Hello all, I am a housekeeper in New England. The family I work for brought home a baby veiled chameleon in January '16. I wasn't crazy about him at first, but boy...he grew on me. He showed some signs of strange behavior from the beginning that I now know were red flags (thanks to this forum) of an illness from a lack of good care, and when the family went away for spring break, I took care of the cham. I read all of the forum posts here! I learned about gut loading crickets and vitamins and basking spots. I dusted his worms and made him a dripper, I took the best care of him I knew how. The third day they were gone, he got sick. He wasn't climbing, he didn't greet me in the morning. He became very lethargic although he was eating. I couldn't find a vet that could see him that week but, there was one that could see him a week later. He perked up a bit and when they returned, they felt he wasn't perfect but, he looked OK so the family cancelled the vet appointment. They also informed me (very nicely)that he was their pet and he was not my property. I watched this little guy so sick, it broke my heart. I fed him water with an eyedropper, I soaked him in water and pedialyte, I hand fed him meal worms and put him out in the sun to bask. I just knew he was very sick and wasn't going to bounce back. All of my concerns to the parents fell on deaf ears. The parents sent him to to a family member's house. This person was allegedly an expert on chams. He finally retuned looking like death warmed over. I could tell he had MBD. He had a bad case of it. I literally came to work everyday and made a bee-line for him to check on him. Long story short, after over a month total of being sick, he passed away last week. I just am so sad about it. I miss him so much. Seeing his enclosure empty, kills me. After becoming educated here, I know that he needed certain things he didn't get from his owners and that neglect killed him. The guilt is eating me up. I'm not posting to vent really, I'm posting to thank you all. Your little community here helped me understand what was happening and give that little guy comfort and love during his short life. Although I couldn't save him, I know I gave him the best care he had ever known. Thank you for all of your stories and information. You can never know how invaluable this site is.
Just want to say thank you to all of you....
- Thread starter Bos02116
- Start date
Fiona's Mom
Chameleon Enthusiast
You sound like a very caring person and I don't think your employers appreciate you enough. Maybe sometime in the future you might consider getting a Chameleon of your own, I know he would be in good hands and bring you a lot of joy.
Similar threads
