Since a Meller’s Giant chameleon should never be an impulse purchase, you have plenty of time before you own one to locate an exotic animal clinic. You can use this link to find a reptile veterinarian near you: http://www.arav.org/Directory.htm 

If you order a melleri, get a confirmed delivery date and time. This gives you a time frame for setting up the enclosure, potting live plants, and making the first vet appointment. Even though the seller assures you that your melleri is eating well and healthy, it is necessary to take it to a vet. The stress of its transfer may cause health problems to arise, and if the seller was not wholly aware of your melleri’s condition (they can hide illness quite well), a vet exam is vital. In other words, expect the unexpected in your new pet’s condition. 

It is timesaving to tell the vet’s receptionist what is needed in advance: an exam, a fecal, and a saliva swab. 

The physical examination: the vet will check the mouth interior, look at the skin under a magnifying glass, examine the feet, palpate the belly, and perhaps feel the limbs for muscle tone and bone irregularities. The vet is looking for skin parasites, injuries, oral abscesses, constipation, presence of eggs, broken bones, and hydration issues.

 The fecal check: if you do not have a fresh sample from your melleri, the vet will give it an enema (also called a cloacal wash). The vet is looking for parasites (under the microscope), digestive problems, diet inadequacies, uric acid processing, and revealed hemipenes in males. 

The saliva swab: the mouth is opened and swabbed with a Q-tip. The bacteria in the saliva will be grown in a culture, which won’t reveal its results for days. The vet is looking for upper respiratory infection-causing bacteria, or the presence of mouth bacteria (as in abscesses or stomatitis, signaling a depressed immune system). 

On the day of the appointment, bring melleri reference materials, including a journal you’ve been keeping about your new pet. Be prepared to provide a list of the enclosure products, the gutload, prey items, and watering method, because a good vet will ask about all of these things.  

You will need to make a comfortable transport box for your melleri. An easy solution is to purchase a cardboard office letter/legal file box (10.5 x 12.5 x 15.75” with lid on). The great thing about these is they can be replaced cheaply if your animal has an infectious condition/soils the box. On the side of the box, write your home contact information and the animal’s species and gender, just in case you are separated from your pet or get in a traffic accident. Assemble the box and fold up a large bath towel inside. Dampen one corner of the towel to provide humidity, punch the handles out, and secure the lid. Small melleri will try to escape through the handle holes; do not open these if you have a subadult melleri. The lid should be secured with tape or weighted down with your references; an adult melleri can push open the lid and will climb about your vehicle as you drive. The view of traffic could cause severe stress, which makes acclimation that much more difficult. 

The easy way to box a melleri is to put the animal in a rain chamber or shower for a few minutes, with the lights off. Remove the hydrated and sleepy lizard, place inside the box so it can grip the towel, put the lid on, and leave in a dark room for ten minutes before you leave. The chameleon may scratch the box for a minute, and settle into sleep. 

This sleep will continue throughout the car trip, unless the box is upset or the stereo vibration awakens the animal. Keep the radio turned off for best results. Never leave an animal in a car unattended, even enclosed in box! Reptiles, like any animal, can roast inside a closed car on overcast days because the UV radiation amplifies the car interior temperature. If your trip will be several hours long, bring along a mister bottle filled with water from home. Chameleons may refuse “strange” water on the road because it has different pH.  

Inside the box, the darkness causes the chameleon to roost on the towel and take a nap. Despite the inevitable curiosity of other clients and administrative personnel, do not open the box to show off your animal. Let it sleep until you are in a private examination room. The sight of people and animals in the waiting room could cause severe stress in your chameleon. When you open the box for the vet, your chameleon will blink up at you, wearing its pale sleeping color all over. It will climb out and be calm as it is examined. This is the best way to transport a melleri and minimize stress.

If the weather is cold, use common sense, the weather service, and your thermometer. Similar-size Styrofoam or insulated food containers can be adapted by making ventilation holes in the sides. Fabric containers that are not airtight do not need additional holes. A terry cotton towel fresh from your clothes dryer provides warmth without danger of contact burns. Warm water poured on one corner of the towel provides humidity. Test your box before use by placing your cage thermometer and hygrometer (humidity gauge) inside. The travel box humidity should be high for breathing comfort in cold, dry weather.

During the examination, the vet may mention little experience with this species or chameleons in general. If you live in area where there is little choice in exotic vets, this is better than nothing. If the vet tugs on the chameleon’s delicate gular (throat) skin, suggest opening the mouth from the front. The older chameleon books suggest tugging on the throat and your vet may think that is the most correct method to date. You can help your animal and your vet by being patient and making humble suggestions in handling methods. Do not allow anyone to grab your chameleon around the body, neck, head, or to pull on the limbs to restrain it. If restraint is necessary, allow your melleri to perch on one of your hands while you make a “V” with the second and third fingers of your other hand and touch the insides of the “V” against the chameleon’s shoulder points. Do not touch the neck or occipital flaps. This light contact is usually enough to keep the chameleon perfectly still, as if it is resting its shoulders in a cleft of tree branches. If the animal tries to move forward, it presses against your fingers but cannot progress. It is difficult for it reach forward and claw/grasp because the movement is impeded at the first joint of the limb. Never crush or squeeze melleri, the ribs and hyoid bone (throat) are delicate structures. A panicky chameleon (such as a rescue or wild caught) will do better if very lightly wrapped in its travel box towel and only the body part needing attention left exposed. The darkness of the towel over the face can induce roosting, as in the dark travel box. Towels work well for medicating tiny chameleons that fight like lions and yet are too delicate to restrain otherwise. The towel is also a good surface to grip busy claws.

The vet may suggest drawing blood for further tests. The purpose is to run tests on uric levels to check for kidney efficiency (renal health), calcium levels to check for Metabolic Bone Disease, and to check for blood parasites. You should weigh this carefully before making your decision. Drawing blood is painful and frightening to chameleons. Even large chameleons have only a small amount of blood in their bodies. Blood is drawn from the caudal vessel, meaning, from the underside of the tail base, deep inside near the tail vertebrae. Chameleons panic, fight, and vocalize under even the gentlest of touches when this procedure is done. The vet may ask to take your animal behind the scenes because this is an upsetting sight. The trauma of taking a blood sample can result in the tail never regaining its normal color for the rest of the chameleon’s life. If your chameleon has an unknown illness, your vet needs as much clinical information as possible, and doing a full blood panel is a helpful tool.

The vet may send you home with preventative broad-spectrum drugs while you wait for lab results. The vet may show you how to give the first dose so you can continue home nursing without any doubts. Do not forget to call the office to check for results; you may need to pick up a more effective drug. Vet clinics get busy and not all clients are called the day their results come in. With a sick chameleon, each day of waiting is precious time that could be spent using the proper medication, so take the initiative and call. 

There is more you can do to make the next visit easier. Annual exams are recommended, so it’s a good idea to plan ahead. Once a month, perform a home exam of the entire skin, even lift the occipital flaps in case some shed is caught underneath. Check the mouth and soles of the feet once a week. You can “ask” for an open mouth by gently touching a finger to the end of the lips. Apply slow, steady pressure until the mouth opens. Take a quick look, and promptly reward the chameleon with a bug. “Ask” for feet while the chameleon is perched comfortably; just tickle a toe until the foot lifts, then use your index finger and thumb to gently open the foot to your view. Food rewards really work, as do rewards of natural sunlight to bask in. It is ideal to have a melleri that accepts clinical touch in case of a medical emergency. Your pet’s life could depend on its ability to take exams and procedures in stride. Here is an article on low-impact chameleon Handling