Help please

[amandademanda]

I have been taking care of my three chameleons, and they were doing just fine. Now I am worried, because I found the male dead this morning. I have no clue what happened. He was healthy moving around, eating, and always so curious about everything. He had a wonderful personality, but to find him the way I did made me a little scared. I have attached a photo of him to this to see what your thoughts are on what the next step should be for me to do. He has a hole through the bottom of his chin, and a hole starting on the upper chest now. I have removed his cage from the house, and have placed him into a zipped off bag. I do not want to chance it spreading if it is something that I can not see. Please respond fast, so I can take action on the next step. Should I check the cage for anything paticular? Thanks, Amanda

 

[VeiledChams]

He looks to have been severely dehydrated (since you found him today). The holes could have been from crickets in the cage.

 

[lindawaz]

Sorry for your loss. I have nothing to tell you. This is beyond my experience.

There are many others that will assist you. In the meantime, could you fill out this form so they can see the entire set up.
Thanks
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Elizadolots]

Can we see pictures of the remaining chameleons and could you fill out that the "How to Ask For Help" form?

 

[Robyrango]

He looks to have been severely dehydrated (since you found him today). The holes could have been from crickets in the cage.

Sorry for your loss. Yep looks to me that could be dehydration, and my thought about the hole would be crickets too.:-(

 

[Kali]

Sorry for your loss, that image is frightening.

Was he ever checked for internal parasites?

 

[amandademanda]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - He is a Ambilobes Panther Chameleon, and he has been in my care for about 2 months.
Handling - I handle him a about twice a week. He loves to come out, and just be able to have attention.
Feeding - I feed him about 5 crickets every morning. I usually gut-load my crickets with vitamins, along with their food and water.
Supplements - I use Rep-Ca Phosphorus-free Calcium with VIT.D3, and Rep-Cal Herptivate with beta carotene Multiviatamins.
Watering - I have a Hubba mist misting system, and it goes every 3 hours for 30 seconds. That is what screameleons had told me to set it too. I also use a dripper for extra water, and watch him drink water all the time.
Fecal Description - Droppings are dark brown with white and yellow, soft consistency.
History - FLCham's told me that he was very healthy, and had a great personality.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - He is in a Aluminum screen cage, and they gave me the medium size for his cage.
Lighting - The lighting he has is a UVB 5.0 bulb, and he also has a UVA day bulb that they gave to me with the UVB to keep her warm and happy. Lights turn on at 8:30, and shut off at 8.
Temperature - I have a digital thermomiter that tells me what the temp is at all times. It sits lower in the cage, and the lowest it gets in there is 77 degrees at night. Current Temp is 82.
Humidity - Humity stays around 50, and the mister helps keep the lvl where it needs to stay. I have a humidity gage in there to make sure I watch the levels.
Placement - The cage is located on a higher up desk where it isnt near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas. The top of the cage is about a little higher then half the rooms height.
Location - I live near Portland, OR.

Current Problem - The male has been healthy, and happy as usual everyday. When I woke up this morning I found him dead. I make sure to take care of him daily with the mister going, and also using a dripper for spare water. I don't understand what all has happened, since I have never had this issue I wanted to get some info from others to see what opinions are. Only thing I am really worried about is parasites now.

 

[amandademanda]

The place that I bought him from told me that they had all of them checked to make sure that their health was excellent. We both talked for several days back, and forth about history and my experience with chameleons. I have never had any issues with them before, and have never seen this happen. Could the dehydration be caused from the heat in the room after death. I checked on him at 8 last night right before the timer hits to shut the lights off. He was doing fine like he had been since the day I got him.

Sorry for your loss, that image is frightening.

Was he ever checked for internal parasites?

 

[JoeG]

Sorry you lost your cham. Recent pics of him alive would help as they might show signs of what was wrong with him. Also fill out the help form In hopes of correcting an issue that could keep your other chams healthy.

 

[amandademanda]

Only thing that scares me is that I would watch him drink daily, and would make sure that he was eating. He did everything just fine, and was the most active one I have seen yet. He always was curious about everything, and loved to be overly active. He truely had a great personality.

He looks to have been severely dehydrated (since you found him today). The holes could have been from crickets in the cage.

 

[VeiledChams]

Too much vitamin D3 in my opinion. Also, did you have a dripper going for him? how many times did you mist him daily?

 

[Elizadolots]

I don't see anything that jumps out in your husbandry. What size crickets are you feeding? I'm very concerned that there's some problem that might cross over to the females. If it were me, I'd make arrangements to get fecals done on the females just in case.

 

[amandademanda]

I am attaching photos of the male with this of him alive. He loved my son, so a couple of them are of him hanging out on my sons head. Now I'm scared to have my son notice he is gone.

Sorry you lost your cham. Recent pics of him alive would help as they might show signs of what was wrong with him. Also fill out the help form In hopes of correcting an issue that could keep your other chams healthy.

 

[JoeG]

Sorry you lost your cham. Recent pics of him alive would help as they might show signs of what was wrong with him. Also fill out the help form In hopes of correcting an issue that could keep your other chams healthy.

You filled it out already.In your gut load you need fruits & veggies & not sure how often you dust your crix but the d3 should only be used twice a month as well as the vitamins. Only plain calcium should be used daily.The yellow in the fecal is a sign of slight dehydration also. A little bit longer on the mistings. My panthers take a long time before they start drinking.Hope this helps.

 

[amandademanda]

He had a mist machine, a dripper I also used daily to make sure there was always water, he ate medium sized crickets, and I had cut back on the vitamin's on the crickets actually.

 

[amandademanda]

I have been using fruits and veggies a lot lately, and cut the d3 back to once a month, so maybe that could have been part of it?

You filled it out already.In your gut load you need fruits & veggies & not sure how often you dust your crix but the d3 should only be used twice a month as well as the vitamins. Only plain calcium should be used daily.The yellow in the fecal is a sign of slight dehydration also. A little bit longer on the mistings. My panthers take a long time before they start drinking.Hope this helps.

 

[Elizadolots]

I don't see how over supplementing with D3 for 2 months could be the cause. Many chameleons get D3 supplements every day because that's what the store recommended and it takes a significant amount of time for that to cause problems (if it ever does).