My cham died! :-(

[ThisNewCham]

Hi guys.

I'm devasted. I woke up this morning to find El Chamino, my 7 month old male veiled died. He was still holding onto a branch, but down at the bottom of the cage.

I am so stunned. He was doing great. The vet had nothing bad to say, he was eating, drinking, and everything was right. I put him to bed last night, and I know he fell asleep because I checked on him and saw him sleeping.

I don't know what went wrong.

 

[krug1313]

Sorry for your loss. You said he was still holding the branch... Is it possible while in his sleep the branch broke? I'm not sure how thick of a branch this is your talking about. Maybe the branch broke while he was sleeping and the impact had something to do with this little fellas passing. Just a thought. Again sorry for your loss.

 

[THECHAMMAN]

very sorry for your loss. i agree with krugs explanation.

 

[chamlover]

I am so sorry to hear that! Sometimes we just never do find out. I'm sure you were doing everything right. We had a female veiled at about 7-8 mos old die as well and we never found out why either.


Debby

 

[Tygerr]

Sorry to hear about your loss.
If you take the body right away, your vet could try carry out a necropsy on the cham.
It might provide valuable information that may improve your husbandry for any future chams you might keep (sometimes evidence is found of over-/under-supplementation that is hard to detect until it is too late). Sometimes the vet won't find anything either, but then you'd have piece of mind that it was probably nothing you could have picked up either.

 

[ThisNewCham]

Thanks guys.

I'm goign to be calling the vet to see what can be done.

he was holding a branch, but the weird thing is is that is was a branch at the bottom of the cage, he never goes to the bottom.

i hope the vet can find something.

 

[ThisNewCham]

So I called the vet and she said that they can open him up and look for obvious signs or send him away to a lab and have everything tested. She said that opening him up never really comes up with an answer for the smaller animals, and that sending him away is very expensive.

Guess I'll never know

 

[chamlover]

I'm really sorry you won't be able to find out what went wrong with him. Was he your only cham? And how long did you have him?

Debby

 

[ThisNewCham]

He was my only one. My first one. I've had him for about 2 or 3 months.

 

[dodolah]

sorry for your loss.
If you have the gut to do it, i suggest doing the necropsy on your own.
one member of the forum found out his cham is infested with lung worms (normally cannot be detected via fecal test).

 

[PINki]

Sorry for your loss. It's hard.

But what do you guys do with cham when he dies? Probably you won't eat him, so I wonder where do you leave them?

Greets!

 

[dodolah]

Sorry for your loss. It's hard.

But what do you guys do with cham when he dies? Probably you won't eat him, so I wonder where do you leave them?

Greets!

I bury him in my backyard.

 

[Kat77]

Pinki: Eat him? This person is sad. I don't know why you would be joking about that.

Thisnewcham: I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope you feel like giving chameleons another try eventually, and we're always here to help. Hope you feel better!

 

[jannb]

I am sorry to hear about your loss. Jann

 

[BocaJan]

I am sorry for the loss of your friend.

 

[luckykarma]

I'm so sorry. I know it can be devastating.

 

[PantherVeileD]

sorry for your lost. wow two forum members' cham past away today.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

I am so sorry for your loss, too. And the shock of it makes it even worse. Plus the inexplicable circumstances. How sad. I remember when he had his first shed with you.

 

[bucky]

You know,this may sound horrible,but with a death,you learn stuff and it REALLY motivates you to improve your husbandry for future chams(or anything else). Im not saying you did anything wrong,just saying, theres always something good out of a bad thing,it may not seem like it And best of wishes,im sure hes in a good place.

 

[ThisNewCham]

Yeah, I plan to give chameleons another try. Not for another year, at least, when the next Expo comes around so that I don't have to support Petsmart. I might wait until I'm done school, because I graduate from college this year and will be attending 2 universities in 2 provinces within the next 3 years, so best to wait until i'm done moving.

I plan on still remaining active in the forums until my next chameleon comes around. I really enjoy you guys and really enjoyed my experience with a chameleon. I can't wait for my next!