Jeff suddenly died this morning

[MPhylene]

Hi, I just joined due to a sad event. My male jackson's chameleon died suddenlu this morning. I was up around 6 am getting ready for work when he fell from a vine and landed at the bottom of his cage. He was wiggling around (looked like he was trying to get up). I picked him up and he went stiff in my hand and he had a mouth full of blood. Just last night he was perfectly happy and healthy. What could have happebed?

Male jackson's chameleon, not sure of age but i've had him for about 4 months.

Housing:
30" tall reptibreeze, eco earth substrate, zoomed reptifogger, 50 watt heat lamp and 5.0 uvb light.

Diet of crickets and mealworms, alternating between the 2. Dusted with calcium about 3 times a week. In addition to the fogger I misted his cage several times a day.

I'm wondering why he would have passed so suddenly, could the fall alone have killed him?

 

[HHLL38]

It's unlikely the fall alone could have killed him.

However, the blood in the mouth would lead me to believe that perhaps he had ingested some of the substrate and his GI tract became blocked.

When was the last time you saw feces?

 

[deadhd5]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss.. It's hard to say for sure without more information, but it could have been the fall. Maybe he landed the wrong way.

Losing one of these little guys is really hard and we share your pain, as most of us have been in your shoes. Condolences.

Eric

 

[MPhylene]

I highly doubt that he swallowed substrate. He never ever went to the bottom of his enclosure, and he was eating, drinking, and pooping normally right up until this morning. He did kinda land on a water dish on the floor of his cage, I wonder if maybe he just landed and his his head on it? He was definitely alive before the fall and for a few moments after.

 

[Zaid323]

I'm sorry for your loss, but how did you feed your crickets exactly? Did you free range your crickets? Or cup/trap?
*Didn't mean a happy face- it's just hard typing on a phone*

 

[MPhylene]

I just let the crickets into his cage, they would usually crawl to the ceiling of the cage and he would hunt them from his vines. Mealworms I fed him in a dish that I set up in his vines.

I should also add that he did have mouth rot but it was pretty much healed up.

 

[SMCNARY]

Sorry about your loss,if can happen to anyone at any time even with the best care,don't beat yourself up over it and know you have come to the best place for help with keeping Chams. I hope when ready you find yourself another one. They are so addicting and fun to keep. Again sorry about your guy.

 

[MPhylene]

Thanks everyone for your condolences. I just wish I had a better understanding of what happened so if I do get another one in the future I am better prepared. I probably wont be getting another one for quite awhile, Jeff was one in a million.

 

[Lovereps]

So sorry to hear about your Jackson's dying.
It is always heartbreaking to lose a pet.

We can speculate about the cause of his death but the only real way to know for sure is a necropsy by a vet who knows a great deal about reptiles.
What we can do is to review your care and see if anything would be better if done differently, if you're going to get another cham.
Usually, chameleons don't fall unless something is wrong with them.
Not knowing how old he was, it could have just been his "time" or it could have been something non-preventable like cancer or something else that could be prevented from happening with another cham with different care.

 

[MPhylene]

He was still young, i've only had him about 4 months and he was young when I bought him, I think a juvenile. I posted his enclosure info in the above comments.

 

[MPhylene]

Also, a necropsy is out of the question because unfortunately where I live we lack good reptile vets.

 

[lovepicasso]

I am so sorry for your loss, hurts my heart every time I hear of one of these innocent little guys dying, to me it sounds like he may of hit somewhere in a vital organ area and caused the bleeding, I really don't know just a guess....my heart goes out to you.

 

[CarlyMK]

I am so sorry to hear that, I know how hard it is to lose a cham and feeling completely helpless

I also don't think you should rule out the fall as the possible cause. Sometimes they may hit something wrong and unfortunately that's enough to do it.

I'm sorry to ask, but did the blood look fresh?

 

[MPhylene]

The blood was very fresh, it was dripping as I held him.

 

[Decadancin]

If I were to place a guess, (and that's all this is) I'd say he landed wrong and did some internal damage. Unfortunately this can occur. I am so sorry for your loss and wish we met you under better circumstances. I would say that there may have been some other issues that may have caused the fall. I recommend a fecal exam for any chameleons at least once a year to hopefully catch parasitic problems before they get too bad. Since you are not sure what happened to Jeff, I would make sure to clean everything very thoroughly if you plan on reusing just in case of parasites. (Throw out what you are not sure of) Again, sorry for your loss.

 

[italian chameleon]

. He did kinda land on a water dish on the floor of his cage, I wonder if maybe he just landed and his his head on it? He was definitely alive before the fall and for a few moments after.

sorry for your loss but why did you have a water dish? if he landed on it head first that may be the cause of death.
condolences again

 

[MPhylene]

The water dish was there simply to catch water from his dripper so that the bottom if his cage doesnt get swampy.

Update, by the way... My gf texted me at work and said he's still alive but not moving much. His color has changed back to bright green and he is alive, but I dont know if he will pull through or not. I dont know whether to end his suffering or not. We do not have any good reptile vets in the area

 

[DanSB]

The water dish was there simply to catch water from his dripper so that the bottom if his cage doesnt get swampy.

Update, by the way... My gf texted me at work and said he's still alive but not moving much. His color has changed back to bright green and he is alive, but I dont know if he will pull through or not. I dont know whether to end his suffering or not. We do not have any good reptile vets in the area

My wife swore one of our africanus was still alive after she died because of the color change. Their colors do change after death to a certain extent. If any animal goes totally limp, stops breathing (hard to tell with many reptiles especially chameleons) then goes stiff shortly after they are without a doubt dead.

I am sorry for your loss, it is hard but is part of being able to share your life with these beautiful delicate creatures.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

You said he had mouth rot. Was he on any antibiotics for that? That could be a factor in his falling and injuring himself. Antibiotics are hard on a chams system. You have to be very diligent in keeping them hydrated during a round of meds. If not they can dehyrate and usually they will have kidney or other organ damage from the meds and lack of water. If you have a vet that was prescribing his meds for the mouth rot then I'd let them examine him for any possible internal injuries. A quick x-ray shouldnt be that much $$ and that could tell you if you need to euthanize and stop his suffering. Sorry for the circumstance but you dont want him to suffer Im sure.

 

[MPhylene]

He was not on antibiotics, but I was applying betadine twice a day. His mouth was healing very very well, I couldnt believe how well he was doing! This is al so heartbreaking