Dead Brevicaudatus-explicit pics!! warning!!

[Tokoloshe]

Hey Guys, was very surprised to see my seemingly perfectly healthy R Brevicaudatus female dead this morning.

Did a quick necropsy on her and found nothing blocking the airway, no visible lung parasites, nothing blocking her cloaca, no change in internal coloration

The only thing I found that looked outside of normal was what I believe to be her Gall bladder which was probably 4X bigger than normal. Her liver seems to be a little light in color as well, so.....Anybody got any ideas?

See enlarged green "ball" in attached pic.

T.

 

[bllanosr]

I'm just curious, did you do the necroscopy by yourself? I've dissected animals in lab before but I don't think I can do a necroscopy on my own pets. More power to you though if you know how to do a necroscopy. Sorry for your loss too, the bearded pygmies are some of my favorites.

 

[SaiyanFury]

Wow sorry to hear that. I'd never heard of that breed so i looked it up and was quite unique. I'm new to chameleon keeping as well, so I just hope my veiled and Jackson's don't die on me so suddenly...

 

[CammieNLeno]

I am defiantly not an expert, but I am going to take a guess, and hope i learn something from some other members. I apologize in advance if im way off!

From what i understand, chameleons absorb extra calcium and excrete what is not needed by way of the gall bladder and urinary systems. I cannot confirm or deny that the gall in your picture is indeed swollen (I do not now what a normal one looks like, but im learning!) than is it possible that she was unable to excrete the excess calcium, and essentially died of calcium overdose? That it not to say that you were oversupplimenting with calcium, but that she just had an issue with processing it?

That is about as good as I can guess, but im sure the experts are going to chime in and blow that out of the water with what really happened.

 

[chamlover]

Sorry to hear about that. My PeekaBoo was just put down too and we don't know why. We also did, well hubby did, our own necropsy. We've never done it before, but i am a strong believer that if we are going to continue to learn about these fascinating animals, we need to do it. We forgot to take pics. She went to perfectly healthy to almost dead in less than 1 week. It would be interesting to get the vets' opinion on this.

Debby

 

[bllanosr]

I just found this article:
http://chameleonnews.com/images/necropsy/necropsy.html

It seems to me (and I am by no means an expert), that the enlarge greenish ball is actually a developing egg, before getting yolk and going through the shell gland. Like a slug, that's inside it's body. You got me interested in this whole necrospy thing and I'm glad you did.

EDIT: I'd also like to add, that the author is the same vet that kammerflage use, just thought that was interesting.

 

[CrazyChameleon5]

I just found this article:
http://chameleonnews.com/images/necropsy/necropsy.html

It seems to me (and I am by no means an expert), that the enlarge greenish ball is actually a developing egg, before getting yolk and going through the shell gland. Like a slug, that's inside it's body. You got me interested in this whole necrospy thing and I'm glad you did.

EDIT: I'd also like to add, that the author is the same vet that kammerflage use, just thought that was interesting.

Cool link Thanks

 

[SoCaliSon]

Wow that was an awesome link... I'm not to far from that guy... I wonder if he costs an arm and a leg?

 

[JoshCrane1]

cool link!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dave Weldon]

Wow that was an awesome link... I'm not to far from that guy... I wonder if he costs an arm and a leg?

Howdy Joe,
I and many other chameleon keepers use Dr. Tom Greek. I don't know of any vet within CA that I'd recommend over Dr. Greek. He's treated 500-1000 chameleons, has a good bedside manner, very reasonable prices, and has allowed me to be right there during treatments including simple, small surgeries. Right now he is working out of:

Village Animal Hospital
23379 Golden Springs Dr.
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-861-7463

His new office is in the middle of being purchased/built. He'll be moving back to Yorba Linda again after it is finished.

 

[SoCaliSon]

Thanks Dave,
I love having a good vet resource at hand cause you never know when the need will pop up... I have worked with other exotic vets in the past but nobody that I felt had a real understanding or experience working with Chams. I will not hesitate to contact him as soon as the need arises.