Not good..

[Hatched Exotics]

Hi all.. this was found on my doorstep today..
http://www.hatchedexotics.com/poorherp/poorherp.htm

Trace, any advice?

tests for parasites came back neg. too..

[ohh_kristina]

oh my..that is horrible! I hope you can help her in some way :( :(

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

My gawd, vet time...

[asphyxia]

I hate to say this, and I could be wrong, but I would Kill it,

then bust up the person who let it get that bad

Brian

[Bartman]

thats sick..just plain sick...hope you can save it and ill be crossing my fingers for ya

[Trace]

Is it still alive?

Trace

[Hatched Exotics]

Yes she's still alive.. amazingly..

[Trace]

Hey Renee!

Ok... I've gotten over my disgust with people... I'll try an help. I've taken in sicker looking chameleons than that and a few have made it. What did your vet say? I'm surprised he didn't say to euthanize her. Be that as it may, what kind of treatments did he suggest or what are doing at this point?

If she were here, and I HADN'T seen my vet yet, I would set her up in a tank with no sticks or cage furniture. I'd put a towel on the bottom, bunch it around her so she doesn't tip over and maybe a UTH or heat pad in case my overhead bulb isn't warm enough. I'd give her SQ fluids and maybe a dose of pain meds. Since you don't have either, try a small amount of water by mouth to see how responsive she is. Again these are measures I would take to make her comfy until I saw my vet for a further course of action. I would assume treatments would be force feedings and calcium/vitamin injections/pain meds daily to bring her back. It will be costly...

I would be very surprised if she makes it through the night.

Good luck!

Trace

[Hatched Exotics]

the vet said since I don't have the $$ [OSAP didn't come in yet.. it's due Tuesday] he won't do anything for her cause I can't pay for it.. the vets here are scared of herps.. anything that's not a dog, cat or horse has no place around here :(

I gave her some pedialyte.. she drank about 10 ml of it.. I've got her in a small tank with a UTH and a 60 watt bulb..
I made some of your bug juice but I used super worms that I had beheaded and peeled so there was very lil chit(however it's spelt*.. [that is one GROSS job!] then added some Miner-All I, some collard greens, and some all natural mixed fruit baby food. ground up all fine and syringe fed about 10 mls to her.. I'll take another pic of her tomorrow.. I don't wanna disturbe her that often.

[dank7oo]

hmm .. i honestly cant beleive a vet refusing an animal ... my friend got free cham surgery here in ottawa form a vet because it was to save her life ... just my 2 cents!

[Repti]

Keep us posted!!

[Sean Day]

I agree with Brian, I think it has suffered enough.

Sean

[snakemann87]

THAT IS HORRIBLE........I'd like to knock out the guy/girl who put that there............cowards.......

[dank7oo]

how is she doing? poor little girl

[J-Man]

That's unreal! More power to ya for taking her in. I'll pray for the little girl and I'm sure if she doesn't make, it won't be your fault.

[Hatched Exotics]

Update..
She's all light green and happy looking.. well happier looking.. was "walking" around a bit today.. ate and drank about the same..
her tongue was in her mouth.. it's more pink now..

I have hopes for this lil girl...

[J-Man]

That's great. It sounds like she could actually pull through... but I don't have any experience in rescuing herps.

[Wuntu Menny]

I seem to be at a loss for words.

I would however, greatly enjoy an opportunity to get my hooks into the individual that committed this little atrocity.

WM

[Oliverian]

Thats so sad..... :( I hope she makes it. Thats a bad case of neglect if I ever saw one. At least they sort of tried to do something by giving it to you, but thats still horrible. Good luck. ~TR~

[J-Man]

It's gotta make you wonder how it happened. I mean, you couldn't just neglect it and have it turn out like that could you? I'm thinking maybe a dog or cat got to it? Because let's say it could get like that from negligence (spelling), they would have to neglect it pretty damn bad and in which case I'm sure they wouldn't care about it... and so if they didn't care about it why would they try to save it at all?

I bet they weren't horrible people.... just irresponsible and probably let a cat or dog into the cham's room.

[Oliverian]

Hmmm.... yea mabye. Or dropped it a bunch of times or something... poor thing. It doesnt have any bite marks or anything does it? I hope it makes it.

[Wuntu Menny]

Nope, that's a clear cut case of neglect. What's even worse is that they couldn't bring themselves to take the animal to a vet. Instead, drop it off on somebody else's doorstep and leave them to deal with the result.

I have to say, its situations like this that make me very supportive of proposed exotic bans.

WM

[sapphire_moon]

Thats sick........I hope she makes it ok....And I would have probably knocked out not only the people that did this to her, but to the vet to.....they have no place refusing treatment........

[choriona]

good luck. Definately keep us updated. Take lots of pictures along the way.

[marisa]

God that is so upsetting.

Could someone explain what it means by "double joints" ??? Is that like it sounds (i.e. like people might have) or does that mean something else that can happen to chams?

Marisa

[Hatched Exotics]

FYI The Vet here is swamped as they found a puppy mill just outside of town and they currently have about 100 puppies in a place that can't really deal with that many, on top of all their regular business.

It was a choice btwn euthanizing her right now, or possibly giving her another chance at life.. I chose the 2nd one.. I just can't give up on an animal, be it herp or cute and fuzzy without trying for a day or two..

I had made the decision that if she showed NO improvement in two days I'd put her down.

Since she has shown improvement I'm glad I didn't put her down right away.

Marisa,
From what I know [don't deal with Chams much so this is word of mouth from others that do] double joints are like in people, but in a cham it means their legs bent the wrong way and they can't grab things to walk right and eventually they can't hold on to anything.
Not sure if this is true, but it's what I've heard.

Thanks for all the support.. I'll post new pics of her tomorrow.

[Wuntu Menny]

The term "double jointed" is a misnomer anyway, it probably shouldn't be used in this context.

What you are looking at is an animal so chronically defficient in calcium and/or UVB, that it's skeleton can't support its own weight. The curves and bends you see are either outright fractures of the bones or places where the tissues are so soft that they bend like half cooked pasta.

The deformed casque is also indicative of MBD as is the inability to retract the tongue. As heartless as some of you may view it, I would have opted for immediate euthanasia in a case this advanced.

WM

[Zoe]

Renee, is there not a vet, further away, that you can drive to? She will improve with the help you are giving, but she really needs a vet. You can't fix a chameleon in that state with pedialyte and mashed bugs, as good as your intentions may be.

Zoe

[dank7oo]

i have o agree with zoe ... without a vet, there is only so much you can do

[Hatched Exotics]

well after sitting here for most of the day debating it.. I finally called some vet tech friends here.. one of them is gonna bring her in and put her down for me.. kinda under the table, but he owes me for some favours I did him a couple years back so..

Thanks for the support.. I've gotta go cry now..

[Sean Day]

Try not to be to sad I think you are making the best decision. Of course I haven't seen the cham but judging by the pic I cant imagine it recovering even with a good vet. If it did recover you must think of the quality of life it would have after.

Take care
Sean

[TheRedDragon]

Oh that poor thing! Tears came to my eyes when I saw the horrible condition that she's in. :( I know it was a tough decision that you had to make, but, at least you gave her a fighting chance.

[AymKing]

You are such a nice person to even try, I'm sure she was grateful for the time and care she received from you.

[striko_69]

hi, i only just saaw this post as i dont come to this forum often.

it seems the people who left it at your door were trying to help it as they obviously couldnt, maybe they stole it from someone who was neglecting it, because that is a lot of neglect, probably abuse or something.

i think i speak for a large portion of ssnakess members when i say that today i was ashamed to be the same species that could do that to an animal.
That has to be one of the most horrible acts i have seen.

Respect to you for taking that creature in man, i dont know what i would have done...

[JeffT]

I agree with Wuntu Menny, I would have put that thing down ASAP. It must be under umbareable pain and "trying" to bring it back to health is a lost cause and only putting it through more pain. Its good of you to take it in and try to bring it back but somethings are far too gone and its best they are put down.

Man would it be great to get a hold of the people who did this...

[meow_mix450]

awwww thats just sick, wut kind of perosn would do something like that. But i wouldnt put it down just cause its in really bad shape...everything still has hope, i think they will pull through hope fully.

Im srry i didnt get to read all i post im so busy, going to high school and stuff crazy, but just the first few days, but im good now. Well keep us posted on how they are doing. But i got some questions, how did they end up at ur door tho....???have you sold it to a person, or seen it, cause its odd how they would just place it on your door step. Just wondering

[Repti]

You did all you could!!! It'S hard but it's the right decision :(