Back from the dead???

L

lizard120371

New Member
Had a traumatic morning yesterday. I turned Karma's uv on in the morning, He was hidden in his vines as usual with just his tail showing and I could see that he turned to his awake colours. I then misted his viv and he did not come out like he usually does. I parted his vines to see him gripping onto the vine but with his head lolling back. I got no reaction when I touched him, he is normally quite stroppy. Concerned I made a temporary platform under his vine so if he dropped he would not hurt himself. I laid him on it and he just lay on his side for at least 20 mins without moving in his sleeping colours. The worst thing was that his eyes were completely sunken like the pictures I have seen of dead chameleons. He then gradually came around and within another 20 mins was back to normal and even ate 4 locusts. He seems absolutely fine today and has eaten well. He is pooing regularly and his urates are normal, no orange. Anyone got any ideas???
 
They are mighty tuff sleepers. What is ur lighting schedual? It's usually recommended leaving the lights.on. for a half hr to an hr before misting.gives em time to get.warmed up.
 
reptilover said:
They are mighty tuff sleepers. What is ur lighting schedual? It's usually recommended leaving the lights.on. for a half hr to an hr before misting.gives em time to get.warmed up.
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I have never seen this recommendation. Why is it beneficial for them to warm up prior to misting? My panther loves his warm spray bottle showers first thing in the morning. I think he uses them to help him warm up as he goes from his pajama colors to dark colors right after I start misting him.
 
He's a year and a half. Maybe he was asleep? His eyes looked horrible though, all black and sunken. They went back to normal when he came around. I really thought he was dying, he just lay on his side for 20 mins. There is no issue with hydration as his urates are fine. His lighting schedule needs sorting. I work shifts and on an early shift I turn the light on at 6.45. Other days the light goes on about 8.30. I guess this is bad for him and will buy a digital timer tomorrow. Will it matter if I mist at 6.45 some days and 8.30 others as I can't afford a misting system? Thanks to everyone giving me advice.
 
I have my Mister and lights on the same on/off timer. So when the lights turns on in the morning, so does the mistering system. They don't seem to mind at all.


But to the OP, what you discribe seems a bit odd. I have never had this happen before. Not sure what to make of it really. But if he is all better now, just keep a close eye on him.
 
What concerns me is the sunken eyes, whenever my cham slept, his eyes never appeared sunken..

Definitely keep an eye on him.
 
Is it at all possible his night temps dropped a bit low? Ive seen it happen before, but not with sunken eyes. My chams got cold one night when we had a freak frost and in the morning when I went to check on them some were still sleeping and unresponsive for about half hour until the temperature raised.
 
This is what is worrying me. I have seen pictures of dead Chameleons and this is what they looked like, sunken and black. They are completely back to normal now and are not in the least bit sunken. His eyes are never sunken and definately never black whilst sleeping. Somebody has suggested epilepsy??
 
lizard120371 said:
This is what is worrying me. I have seen pictures of dead Chameleons and this is what they looked like, sunken and black. They are completely back to normal now and are not in the least bit sunken. His eyes are never sunken and definately never black whilst sleeping. Somebody has suggested epilepsy??
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Ik what your talking about, they're eyes tell alot, and when they're sunken/dark its scary. I've never heard of a chameleon having epilepsy, but I wouldn't rule that out. Is he on any antibiotics for an infection or something? Any recent falls? My cham passed out once, and he looked a lot like what your describing, but the situation was a lot different.

Are there any herp vets in your area?? I would call, this isn't something I would imagine you want to "wait and see" about.
 
Whats your feeding/supplement schedule? What are you feeding him and how are you gutloading the feeders?

Sorry if you have already gone over this, I didn't think you did though
 
deadhd5 said:
I have never seen this recommendation. Why is it beneficial for them to warm up prior to misting? My panther loves his warm spray bottle showers first thing in the morning. I think he uses them to help him warm up as he goes from his pajama colors to dark colors right after I start misting him.
Click to expand...

Well unless ur water is boiling when it leaves the misting nozel It cools dramatically before it gets to ur cham. And the fact he turns dark means he's cold and trying to absorb heat. Now not every situation or cham is the same I'm not saying its law. It's what was recommended to me and works best with my cham. My cham doesnt turn dark when I start misting.
 
If I understand the situation correctly, the chameleon was awake when the misting started.

However, I'm a bit confused about how the chameleon ended up on the platform.

Also, were his eyes sunken in when he was on the vine with his head lolling back? What were his colors when he was on the vine?
 
He was asleep when I started misting with his sleeping colours, he then went to his awake colours but at that stage I couldn't see his eyes as he was hidden amongst his vines, I could only see his tail. He then turned back to his sleeping colours. As he normally comes out when I mist I parted the vines and saw he was gripping the vine with his head lolling right back with those horrible black sunken eyes. I rigged up a platform picked up the vine he was gripping and laid him gently on his side on the platform. He did not react to any of this. I could see he was breathing but feared the worst. He then slowly came round, his eyes filled out and opened and he turned to his awake colours. Shortly after he was back to normal and ate 4 3rd locusts. This was the day before yesterday, he has been completely normal ever since. Very strange. I feed him locusts gutloaded with apple, carrot, lettuce other greens, not broccolli as have been told not to use this. The water to use to mist is quite warm and is tepid by the time it reaches him. Many thanks for helping.
 
Thank you for clarifying the sequence of events. My thinking is that it might be a one shot thing, maybe he was sleeping deeply that morning and the mist freaked him out which was compounded by his vine being moved and being placed on the platform ("eeek, I'm being put on a plate!") so he was playing dead. Obviously, if it happens again you might want to consider a vet visit.
 
Well it's a bit of a mystery. Interesting theory, maybe he was messing with me and pretending to be dead. Never mind me freaking him out he certainly freaked me out, lol!! He still seems fine but this has left me thinking I've still got two things to sort :- a timer switch for the uv and a misting system I can also put on a timer. The timer I can get on friday when I am paid, the misting system will have to wait for now as they are really expensive. I currently mist with a pump action garden sprayer bought especially for this purpose. It's a nightmare working shifts as I have to spray him really early before I go to work when I work an early shift. If I get a timer for the lights do you think it will matter that I am spraying him before the uv comes on?
 
lizard120371 said:
Well it's a bit of a mystery. Interesting theory, maybe he was messing with me and pretending to be dead. Never mind me freaking him out he certainly freaked me out, lol!! He still seems fine but this has left me thinking I've still got two things to sort :- a timer switch for the uv and a misting system I can also put on a timer. The timer I can get on friday when I am paid, the misting system will have to wait for now as they are really expensive. I currently mist with a pump action garden sprayer bought especially for this purpose. It's a nightmare working shifts as I have to spray him really early before I go to work when I work an early shift. If I get a timer for the lights do you think it will matter that I am spraying him before the uv comes on?
Click to expand...

Sorry he gave you a scare! I'm also wondering about spraying before the lights come on, is it ok to do that? I might have to change his daylight hours if not.
 
Jmo

I don't really think it would matter if you misted before lights come on, I mean, as long as your house isn't below 70 it really shouldnt matter. It rains on chams in the wild without waiting for the sun to come up, but thats JMO:)
 
I was thinking the same. I'm sure in their natural habitat it would rain in the dark as well as the light. Thanks for confirming this. Maybe I won't have to fork out for a misting system after all :)
 
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