Young panther rescue PLZ HELP

[Kyle Walkinshaw]

I brought this baby panther home tonight on a rescue because she is in really bad shape. She was being kept with 3 other chameleons and they were all raised together as babies and now the other 3 are twice her size and just yesterday did I notice problems with her mouth and eyes. Both her eyes look like they are crusted and her mouth cannot close all the way. I am not really sure what is wrong with her but any advice on what I could use to help bring her back to health would be an amazing help because I am not too familiar with chameleons.

Here is a photo http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/700sscn2354.jpg

Thanks in advance,
Kyle Walkinshaw~

[Trace]

Hi Kyle!

First off, I want to commend you for taking her in, she's going to be a LOT of work.

She really needs vet attention ASAP though, just to determine the state of her injuries. Her eyes are swollen and I can't really tell if that's necrotic tissue or just deep bruising on her face. Beyond that, her colours look... ok. Not great... just ok. She probably needs a course of antibiotics and some nice pain meds.

In the meantime, offer supportive care. Put her in a tank with a UV bulb and a basking area. Give her limited tank accessories like plants, sticks etc so she doesn't accidently hurt herself more. Maybe a soft towel on the bottom of the tank in case she falls. Try your best to keep her hydrated. Give water through a syringe. You've got the "bug juice" recipe, try to get a bit of that into her as well. Any food in her tummy will make her stronger.

Best of luck! Please, PLEASE, keep me posted on how she does.

Trace

[Reptayls]

Kyle,

Catching up on posts, I saw this and wondered how the little gal is doing. Were you able to get her in to see a vet?

My hubby and I caught the "chameleon bug" a few years back - now we have over 200 cages and most are full with our breeding colony(s). We currently raise/breed several color morphs of panthers; veiled; flapneck; deremensis; quadracornis, rudis; lateralis; melleri; rhampholeons; and brookesia - not to mention the blue tongue skinks, the crested geckos and the rescued corn snake (plus the mice colony to feed it)! And of course, top this menagerie off with our "chief cricket wrangler" - our scottish terrier!

Last year we graduated into importation. When we get an order in, the wc chams are acclimated and treated for all sorts of minor wounds and maladies - not to mention parasites.

Back to your little gal - after hatching and raising a 'few' clutches of chameleons - I can honestly say that this looks like sibling abuse. The competition for food can get tough - siblings that are housed together can often be seen fighting over the same cricket. One gets hold of a cricket or worm - and the siblings try to steal it. This is perhaps what has happened to this little gal. If her siblings were much larger - they possibly bit her head - and most likely did some damage to the eyes and tongue. For this very reason (and others), siblings need to have plenty of space - and be in separate enclosures when getting older.

Damage such as this can be traumatic and possibly fatal. If the delicate eyes are damaged, she may never see again. If her tongue was sprained or worse - the only course may be amputation. At her young age and small size, it would take a vet with extremely good skills and tons of herp experience to pull her through. Even though tongue amputation is not a death sentence, the course of antibiotics may lead to kidney and liver failure.

It saddens me to see such injuries - especially when they could have been avoided with some attention to the chams' behaviors and education on proper housing. While panthers are less aggressive towards conspecifics than veiled - they can still inflict a nasty wound on a young sibling.

Let us know the outcome, you and your tiny ward will be in our thoughts.

Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.