Don't Think Rosco will Make it Thru Tonight

Wykd

Wykd

Established Member
Sadly my little dude who will not eat, can no longer hold himself up on the top screen without falling every so often. He started falling last night around 6pm and finally I thought he was holding on at lights out.

I have been sitting here since 7:30 when I came to check on him and found him laying on in the soil below his usual hang spot. My heart stopped as I just knew he was dead. I went to gently picked him up and his tail curled slightly, so I put him on a leaf I setup as a basking spot. he has not moved or open his eyes in 3 hours.

I sent the wife out to get some pedialite and will mix it 50/50 with his misting water and see if that helps him any. As you can see in the pix the eyes shut tight as usual. Everything is in paramaters in the enclosure, but I just think the stress of the shipping was to much for him. Approaching 2 weeks and only time he has ate was when the herp guy force fed him a few 1/8 sized crickets to see if it would give him energy and stimulate appitite.

Very sad... My female cham in the cage beside it must be a ble to sense my sadness. She has been hanging down mid way on that side of the cage while i sit at the desk to watch over Rosco. As you can see in the pictures he is sooo small that you can see the weaving in the silk plant leaves easier than you can him.
 

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awe poor little guy i really hope he makes it. this is the one thing i hate reading on these sites, but atleast you are tying everything to help him, good on you for that. hope he gets better and grows up to be a bright beautiful chameleon.
 
did you ever take him to a vet and have him checked for parasites? Did the person you got him from ever test him before he was shipped? so sorry about the little guy...
 
no have not taken him in to the vet yet, was hoping it was just settling in and was trying to not disturb him. I dunno if it helped or i am just being optimistic, but i put him in the shower and did the misting to get him after the water then I turned it off and misted the plant with the pedialite. I didnt want to deal with mess it would made in the enclosure. He drank quite a bit of a 50/50 watered pedialite mix.

I then put him back in the cage and he actually moved off my hand onto the branch on his own. He did move around some and soon enuff went back upside down. I have peeked in on him and he is at least able to hang on his own again.
I will see how he is in the am and do another shower/pedialite session if need be.

I am going to lowes at lunch though and getting some more screen framing and make him a small screen enclosure. I just dont like the glass. It holds the temp/humidity fine but with him hanging all the time and it having glass walls there would be less chance for the little crickets to wander into his range or line of sight for him to act on I think. If all screen the crickets would climb the side up etc... I think this is part of the problem he see's them on the bottom etc... but they are outside of his range I guess.
 
Rosco did not make it thru the night sadly, so I was unable to get him to the vet this morning.

Thanks for the support and assistance, its a great community here that offers the support and help received.

I believe that the cham came to me in good health from a solid breeder, I just feel the little guy did not settle in and that happens sadly.
 
Thanks Trillian, luckily my daughter and wife left this morning for 3 days to visit in laws before the lights came on. So when my daughter asked to look in and say by to the cham's I was able to tell her no they are sleeping and like a little girl they need their rest.

A new arrival will be here tomorrow from Red Island, a 3.5 month male tamatave I plan on naming Vader. However around my daughter I will call him Rosco. She just turned 5 and I do not feel like making her sad and going thru that chat yet, so I will tell her Rosco got better by eating his crickets so he got bigger also.
 
You'd be surprised what they can handle at this age Wykd, mine are very attached to our animals (my girls are 6 and 8), and when we lose one they accept it, feel sad and we all support each other through it. My parents lied to me about our animals when I was growing up and I hated it when I found out the truth years later.

I don't mean to tell you what to do, but she probably understands more than she lets on. And you won't end up with a child that thinks chameleons have huge growth spurts after a few crickets!
 
So sorry to hear about Roscoe. That's such a sad story. I hope things go much better with your other chams.

I have to admit, I agree with Trillian that you may want to be honest and discuss it with your daughter. I know it is not an easy thing, but it is also something that we can't avoid. Death is a part of life. I have 2 daughters, ages 13 and 9 yo. We have been through some pet deaths, mostly fish (LOL), but recently my father passed and I think that dealing with the pet deaths helped them to some extent deal with my father's passing. You are also fortunate that you have 3 days to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. Maybe google how to talk to kids about death. You can also think of what your beliefs about death are - where do we go afterwards, etc. Think about what questions she might ask and how you would like to respond. This is a challenge but it is also a wonderful opportunity to talk about a tough topic that is unavoidable. Sorry if I'm lecturing. You have to make the final call. Just my 2 cents (ok. maybe 5 cents - LOL).

Good luck with whatever you decide and good luck with your future chams!!!

Marla
 
Kids react strangely to these type of situations. She will probably take it in, but being so young she may not fully understand. My daughter was about 9 when her hamster died and I felt far worse than she did. :( Losing a chameleon really hurts - I know as I have lost 3 myself. Have you read the Rainbow Bridge poem? I still can't read it all the way through as I can't see through my tears. Kids do understand the concept of heaven though and Rainbow Bridge is where all the passed on pets go to wait for us.
 
sorry about rosco, he was soooo cute & had a great name. I guess it's why chameleons lay lots of eggs - cos some just don't make it. U did ur best for him x
 
Im sorry about Roscoe. You have tried anyways, it always leads to one thing that all living things have in common. R.I.P Rosco.
 
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