My 6 Month Old Chamleon Suddenly Died Last Night :o(

[AnthonyC]

Hi Guys and Gals ...

first of all im Anthony 27 from Manchester and i "had" 2 veiled Chameleons now i only have 1 due to a Sudden death of my Baby Cham Last night ...

1st of all this is Pete ... He's 3 years old now and going strong *Touch wood*...

And this is Zak who suddenly died mysteriously last night ... ill tell you about the story in a sec ...
these pics are from about 3 months ago .. unfortunatly i havnt taken any recent ones i bought it him for GF for Valentines day as she wanted one of her own cos i already had Pete when i got with her.

So last night we went to the cinema and as we got home we find Zak flopped out flat on the floor .. he was green around the outskirts of his body and his main body (belly back and side) was black. he also had a 1cm black line on his back ridges and some of the ridges look like theyve flattened off or fell off or smoothed off, i dunno. i picked him up and placed him flat on my hand as i thought he was dead, but he openned his eyes and in a weak condition had a slow look around with a slight grip on my but i mean slight! he was still all floppy and his belly was flat on my hand. so in a desperate attempt to save my little baby i quickly made some phone calls and found an emergency Vets so we ruched off there with him in a little box. on arrival his condition seemed to be the same close to life less and my GF was gettin quite upset to see him like this. he weighed him and gave him a quick once over but couldnt diagnose what was actually wrong with him. so he gave him some Antibiotics orally to try and help him through the night but once we got home with him he'd passed away

its very strange for this to happen to us, i have exactly the same set up as i do for pete and had no problems with him. but the strangest bit is 6pm he was fine, nice green colour and walking around his leaves and vines, eating and drinking fine from his waterfall and by 9:30pm he's knocking on deatsh door....

can anyone please help me with possible reasons as to why this has happened and so quickly?? as its a mystery to me ...

Thank you so much in advance!

Ant

 

[dreamforthedead]

I'm really sorry for you loss im no expert but maybe he could of had a fall? I can't see how a cham can go from being really healthy to dead in hours. Poor little guy.

 

[Warrix642]

Sorry for your loss. You may have an issue in your husbandry. Can you please post more details like cage type/size, lights, temps, diet/how much, watering(how/when), supplementing and maybe post pics of the setup. What exactly did the vet tell you?

Dustin

 

[AnthonyC]

thats the set up .. small 1 for Zak, Big one for pete ....

they ate regularly and every other pack of Locust were generously dusted with Calcium powder .... he had a waterfall for his water but also sprayed the tank and him 2/3 times a day, which he didnt like lol ...

his 2 bulbs he had was a heat bulb and a UV bulb ... i know they were exoterra bulbs but i cant remember the model numbers .. i can find out when i get home.

Hope this helps

 

[Warrix642]

Waterfalls breed bacteria and he may have died from impaction. Those wood-chips on the bottom need to go! How do you regulate temps/humidity in those? Most people recommend a linear Repti-sun UVB 5.0 light bulb. The compact UVB bulbs have been know to cause issues.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

In addition to other comments...is the lighting different on both cages?
Is there an opaque divider between the two cages?

 

[AnthonyC]

Come to think of it the waterfall is quite new ... 2 weeks old.
there are heat matts under both tanks which work on a regulator.
ive had pete on wood chippings (wet dense kind) for 3 years and no problems though ...
what would you recommend instead??

 

[AnthonyC]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

In addition to other comments...is the lighting different on both cages?
Is there an opaque divider between the two cages?

Thank you mate ..
there are 2 different lights on both tanks
and when that pic was took we had just got him .. soon after that pic was taken i divided the tanks with a green board so they couldnt see eachother

 

[czer]

yea the wood chips and the waterfall have to go... your set up looks more like for a gecko or anole

 

[AnthonyC]

yea the wood chips and the waterfall have to go... your set up looks more like for a gecko or anole

what would you recommend to use instead of wood chippings please?
waterfall is definately going .... GF bought that 2 weeks ago whilst i was away ... dont think i could tell her that could have possibly been the reason

Apart from the Waterfall ive done everything the same with pete and he's turned out strong healthy very tame and happy.

 

[reptimanny]

what would you recommend to use instead of wood chippings please?
waterfall is definately going .... GF bought that 2 weeks ago whilst i was away ... dont think i could tell her that could have possibly been the reason

Apart from the Waterfall ive done everything the same with pete and he's turned out strong healthy very tame and happy.

Use some carpet cage instead of the wood chips or better yet nothing. I't kinda looks like the airflow is restricted and i was noticing that you have one big cham next to the little guy.He might have been scared and maybe have fallen but a divider would be good for the next cham if u choose to get one. Oh yeah sorry for the loss, to me its always harder losing a little guy as appose to full grown chams.

 

[Harland Williams]

Sorry for your loss man that really blows hard .Right now I'm using a shamwow pad paper towels and cage carpet,it works pretty well and the shamwow pad is really absorbent.

 

[AnthonyC]

Use some carpet cage instead of the wood chips or better yet nothing. I't kinda looks like the airflow is restricted and i was noticing that you have one big cham next to the little guy.He might have been scared and maybe have fallen but a divider would be good for the next cham if u choose to get one. Oh yeah sorry for the loss, to me its always harder losing a little guy as appose to full grown chams.

Carpet Cage? is that for sale in most reptile pet shops??
ill do away with the chippings in petes tank ... there is good ventilation.
specially when he's at the top of his tank .. its wide open mesh ...
there was a green board splitting the tanks so at no point could they see each other ... yeah its hard mate ... specially for my missus as it was a valentines pressie and he was her little guy

 

[bradleymarky]

sorry for you loss mate.

i use newspaper and paper towels on the floor, its easy to clean and soaks up the water pretty good.

like what was posted earlier it could have been a fall, i use the industrial paper towels in a big roll and scrunch them up so they are not flat, that will help in a fall to soften the blow.

pete is a belter by the way

 

[Kent67]

waterfall is definately going .... GF bought that 2 weeks ago whilst i was away ... dont think i could tell her that could have possibly been the reason

First off, sorry for your loss. Sometimes it just happens and without doing a full necropsy you just won't know what it was. Sometimes even the necropsy fails to turn up anything. It's good to hear the waterfall is going but imho I don't think bacteria from it could have been the problem if it was only there 2 weeks, if that helps at all.

 

[TattooedGecko]

Newspaper and paper towels suck!They get filled up and soggy and is the nastiest thing i have to do when cleaning the cage, I use eco carpet, you could buy the largest one at petsmart and cut to fit both those exos, i also have crested geckos and i have the same two exos you have in the pic and thats what i did and the eco carpet, you can wash it in the washing machine and reuse it a couple times before it starts to fall apart, you should probobly think about getting or building a all screen cage petes a rather large cham to have in that short exo terra.Hope i helped

 

[beeze]

I am sorry for your loss.

I use nothing on the floor of my cage. I find it much easier to clean that way.

I think it would be a good idea for you fill fill out the ask for help form so that the members here can make sure you have everything correct for the cham you still have.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

A necropsy would also be a good idea to see if it would show what happen to the one you just lost.

 

[laurie]

Really sorry you lost Zac, losing him that fast is awful. I could very well be a fall, I would tell your girl that is was, just to make her feel better. Truth is you will never know, and that sucks! All you can do is go forward and try to fix any problems you feel need fixing. All the best luck.

 

[culpepperc]

First off, I am sorry for your loss . Diagnosing sudden accidental deaths can be difficult and frustrating. I recently lost a G. Rat Snake in an equally bizarre way. It bugged me until I decided to actually do a necropsy on him, and found he had two broken cervial vertbrae, from a misguided strike at the tank glass. Did you happen to palpate his stomach? I suspect he could have been impacted from a wood chip or since it was so sudden, he could have actually swallowed one and died from suffocation or digestive failure. I don't think the waterfall was the issue, although I would still get it out of there.
As for substrate, the best is none at all. You should also increase the amount of climbing vines/plants in your terrariums, your chameleons have no reason to come to the ground. Cover your plant's soil with pebbles or even a cardboard box, and leave the floor bare. Hope this info. helps.

 

[JaxyGirl]

Sorry to hear about your poor baby It could have even been a genetic type of problem also..sometimes things happen and there isn't a reason why? But, all the advice everyone is giving you is great and when you get your new baby you'll be all set to go