Gotta get this off my chest...I don't blame you for not reading it all...

[Carlton]

My question is what do chameleons do in the wild when they get sick? Do they run around trying to find a vet? Or even better a good bird vet. I believe they would b extinct if they weren't able to rid a parisite or minor problem on there own. Dose anyone know to what temp kills a paricite? I'm no expert that's why I'm asking. Another conflict on this site kills me is water what kind to use distilled,ro, ext . Then to hear so many people putting there chams in the shower to hydrate if my tap water isn't good enough to drink in his enclosure why is it good enough to drink in the shower? And why r your Chams not drinking in there habitats?
Jay

Wild chams die if they get sick enough. The ones who are lucky enough to avoid accidents and predators survive. At some point in many of their lives, they get sick or weakened with age, become vulnerable, and get picked off.

Its important to remember a few things about captive animals of any species:

1. They have been taken out of the environmental situation that "created" them...the environment they are finely tuned to tolerate. Healthy chams fine tuned to survive can tolerate a lot of things, including a reasonable parasite load. Adapt or die. In the wild they are drinking primarily rainwater (yes, that dripped off surfaces, but still rainwater), not water loaded with minerals, chemicals, or additives.

2. They are exposed to stresses, contaminants, confinement, less than perfect temps, UV light, and humidity, and lose the ability to simply get away from something they don't like. Constant low level stress weakens immune system and gives parasites and infections the upper hand.

3. Their keepers expect them to tolerate some handling and rather limited opportunities to behave in their natural manner, and to eat a very limited diet that even now isn't perfectly designed to keep them healthy. The effects of poor nutrition add up over time and weaken them.

4. They may end up living long enough for physical weaknesses and long term health problems to overwhelm them, while wild chams would not.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Great thread! I agree, we are still learning about chameleons! We can only hope that most of what we do for and don't do for our chameleons, even though it is with pure intent and with their best interest at mind, is truely adding to their health and their own needs they can not express! The amazing thing is that we all here would not have had this discussion if we did not truely and deeply care! Cudos to us humans for trying so hard! We have come a long ways! Now we just need to learn to be nicer to our fellow human beings!

 

[Decadancin]

#DecadancinLivesMatter

I am having the t-shirts made up right now. I will let you know when they are ready.

 

[Decadancin]

I'll just have to tell the wife it was on advice of a chameleonforums moderator.

4 out of 5 moderators surveyed say you need another chameleon.

 

[WAMBO]

People should understand that a nasty reply is probably one with info that will be resented and ignored, and it takes two to argue. I am a moderator at a bigger site and remove posts several times each week. Members can disagree, but when rude posts escalate, I move them to a "Staff only" section of "Removed Post" or "Removed Threads"/ The staff decides if we put them back or not. Either way, you catch more flies with honey. How many of you will follow instructions from a rude reply, when you don't know what the real answer is? I wouldn't.

 

[Decadancin]

Now that I am a moderator, I am very impressed with how few posts and threads actually get deleted here. I take this very seriously and believe that the other staff do as well.

 

[WAMBO]

Now that I am a moderator, I am very impressed with how few posts and threads actually get deleted here. I take this very seriously and believe that the other staff do as well.

Each forum is different. Mine is 1600 middle age to retired men, some of which love to disagree. If a watch dies, it can be replaced or fixed. A sick pet can be suffering. A dead pet cannot be fixed. Here, we have a passion for our pets, which can become part of the family. Some of us get sad to see sick pets or neglect, others get angry when they see neglect. I think it's understandable. But some need to hold back the anger a bit so that an OP seeking help doesn't ignore the advice do to resentment and angry reaction. But also, some need to let it out a bit, and we need to respect their needs if it is not unreasonable, because we're just here to share and help each other, along with support each other.

 

[Link]

*Dials 911*
*Hello, 911...?*
*Yes, I'd like to report a crime...*
*Decadancin just put his 'human emotion' into his animal*
*Yes, please arrest him, tazer him if you get the chance...*
*Yes, I will sue... This is animal cruelty!*

--------------
Well I agree with what you write and as stated before, a chameleon will probably not like you to take him out but he will like the benefits you bring like a free ride, good foods, protection and maybe some outside time...
You're lucky your chameleon is like that, most of us would love it if they had a chameleon like that!
I do think we should not advertise a chameleon as being an animal to hold, people will expect theirs to be like that too and will eventually put to much stress on their animal trying to force it out of it's enclosure.


I don't take my reptiles to a vet for checkups either...
A checkup may give you some reassurance but does not prevent anything from happening in the rest of the year... At least that's my opinion.

My oldest reptile (ackie) I've got for 12 years now and has never seen a vet.
With a life expectancy of 12-15 years I think he will never see a vet unless it's to put him down.

Also noticed that they always over medicate if they don't know what they're doing. Hard to find a good one I agree

 

[Decadancin]

Cudos to us humans for trying so hard! We have come a long ways! Now we just need to learn to be nicer to our fellow human beings!

I think this is spot on!

 

[Decadancin]

(By the way, don't bother looking for my first posts. They have been permanently sealed and placed in the Chameleon Forums Hall of Fame. There is a small monument that is currently being erected and should be done soon. I will let you all know when the ceremony will be. Gifts and cash are currently being accepted )

I do not quite understand, but I have not seen any gifts or cash coming in. Must be a forums glitch of some sort. I'll check into it.