96: Rescuing an MBD Chameleon with Cheryl Garcia
Metabolic Bone Disease is a terminal condition. But, if caught in time, the chameleon’s life can be saved. Today we talk about living life with a special needs chameleon.
Cheryl Garcia runs the reptile section of an animal rescue called Another Chance Sanctuary in the state of Ohio. Her daily duties are to manage the rescues when she is not travelling across the country picking up reptiles too sick to ship. One thing she sees on a consistent basis is Metabolic Bone Disease. If you have been following our series on MBD you know this is a condition where the body does not get enough calcium. The most visible effect of this is rubbery bones and the degrading of the skeleton structure. It is a painful condition and, by time the inexperienced keepers gets the clue that something may be wrong, the chameleon could have gone through multiple bone breaks and jaw disfigurement. The point the keeper decides to get veterinary help, or give it to a rescue, plays a great factor in what the rest of this chameleon’s life will be like.
Today, I talk with Cheryl about what life is like when you take on caring for a chameleon that has suffered from MBD in the past. MBD can be stopped and calcium levels can be replenished and the body will do an amazing job with healing. But there is only so much that the body can do. Unfortunately, disfigurement of the legs and jaw are permanent. So what is life like with an MBD chameleon? We bring Cheryl on and find out!
AmazonSmile.com
When you consider charitable giving you can include your love for chameleons. But there is actually a program that makes it even easier! If you do any shopping on Amazon you can sign up through their Amazon Smile program. With this program they donate .5% of everything you order to a charity of your choice. All you have to do to set this up is select your charity and then start your Amazon shopping experience through Amazonsmile.com instead of the standard amazon.com. Everything from that point on is transparent to you and every time a package comes to you in the mail you know that some special needs chameleons got a special silkworm treat or maybe Cheryl got funded to go to Costco for an ultra deluxe industrial package of paper towels!
To start this go to Amazonsmile.com and select Another Chance Sanctuary in Clyde, OH. Make sure it is in Clyde Ohio as there may be other charities with similar names!
Then all you have to do to activate it is to make sure you go through amazonsmile.com when you shop amazon. They actually make it easy by giving you a book mark which I put on my bookmark bar so now I don’t even have to remember to type in a different name than usual!
Sweet Pea Update!
Images courtesy of Marianna Bolin
Sweet Pea is climbing and becoming mobile! This means that there is enough calcium getting in her system to start hardening the bones in her legs. Though the disfigurement will have to stay, there is hope for more recovery!
