Just the weirdest thing...(Not for the squeamish)

[MissLissa]

So, I went for a walk today and not far from my apartment I found a panther chameleon. Dead. On the sidewalk.

I live in Canada. This is not at all typical.

So, of course I picked him up and took him home. He is very quite dead. The chameleon is no more; it's ceased to be. The ravens or something must have been at him. However, I'm pretty into collecting skeletons, bones, and other biofacts so I'm excited about this. However, it's obviously someone's pet (Northern Canada does not suffer from an overlarge feral chameleon population) and I don't want to "prep" someone's pet. I mean, that's disrespectful. But he's also in a pretty advanced stage of decomp, and probably had been for a while since it's well past first frost here and not much decomposition happens when everything is frozen. Anyways. So he's thawing in my bodyparts freezer (science makes you weird, yo- if any cops ever have need to search my apartment they are going to be deeply disturbed by what they find) and I make up some posters. No photos, because I'm imagining some young kid getting traumatized by seeing Ol' Pascal looking like a side of freezer-burnt raw beef. So I post up the "Found" posters, and within an hour- I kid you not- I get a phone call from a mom saying her kid lost their chameleon in October. I tell her the story, and ask her if she would like the chameleon back to do a chameleon burial or whatever normal people do with their dead pets.

She asks me what I was going to do with it if she didn't take it. So I tell her. And she says, "Wow, Kevin would love that!" So she's now paying me to prep this kid's dead chameleon into an articulated skeleton for his birthday in January. I'm really hoping she's not just going to surprise him with it. "Surprise! Remember Pascal? He's dead now and here are his parts!"

Oh, and the chameleon's name really was Pascal.

It's been a weird day.

 

[MelissaB]

That is a really strange day. I think it's great that the family will have closure, and you're a sweet heart for posting the "found" posters. Poor Pascal.
The articulated skeleton sounds really neat. I'd love to see photos when you're done, or even during the build.

 

[jpowell86]

I don't find that strange at all. Osteology is fascinating. What better way for this kid to learn the anatomical structuring of a chameleon than with a re-articulated skeletal setup. I fully understand people's inability to separate pet v science, and that's normal when speaking in terms of majority, but to me, I would rather keep them for learning after their passing. How are you going to mount him?? I would love to see the finished product!! Maybe you could PM me a pic if posting isn't an option?

 

[wodesorel]

That is too weird. And funny. And awesome!

I bet someone in that family has been watching Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru this season. (It's a Japanese anime about osteography. Seriously. It's good.)

If you had asked me before I started keeping critters I would probably have been horrified by this, but I strangely get it now. We had to put our corn snake down yesterday and I would love to find someone to articulate her. I don't think I could ever do one of my own pets, but I have no idea how to go about finding someone who does.

 

[SocialNumb]

Awesome story. Definitely post a finished picture! I would have never thought of posting a found poster for a dead pet though. I don't why. Maybe I would if it where rare. I will now.

 

[MissLissa]

Once I have him defleshed, I'll definitely post some pics! I just don't want to make people uncomfortable.

People used to bring in deceased animals to the vet clinic to have them scanned for microchips, etc. It could be pretty awful- sometimes they were mostly.. uh, liquid.

wodesorel: your best bet is your local taxidermy shop, and if not that, then your local university: either the biological sciences department, or their archaeological department. Those tend to be the areas where "bone people" congregate! You could possibly try your local conservation office too- or whatever government wildlife-control type people you have in your area: they might know who to go to. Be prepared for some strange looks though, and the "This person is craaaazy" voice. Snakes are difficult and time-consuming to articulate: their rib bones are tiiiiny and break very easily. You can't even use flesh-eating beetles, which is my stand-by choice for initial prep: I tried that with a garter snake once and the little jerks ate all her ribs along with the flesh. Even boiling them can be too harsh, and then putting the bazillion vertebrae back together is an absolute pain: "Now, is this T576, or Cd-642?" Heh heh

 

[wodesorel]

Thank you so much! I will start contacting people tomorrow. I'm used to the 'crazy' voice! It doesn't bother me. I have a friend who has done articulations with found bones, but never the cleaning part. She doesn't know anyone else who does this kind of thing though.

I'm not sure if she'd be easier or harder to do. She had Charcots, and some of the fusions are pretty extensive. It was a severe prolapse that left us no choice but to put her to sleep, but she probably would have needed to be humane euthanize sometime next year by the way she was progressing. We knew it was going to be a sooner rather than later situation, but she was nosy and ate like a monster and otherwise behaved like a normal snake so we kept her comfortable. Below is her stretched out as straight as she could get, apart from her tail and head.

 

[MissLissa]

Wow! I mean, that's awful, but her skeleton would be incredible to articulate. I'm not sure if she would be easier or harder: it would depend on the remodeling. It might be easier, if they are fused enough to only have a few sections, but it could be harder as the fusing may cover the signs of which piece goes where. I'd probably do very careful manual in her case, labeling each bone one by one to know how they go back together (which is pretty usual with snakes).

If you still have her, it's best to keep her refrigerated and not frozen. If she is refrigerated, and if you find a good person, they MAY be able to tan her skin for you, if you wanted. I have quite a few tanned snake skins: they are quite beautiful and they retain their colour well if it's done properly. If she's frozen, it's most likely that her skin is no good for tanning but they should still be able to work with her skeleton.

 

[wodesorel]

It really was wow. She was four years old and still going strong. Just the sweetest personality, too. Even with her recent injury, she'd never tried to bite once. She is in the fridge still. Not sure how long she'll stay okay in there or how long it'll take to track someone down. I'm actually looking to see if any universities or researchers want her for study first. She started off as a class pet, so going back to that seems fitting in a strange way. Unfortunately my vet is older and isn't in contact with colleagues anymore.

 

[MissLissa]

If it's more than 3-4 days, you're going to want to freeze her. Reptile enzymes are made to work slowly even in cool temperatures, so she is going to start digesting herself if you leave her in the fridge too long. If there is any kind of animal anatomy class in your area, I can imagine they would be pretty excited to add her to their collection, for sure. My vertebrate anatomy prof would be foaming at the mouth- she keeps asking if my scheltopusik is dead yet!

 

[JaniP]

The poor thing! I'm in cold Canada too, finding a cham would be quite shocking. How neat that it turned out that way, though! Way to make the best of it. I'd love to see pictures! You have a very interesting hobby