Chameleon died over night???

[jdawg420]

My Senegal chameleon was always active. always wanting out to play in her favorite plant we had for her by the window. She was shedding yesterday, so was annoyed but still let us handle her to put in plant. we cleaned her cage, put her back in and put her to bed. When i woke up this morning, she was on the ground under one of her limbs, on her side with her eyes open. her face looked bruised, as well as her jaw but it was hard to tell. We had a thicker stick at the bottom going to the top corner , so we think she may have fell and hit her head on that, but not sure. She was acting normal before bed. any one have a clue as to what happened to her?? i have a picture of after we got her out, but not sure if i want to share.

 

[dinomom]

Any chemicals used on the cage?

 

[jdawg420]

Any chemicals used on the cage?

we used flukers super scrub but it has all organic ingredients supposedly

 

[Beman]

If your looking for answers... Best place to start is with a picture of the cage including the lighting on top. So we can see if anything stands out right away. It is not necessary to see an image of her after her death.

 

[kinyonga]

A recent photo or two of her might help.

 

[Lindasjackson]

I’m so sorry for your loss!

 

[suprdude]

Unfortunatley, all living things are delicate and chameleons even more so than most. It was just his time

 

[jdawg420]

Unfortunatley, all living things are delicate and chameleons even more so than most. It was just his time

she wasn’t even one yet.

 

[jdawg420]

A recent photo or two of her might help.

 

[jdawg420]

first one is 2 days before she died

 

[jdawg420]

If your looking for answers... Best place to start is with a picture of the cage including the lighting on top. So we can see if anything stands out right away. It is not necessary to see an image of her after her death.

 

[jdawg420]

she was on ground between wood and fountain.

 

[jdawg420]

thank you

 

[Beman]

So unfortunately it could have something to do with her husbandry. The enclosure is not what is recommended for chameleons due to no air flow and stagnant air. The lighting for UVB is incorrect as well. Compact bulbs are either much too strong are much too weak with their output. Water fountains are bacteria breeding grounds as well. We do not recommend them. Misting from a spray bottle is best with chameleons and drippers. Both need to be dripped on live plants.

It could also be that she was already ill when you purchased her. Chameleons hide illness quite well. They can appear totally fine to the newbie eye and then go down within a day. Stress can also lower their immune system causing them to go down rapidly.

I am sorry for your loss. Should you decide to get another chameleon I would read through every module of this husbandry program. You would not want to use this aquarium for another chameleon. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

 

[jdawg420]

the top is open screen, providing air flow. she’s been in this tank since we got her in march, and she never had a problem. we had a sick chameleon in the past and know the signs of sickness. she appeared perfectly fine. her appetite was normal, constantly moving around like normal. she preferred the fountain bc it was always running, and we cleaned it once a week. temp was always between 80-85 , and humidity we kept higher at night. as for UVB, we are using repti-sun 5.0 i believe. like i said she has not shown any signs of illness since we have had her. she was very healthy and it was out of nowhere. that is why i’m wondering if she fell , making sense of her bruise on her head yesterday morning when we found her.

 

[Beman]

the top is open screen, providing air flow. she’s been in this tank since we got her in march, and she never had a problem. we had a sick chameleon in the past and know the signs of sickness. she appeared perfectly fine. her appetite was normal, constantly moving around like normal. she preferred the fountain bc it was always running, and we cleaned it once a week. temp was always between 80-85 , and humidity we kept higher at night. as for UVB, we are using repti-sun 5.0 i believe. like i said she has not shown any signs of illness since we have had her. she was very healthy and it was out of nowhere. that is why i’m wondering if she fell , making sense of her bruise on her head yesterday morning when we found her.

Ok so airflow does not work that way. With an aquarium the air holds in the tank. The only glass set ups that work for chams are the exo terra brand because they have an air flow inlet about 4 inches from the bottom. This creates the chimney effect pulling clean cooler air in through the inlets and pushing hotter air out the top.

Fountain being cleaned weekly is still not enough. They poop in them and bugs fall in them. They are a hard no in the chameleon hobby. Slime and sludge builds up in them. Perhaps the ONLY way to utilize these is to clean them completely every single day. But even then keepers do not use them because of the risk.

Per the reptisun 5.0 compact bulb. A 3 uvi output on these would mean the cham would have to be literally right below the bulb with its back 3 inches down from the fixture. Then the UVI drops drastically and this is the only point below where they can access UVB. Also your top is not the standard top we go by for giving distance recommendations. Being the hard metal top the reduction of UVB that passes through could be more then with the standard aluminum screen cages.

Your concerned about falling. When they do not get the correct UVB this effects their ability to move around properly and lowers the immune system as their body starts pulling calcium from the bones to compensate for the lack of UVB light. So yes, it is very possible she fell. But it would be due to a health issue such as MBD or even an RI because healthy chameleons do not just fall off their branches.

I am not sure what your experience was prior but there are different illnesses. And they can die slowly or rapidly.

 

[ElliotG]

the top is open screen, providing air flow. she’s been in this tank since we got her in march, and she never had a problem. we had a sick chameleon in the past and know the signs of sickness. she appeared perfectly fine. her appetite was normal, constantly moving around like normal. she preferred the fountain bc it was always running, and we cleaned it once a week. temp was always between 80-85 , and humidity we kept higher at night. as for UVB, we are using repti-sun 5.0 i believe. like i said she has not shown any signs of illness since we have had her. she was very healthy and it was out of nowhere. that is why i’m wondering if she fell , making sense of her bruise on her head yesterday morning when we found her.

Bruising could be from underlying problems too. I’ve had leopard geckos develop bruising on their stomach/face even though they didn’t fall on them. So you can’t go off of bruising as a 100% indicator of what happened.


As what @Beman has said. I would agree, and say cause of death might have resulted from husbandry. Those fountains get really gunked quickly if you don’t clean them constantly. So I would stay away from those. As what Beman has said, I would just take that advice.

What supplements were you using to dust her feeders, and what feeders? You don’t want to give them too much d3, only twice a month. Should mostly use calcium without d3.

part of keeping reptiles is learning their husbandry the easy way or hard way. I accidentally had a leopard gecko die on me because of wrong husbandry. I’ve come on here and have had people correct my husbandry and I can already notice a difference within my chameleons. It’s a rough lesson we all learn. But a good one if we want to continue to keep reptiles.

As for the passing of your chameleon, I’m sorry. It sucks when a little friend of your passes soon and unexpectedly.

 

[jdawg420]

Ok so airflow does not work that way. With an aquarium the air holds in the tank. The only glass set ups that work for chams are the exo terra brand because they have an air flow inlet about 4 inches from the bottom. This creates the chimney effect pulling clean cooler air in through the inlets and pushing hotter air out the top.

Fountain being cleaned weekly is still not enough. They poop in them and bugs fall in them. They are a hard no in the chameleon hobby. Slime and sludge builds up in them. Perhaps the ONLY way to utilize these is to clean them completely every single day. But even then keepers do not use them because of the risk.

Per the reptisun 5.0 compact bulb. A 3 uvi output on these would mean the cham would have to be literally right below the bulb with its back 3 inches down from the fixture. Then the UVI drops drastically and this is the only point below where they can access UVB. Also your top is not the standard top we go by for giving distance recommendations. Being the hard metal top the reduction of UVB that passes through could be more then with the standard aluminum screen cages.

Your concerned about falling. When they do not get the correct UVB this effects their ability to move around properly and lowers the immune system as their body starts pulling calcium from the bones to compensate for the lack of UVB light. So yes, it is very possible she fell. But it would be due to a health issue such as MBD or even an RI because healthy chameleons do not just fall off their branches.

I am not sure what your experience was prior but there are different illnesses. And they can die slowly or rapidly.

i literally said she was moving around constantly like normal. don’t try to tell me it was a bone issue bc she was active as could be

 

[Beman]

i literally said she was moving around constantly like normal. don’t try to tell me it was a bone issue bc she was active as could be

OK and this is why I asked if you were looking for answers before I bothered wasting my time on your thread. I am done here... You are either open to feedback or not. Clearly YOU are NOT!

We see it every single day here... Dead cham. And the owner always wants to think they did everything right. There is a reason why the keepers here have chams that live full long lives. Because we know what we are doing and our husbandry is on point. NO chams in aquariums... Aquariums are for fish.

 

[jdawg420]

OK and this is why I asked if you were looking for answers before I bothered wasting my time on your thread. I am done here... You are either open to feedback or not. Clearly YOU are NOT!

We see it every single day here... Dead cham. And the owner always wants to think they did everything right. There is a reason why the keepers here have chams that live full long lives. Because we know what we are doing and our husbandry is on point. NO chams in aquariums... Aquariums are for fish.

well CLEARLY you didn’t read the facts before stating your opinion. when someone is upset about their pet passing, you’re supposed to help them. not tell them it’s THEIR FAULT. feedback is helping, not making the person more upset than they already are. We took care of her for 6 months, clearly we did something right.