and talked him into taking $30 for the 20L and like 3 nice lamps which I need the 20L to modify for my new male crested when I eventually get him. I took a bunch of pics I'll post later. He was worse than I thought, but I think he'll be ok. Right now I gotta scarf down some food and get cracking on his cage before I head off to work (3rd shift :C). My fiance said I should have driven my patrol car to pick up the little guy and issued the guy a citation for cruelty to animals after getting him. I'm thinking 24"x 24" x 48" for an enclosure.
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Oct 12, 2012 23:18
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Personally I'd just mist him generously for the time being, but see what Pardalis/Foxy say. If you're going for a 4 foot cage, I'd say just throw down on a full 6-footer and let that ficus grow up nice and tall. Plus you won't have to build as tall a stand as I did with mine. If you do the 24" dimensions, home depot has some nice double-lamp shop fixtures for very cheap that you'll be able to toss fluorescent growing light bulbs into, they'll really help your plants flourish more than a UV bulb alone would, plus the near-UV spectra of light they emit at the top end will help him see truer colors and thus be a better eater(typically). Anyways here's my cut list for my own cage. These are in 1x2s so if you're doing 2x4s you may have to adjust some: Walls: 21 1/4" x 4 32 1/2" x 4 19 9/16" x 4 Door: 36" x 2 18" x 2 Floor: 21 1/8" x 21 1/8" piece of plywood. Mine's 1/2" ply, I wouldn't go thinner due to sagging risks aggravated by the misting. e: make sure you dechlorinate the water, and mist him with warm water to start off with. Warm water tends to be received far better than room temp or cool.
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Oct 13, 2012 00:46
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Wait on soaking him and throw him and his pothos/ficus in for a warm shower while you get the cage together. He needs to rehydrate and it will take a few days of extra attention but at the same time you don't want to stress him. I shower rescue animals pretty much once a day until they seem vibrant and fully hydrated again. It is normal for them to hate the first few showers but they generally get the idea after a few if you have it set up right. Other than the showers, leave him totally alone. Don't look at him much, don't try to directly hand feed, just mist heavily and frequently and maybe set up drippers, too. He will recover faster the more secure and safe he feels. I would personally opt for a smaller cage- 18"x18"x36" or so with heavy live planting (senegals are shy and like extra humidity) and lots of visual break-up so that you can be sure he is encountering food often enough. I would also line all sides but the top and front with vinyl shower curtain liner to keep humidity up and lower his stress from seeing stuff outside of his cage. This will also help you contain the water that will be flowing through the cage from all the extra misting you will be doing. You will also want to get him proper lighting ASAP and if you are in a climate that is still warm with summer sunshine and temps above 60, put the whole cage outside in a shady protected spot for natural UVB exposure for an hour or more each day. 15 minutes of overcast outside weather is more effective than 8 hours of the best, freshest UVB bulb and this will do wonders with getting him back in shape. If you can't put him outside right now, that is okay, just give him the lights and make sure his basking spot is the right temp. His hemipenal blockages look weird; can you get a few more photos of them? They may be normal and just need some help out (they joy of owning a boy), in which case you can gently q-tip the area in mineral oil and then use tweezers to gently, slowly tease them out horizontally, towards the front of your cham's body. If it seems uncomfortable or really stuck, stop and wait. You can soak them later when he is feeling a bit better but the showers should just do this naturally. He may even just pass them on his own when he poops; this is what usually happens but sometimes they don't push all the way out, much like a dog's anal glands.  At least you know you have a real man on your hands~As for his MBD, hard to tell how bad it is, but just be very gentle with him to avoid breaking anything while he builds up bone density over the next few months. He also may need to be primarily cup-fed so that he can shoot his meals at least at first until he builds up strength and skill. You can go to a herp vet, get his calcium levels checked, and maybe even a calcium and d3 shot, but I don't think it would be worth it when he is in that good of shape. It is also almost impossible to find a vet who knows anything about chameleons. With the right supplements, he should bounce back fine but he may have a touch of permanent organ damage from long term MBD and dehydration so keeping him well hydrated and supplemented will be a priority. Personally, I would give him Miner-All Outdoor at every feeding (daily right now), herptivite once a week, and calcium with d3 once a week for a few months until he seems perkier and like he is doing better. Then I would switch to regular supplementation. Matt Wheelock and Richard Funk are both great cham vets that I know of off the top of my head. You can find them through the chameleonforums or google their practices. It might be worth emailing them for some opinions or referrals to herp vets. Dr Funk is in Arizona afaik, dunno about Wheelock.
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Oct 13, 2012 02:36
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In the matter of gutloads, I rotate what I use. When I am good, I blend up 20 lbs of various fruits, veggies, and powerfoods on a semi-regular basis and freeze it in ice cubes to dole out as needed. I use water gel crystals and sliced veggies for moisture with powdered high quality cat or dog food when I am lazy. I like to rotate gutloads because the pet food can be too high protein for some types of animals and is linked to gout in chameleons specifically (that being said, I have never had issue and use moderate protein formulas that average 20%). I want to make sure I cover all of my bases. I also offer leafy greens and slices of fruits/squash directly to my male veiled via chip clip but he hasn't gotten adventurous yet, probably because he is still a babby. I've considered trying the Repashy gutload but I honestly don't care enough to order it and pay their price. I also just like making my own mix. The dubia roaches in particular seem to freak out when I give them bee pollen.
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Oct 13, 2012 02:43
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Ughh that poor thing.  Sending all my good vibes your way, Shachi. In other news, I brought home that beardie I was talking about rescuing today. The tank was in pretty deplorable shape, the bottom of the tank was a crust of junk mail (not even just newspapers), crickets, and feces/urates. The girl seems to be a nice healthy size however, which initially worried me because I had not seen her until today and they told me they were feeding her lettuce and carrots.  She's actually quite a pretty bearded, they told me they bought her at Repticon for $100 when they first bought her 3 years ago. Here's a picture of her smugly chilling on her new, freshly scrubbed and disinfected tank: Now she's chowing down on the kale and mustard greens like it's the best thing she's ever eaten. 
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Oct 13, 2012 02:48
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I'm trying to set up a tank for my snake and bought a under-tank-heater and mounted it on the size (I figured it was safer) and it's not really heating the tank. It's a ten gallon aquarium and I bought a ZooMed UTH. The ambient temp in my room is around 70F and it's heating the aquarium to 72-73F. Am I doing something wrong? >__>
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Oct 13, 2012 03:31
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Slinky Weasel posted:I'm trying to set up a tank for my snake and bought a under-tank-heater and mounted it on the size (I figured it was safer) and it's not really heating the tank. It's a ten gallon aquarium and I bought a ZooMed UTH. The ambient temp in my room is around 70F and it's heating the aquarium to 72-73F. Am I doing something wrong? >__> Are you measuring the temperature with a digital thermometer or an infrared gun? I have dimmer switches on all my UTHs because otherwise they can hit 130* F or higher, but those lcd strip thermometers don't give accurate readings on that.
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Oct 13, 2012 03:37
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Joonami posted:Are you measuring the temperature with a digital thermometer or an infrared gun? I have dimmer switches on all my UTHs because otherwise they can hit 130* F or higher, but those lcd strip thermometers don't give accurate readings on that. I'm using this thermometer as well as an aquarium thermometer that I was using to double check the accuracy. I have a digital aquarium thermometer I could take out of one of my tanks, would that work?
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Oct 13, 2012 04:07
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try something like this http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-laser-thermometer-96451.html much better and usable on multiple tanks. also for the heat pad move it to the bottom and grab a lamp dimmer to control it.
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Oct 13, 2012 04:14
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Slinky Weasel posted:I'm using this thermometer as well as an aquarium thermometer that I was using to double check the accuracy. I have a digital aquarium thermometer I could take out of one of my tanks, would that work? I'm not sure, does it have a temperature probe on it? I know for instance petco has digital 'reptile' thermometers for about $9, though I bet you can also get similar things at walmart or something. The probe should be on the glass under the substrate and then test again above the substrate. Edit: Here's the link to petco's digital thermometer. http://www.petco.com/product/106227/Zoo-Med-Digital-Thermometer.aspx You can find dimmer switches at home depot/lowe's or sears hardware if you need them 
Joonami fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Oct 13, 2012 |
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Oct 13, 2012 04:15
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I've got this thermometer. It's pretty much the same, right?  I moved the heater to the bottom of the tank. Let's see what happens...
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Oct 13, 2012 04:34
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So here are some pics I took. I didn't finish his enclosure before I had go to work so I intend to work on it in the morning when I get off. http://brooksamillion.imgur.com They are in the "poor cham" album. The turd I picked him up from was a real first class lowlife so I didn't bother preaching. He said he got it from some pet store and when I told him it was actually a Senegal he said "it figures...they told me he didn't need two lights but I did research and found out he needed a reptile bulb (UVB)" so at least he did one thing right. As for the cage. He had wet and soured repti carpet. The thing stinks to high heaven is completely covered in cricket poo poo. Yes. You heard right. The owner kept his crickets in the cage with the poor thing. I pulled out no less than 30 crix. So several pics of how bad the cage is and several pics of how pissed off the Cham who I've dubbed Dalek is. The pics of his vent are just after he poo poo so it's still a little open so I was opening you could see it better. His poop looked normal though a bit runny. Urates were a bit on the thick side in my opinion but I've never kept a Cham and I'd imagine its due to dehydration. The little guy is skinny as gently caress and I think he is about to shed as he's very dull and whiteish but its hard to tell how much of that is stress. I've got him shut in a spare room, in front of a window on the 2nd story of my house so nothing should bother him and he's far away from my geckos. I'm stuck here at work and just made one of the biggest arrests of my career and all I can think about is the poor guy.
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Oct 13, 2012 05:11
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He doesn't look nearly as bad as he could and should make a quick recovery for you if you follow my instructions above. I would dose him with a couple of rounds of panacur a few weeks apart after he is drinking reliably to take care of the bulk of worms he is most likely carrying. You should also take him into a herp vet for a fecal smear and float if you can. Honestly, he is a WC animal and it is almost impossible to ever get WC chams totally clear of parasites so careful husbandry to avoid cross contamination is vital. If you get him healthier, eating, drinking, and wormed, he will do the rest and his immune system will rise to the challenge. Feed him a wide variety of insects and offer lots of juicy stuff like silkworms, waxworms, and superworms to get weight on him. I would start small and work up with food so you don't feed him too much in one go. Start with maybe 3-5 feeders on the first day, wait for poop, feed again. Do this for a week until he is pooping reliably and it is looking well formed. After that, you can slowly increase what you are offering until he is eating his fill and gaining weight without issues pooping. His appetite will pick up as he starts feeling better. Having the right lighting will really help. Don't be surprised if he hunger strikes for the first week; pretty normal as he will be stressed out from the changes and re-establishing a routine. Those hemipenal impactions don't look infected but certainly are not comfortable for him. You could try gently teasing them out with tweezers while holding the base of the tail and putting a slight, light pressure around the bulges to make the ends of the sperm plug grabbable. Be really careful, go slow, don't force it and use lubrication (quagmire) You are doing a wonderful thing for this poor little guy. I love your name choice but he will probably prove to be a very sweet animal despite it because there is something just so gentle and patient about those shy little montane species.
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Oct 13, 2012 05:39
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Pardalis posted:You are doing a wonderful thing for this poor little guy. I love your name choice but he will probably prove to be a very sweet animal despite it because there is something just so gentle and patient about those shy little montane species. I named his Dalek more for the the fact that he has every right to hate everything and evidently is impossible to kill. "You are superior to me in one respect. You are better at dying" -Dalek Again thanks for all the help. The little guy is doing ok if only for the sake of being left alone and not having 30 crickets in his cage. I left him siting in his ficus by the window in an empty room by himself and he was pretty content to just stay in his tree while I finished his enclosure. I worked on the new enclosure all day today and mostly finished it. I'll post pictures when I finish putting all the plants in and get the screen top finished and his lights set up. Right now he's just sleeping in his ficus and seems pretty pleased with that. I was pretty sad to learn that Senegals usually only live 4 or 5 years in captivity and he has undoubtedly suffered enough to shorten his life further. I hope that I can at least make it better for him. My fiance has really taken to a liking to him and so I painted the cage a light purple that matches her desk and he will stay in her future craft room which she is pretty excited about. The other nice thing is it keeps him away from my geckos and turtles and no one goes in that room so he shouldn't be bothered much other than mistings/feedings. I had zero time to give him his shower therapy today so I intend to start that tomm. Thanks again for all the help and encouragement from everyone. Chameleons were never an animal that I considered getting into even though they've always fascinated me. Maybe in the distant future I'll pick up a panther or veiled. Right now my focus is on this guy and my upstart gecko project. Even If i cant do anything else for him, It's nice to know I kept some other jackass from buying him from his original jackass owner.
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Oct 14, 2012 03:19
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 13:56 |
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You are a good man and you do good things. Do not allow your new pet to exterminate you.
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Oct 14, 2012 04:48
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