Dead chameleon

[mnmoliv2]

Hey everyone! I have a 2 year old female veiled chameleon and she recently passed away, but I have no idea why. I was just wondering if any of you could give me some sort of idea on why this happened.

I went on vacation for a week and my brother took care of her. He said that he feed her 2 of the days I was gone, sprayed her cage everyday, and turned off the lights at night except for one night. When I got back she acted normal, but didn't really have an appetite, which is strange since she's always hungry. I thought maybe she was just laying her eggs or something so I gave her some water and let her be. The next day she was still acting the same, except she ate 2 out of the 5 worms I gave her. 3 days later, I really noticed something was wrong. Her eyes became sunken in and could barely open them (meaning she was dehydrated, so I gave her water and she drank it). I decided to take her to a nearby reptile vet and she gave me some liquid calcium and vitamins which I gave to my chameleon. The vet also said to change the UVB light so I did. For some reason she continued to get worse. Yet, she stopped drinking water which was bad. I tried giving her warm water seeing if maybe she was constipated, but I don't really think it did anything, she also hates water. Finally, she just dropped. The night before she passed, she was very very pale. Her whole body was light. I though maybe the new light was too hot so I turned it off, took her out, and put her on a wet rag. No change. I opened her mouth and just started trying to give her water and she drank a little bit of it but she was also very unresponsive. Next morning, sadly she had passed away. I was very sad and felt awful. I just wish that I could know what I did wrong and why she died.

She has a glass chameleon cage, 24 inches tall, 16 inches wide with a screen top. (I was hoping on getting a full mesh cage, but it was too late)

Eats large mealworms, soft fruits, and orchid flowers

Has 2 orchids in cage and in the morning I would let her hang out on my devils ivy plant in the sun, if she wanted

Has a basking light, a red light, and a UVB tube light

The temp in my house is around 70-80 degrees, I don't have air conditioning but I do have a heater

I would take her out 2x a week or more

She was such a good chameleon, and I am going to miss her so much. If anyone knows the problem, that would be great. I'll also try to upload photos of her when she was sick. The photos of her when she was pale was her very last day of living. Her others are a few days before.

 

[serenaj25]

handling that much causes stress, red lights are no good for chams, mealworms are terrible for them, cage is far too small, did she ever lay eggs?

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry for your loss.
Did you feed/gutload the insects well? Did you dust the insects with supplements? How often? Which supplements?
Did she have a place to lay the eggs in her cage?

As was mentioned mealworms are not a good choice of food....and red lights are not recommended... Most people use a regular white household incandescent bulb. Where the lights all off at night?

 

[Panthro413]

The eyes look sunk in.. hydration might have been a factor.

 

[GreenChameleons]

I’m sorry to hear that and I agree totally with @serenaj25 and is exactly right!

 

[GreenChameleons]

If you’re in a colder climate where you live a thermal bulb with no light emitting coming from the light would be good for the future if you get another one

 

[mnmoliv2]

handling that much causes stress, red lights are no good for chams, mealworms are terrible for them, cage is far too small, did she ever lay eggs?

Yes she has laid eggs before successfully. She laid about 40 eggs which was also the first time she's ever laid them and it took a lot of liquid calcium and food to get her back to normal. She use to eat crickets everyday as a baby and I would give her 1 mealworm a week as a treat or every other week. Then, one day I ran out of crickets and only had mealworms and she became really attached to mealworms and would only eat them after that. Good to know about the red light. I just listened to the breeder that I got her from and he said she would need a red light for night.

 

[mnmoliv2]

Sorry for your loss.
Did you feed/gutload the insects well? Did you dust the insects with supplements? How often? Which supplements?
Did she have a place to lay the eggs in her cage?

As was mentioned mealworms are not a good choice of food....and red lights are not recommended... Most people use a regular white household incandescent bulb. Where the lights all off at night?

When she ate crickets (she's recently only been eating mealworms), I would give them the orange cubes for food. I would dust the crickets/mealworms with powder calcium every time I fed her. I put a tall bun of soil for her, but she ignored it, and when I put her on the soil she just sat there and then moved to one of the branches. At night I would have the red light on. I was just listening to what the breeder I got her from told me to do, and when I went to the vet, she said the setup was fine.

 

[mnmoliv2]

If you’re in a colder climate where you live a thermal bulb with no light emitting coming from the light would be good for the future if you get another one

Thank you will do so!​

 

[GreenChameleons]

Thank you will do so!​

You’re most welcome!

 

[serenaj25]

Yes she has laid eggs before successfully. She laid about 40 eggs which was also the first time she's ever laid them and it took a lot of liquid calcium and food to get her back to normal. She use to eat crickets everyday as a baby and I would give her 1 mealworm a week as a treat or every other week. Then, one day I ran out of crickets and only had mealworms and she became really attached to mealworms and would only eat them after that. Good to know about the red light. I just listened to the breeder that I got her from and he said she would need a red light for night.

im so sorry for your loss! people get misinformed all the time by pet stores and sometimes breeders if the breeder doesnt specialize in chameleons. I rely heavily on information from this site it is much more accurate and helpful.

 

[mnmoliv2]

im so sorry for your loss! people get misinformed all the time by pet stores and sometimes breeders if the breeder doesnt specialize in chameleons. I rely heavily on information from this site it is much more accurate and helpful.

Very good to know. I was definitely not as prepared as I thought I was when first getting her. Will definitely use this website in the future. Thanks!