I don't want my little cham to die!

noahmeno

noahmeno

New Member
IMG_0771.jpg I was laying in my bed and I heard a thud and saw George on the ground. I put him back onto his dracaena tree where he normally rests and started to hear what sounded like he was about to fall again. I decided it was best to take him out of the tree and get him a little water but he doesn't seem to be able to open his eyes. As of this moment he is laying on top of a folded towel. The closest exotic vet Stahl Exotic Animal Veterinary Services is not open until Monday and I'm not sure if he will even make it through the night. Any advice is appreciated.
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Graceful, Male, Only a couple of months old. Unknown age.
Handling - In the month I've had him I have handled him very little as I do not want to stress him out.
Feeding - I've been feeding him a mix of hornworms, phoenix worms, super worms, and crickets but he has not ate anything in the last 3 days.
Supplements - repticalcium w/o D3
Watering - I mist 4 times a day for 4 minutes a time, I also have a reptifogger in his cage.
Fecal Description - Urate has been an odd orange color recently so earlier today I put him in my shower in hope he would rehydrate.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Completely Screen Cage, 16x16x30
Lighting - Double Lamp with UVB and Heat, the daylight bulb died so I currently have a 60 watt house bulb
Temperature - ambient Cage Temp is in the low 70s
Humidity - after a fully misting and 1 minute of fog cage is around 90%+
Plants - Live boston fern and dracaena
Placement - corner of my bedroom not near any fans
 
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What kind of UVB bulb are you using? Tube, compact? What is the brand and how old is it? How many hours a day is it on?

What is the basking temperature? Nighttime temperature?

He looks pretty dehydrated, and the orange urates also indicate dehydration from what I've read. Poor guy!
 
MissLissa said:
What kind of UVB bulb are you using? Tube, compact? What is the brand and how old is it? How many hours a day is it on?

What is the basking temperature? Nighttime temperature?

He looks pretty dehydrated, and the orange urates also indicate dehydration from what I've read. Poor guy!
Click to expand...

the uvb is the ReptiSun® 5.0 Mini Compact Fluorescent (13 watt), I'v had it for a little less than 2 months and its on for about 12 hours a day, the night time temp is high 60s and the basking temp is low 90s
 
I would go for an autopsy with the vet.. He was dehydrated, but probably not because he didn't have access to water, but because he didn't drink or eat... He must have been sick, I'm guessing parasites? Too bad you didn't go to the vet with faeces, really do that next time, it's important. Was he calmer or more active the last days? Any strange behaviour? Was he wild caught?

Put his body in a box in the fridge (not freezer!) and go to the vet as soon as you can for a necropsy. Maybe call them first, they might tell you if it is already too late for a necropsy or not. It's good to know what went wrong, so you are prepared if you get a new cham one day..
 
reptileguy112 said:
Sorry for your loss, has anybody else been seeing an increase of these threads with chameleons dying lately?
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The number of times the forum hears about dying chams is dependent on how many times keepers find us, post because their cham is sick and then REPORT that it died. There is probably nothing sinister going on the the worldwide captive cham population.
 
reptileguy112 said:
Sorry for your loss, has anybody else been seeing an increase of these threads with chameleons dying lately?
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I find that some people only come on here once they are experiencing problems with their chams. 99% of these type of threads, are from Junior members with less than 10 posts. I wish people would join here when they first are thinking about getting a chameleon (like some do) and stay informed and have all the information and help of people when hiccups happens. Very sad to see a Chameleon lost. :(
 
Man that sucks.

The first picture you posted the Chameleon doesn't look good at all.

When you got him, was he dis-coloured? If you gave him proper light and uv he should be fine. But there are other things such as misting, dusting with minerals and calcium. Even if you didn't dust or mist as much he should not be this brown.

Where did you get him from?
 
I agree that people should do more research into Chams before getting one including me. It's just like anything you have problems with alot of people go to the computer for information and when typing in there problem this site pops up most of the time first. Meaning it's a good site to get info from. BUT you don't have to bash a guy for asking for help especially one who just lost there pet! Have some consideration! Exscuse us for asking for help!

Sorry about George.. :(
 
MikeG24 said:
I agree that people should do more research into Chams before getting one including me. It's just like anything you have problems with alot of people go to the computer for information and when typing in there problem this site pops up most of the time first. Meaning it's a good site to get info from. BUT you don't have to bash a guy for asking for help especially one who just lost there pet! Have some consideration! Exscuse us for asking for help!

Sorry about George.. :(
Click to expand...

I wasn't bashing...where do you see bashing? Did I direct a single comment towards the OP? Not at all. I was directing my comments to someone who asked a question.
 
I guess I should have used a different word than bashing... It just seemed like a couple comments where like people only come here when there Cham is sick. Yes your correct they do because they are concerned about there Cham. Is it their's or my fault? Most likely because we didn't do the research on caring for one before we took responsibility caring for one. I understand you senior members are most likely tired of hearing the same questions with sometimes the same results but have you ever helped some one unprepared to own a Cham with there problems and had a happy ending? I hate to say it but George looked to far gone for anyone on a Forum to help with but saying stuff like that after he posted he passed away was uncool. Call it how you see it but that's my 2cents.
 
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