My cham Dojo

[Dojo]

Hi,
I am new and have been directed to this site many times while searching for info
About my cham dojo. You all seem very friendly and knowledgeable.

My chameleon dojo passed away a month ago and I am still pretty upset about it. I only had her two months and have wanted a chameleon for a very long time. My wife suprised me with a baby girl on April 26th. And she passed on june 26th. She had gotten her from petco.

Since I was a first time owner I can't help but feel like I am the reason she passed, so I amjust wondering if you can please read my little story and post some guesses on what might have happened. I very much appreciate it in advance!

So as soon as I got Dojo I put her in a 20 gal tank with leaves and vines and a log. She seemed to sleep alot and I figured she was bored so I took her out everyday. She always stayed light green so I think she liked it, anyways, she would crawl all over me n the blankets. Eventually she would fall asleep. She would sleep on my wife and I for hours if we let her. She always ate all her crickets. Also I sprayed the.leaves in her cage constantly so she drank. About a month in we caught her digging under her water bowl but everthing continued as always. Then one day my wife n I got back from the pool and she came out n slept on my wifes chest until she put her in her cage. We wolk up at 5Am and she was dead on the mulch. She looked beat up...I just dont understand. I want to own another chameleon one day but am terrified I did something wrong..

 

[Vanjan]

Hi,
I am sad that you lost your little guy.
If she was sleeping during the day from the first time you got her thats not a good sign. A healthy cham does not fall asleep during the day.

You could fill out this form as detailed as you can so experienced owners can help you with your husbandry:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
(just copy the questions, add your data and post it in this thread.)

And also posting some pictures of your setup would be good.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums this is a great place to learn about chameleons. I am so sorry for your loss of Dojo. These little animals have a way of getting into your heart really fast. She looks to young in the picture to have eggs but females dig a hole to lay eggs and if they are not provided the proper laying bin they become egg bound and die. If she was closing her eyes when you first got her she may have alredy been ill. Also you have to have their enclosure, water,lights, supplement and gut loaded feeders all correct to keep them healthy. I keep veileds and have a blog that tells how I recommend keeping them. I'll attach it for you below.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[jcarlsen]

Hi,
I am new and have been directed to this site many times while searching for info
About my cham dojo. You all seem very friendly and knowledgeable.

My chameleon dojo passed away a month ago and I am still pretty upset about it. I only had her two months and have wanted a chameleon for a very long time. My wife suprised me with a baby girl on April 26th. And she passed on june 26th. She had gotten her from petco.

Since I was a first time owner I can't help but feel like I am the reason she passed, so I amjust wondering if you can please read my little story and post some guesses on what might have happened. I very much appreciate it in advance!

So as soon as I got Dojo I put her in a 20 gal tank with leaves and vines and a log. She seemed to sleep alot and I figured she was bored so I took her out everyday. She always stayed light green so I think she liked it, anyways, she would crawl all over me n the blankets. Eventually she would fall asleep. She would sleep on my wife and I for hours if we let her. She always ate all her crickets. Also I sprayed the.leaves in her cage constantly so she drank. About a month in we caught her digging under her water bowl but everthing continued as always. Then one day my wife n I got back from the pool and she came out n slept on my wifes chest until she put her in her cage. We wolk up at 5Am and she was dead on the mulch. She looked beat up...I just dont understand. I want to own another chameleon one day but am terrified I did something wrong..

First and foremost, my condolences. I know how upsetting it can be to lose a pet, especially one you really admire and care for.

So, first off, I'm just gonna be blunt and say that your two biggest mistakes were:

1. Getting a chameleon from Petco instead of a breeder who specializes. You'll pay more, but you'll be getting an animal that will be started out healthy and kept in proper conditions.

2. Keeping a chameleon in an improper enclosure with improper lighting etc...
I see that others below have linked you to blogs, but I'll say the main things you need are:
- Screen enclosure (will need a bigger one for when it grows)
- Plenty of branches and vines, as well as some live plants that are safe
- UVB lighting (reptisun 5.0 or equivelant, but not too much)
- Some kind of way to mist or spray the chameleon regularly. They don't drink still water, but I see that you were spraying already. I might still recommend you look into an auto mister, so you can feel safe if you ever are out or forget someday.
- Proper food like crickets that are properly gut loaded and dusted with vitamins like calcium and an multivitamin with D3.

Now, I see that you got a female, and I'd recommend in the future you start out with a male. Females need an egg laying bin because they'll lay eggs whether they mate or not, and if you don't provide a bin that's proper for them, they'll become egg bound and die.

If you do get a male, I recommend no substrate in the bottom. These guys live up in trees and it's pointless to put any substrate in the bottom. It just makes it more difficult to clean and can get caught in their digestive tract if they shoot their food off the bottom.

Here's a link to some basic care here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/


I'm still fairly new to this as well. I just got my first panther chameleon in June, and I'm lucky enough to have found this site and various other care resources beforehand.

It may seem intimidating at first, but if you start out with the right enclosure, equipment, and diet, your cham should be doing pretty well next time. I hope this helps!

 

[carol5208]

Sorry for your loss, but just by some of the things you mentioned(20 gallon tank, water bowl) it seems your set up was not correct. Did you have a UVB light? Not a basking, but a light that gave off UVB? Please read up on our care sheet in the Care Resources section if you plan on getting another. We are here to help in any way.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Dojo, I'm really sorry for your loss.

Your chameleon sounds as if it was sick before you brought her home. She might have died even if she were under vet care. To get her to a vet, you would have needed to recognize she was ill and that is not the easiest thing for a new owner to do when you don't know what "normal" looks or behaves like.

I think others have pointed out the caging wasn't good. I suspect your lighting and gut loading weren't great either. You would have had a lot of trouble regulating temperatures in a 20 gal. glass tank. It isn't tall enough to give you a temperature gradient and it will trap air in because their is no ventilation.

I don't think any of those things would kill your chameleon in two months. They might have made it difficult for her to combat an illness, though, because an environment that is not ideal puts her physiologically in a state of constant/chronic stress.

When you stress an animal their immune system is compromised and just does't work very well. Stress can be caused by many things, both good things and bad. Environmental conditions that are outside the ideal range--too hot, too cold, not humid enough, lack of food or water, not enough cover to hide in--will put the animal under stress as will moving them to a new territory, handling them or even breeding or carrying/laying eggs.

Handling, particularly for a chameleon, is very stressful. Chameleons in general do not like to be handled. To them, you are a big predator about to eat them and they are a very little and slow moving defenseless prey. They have limited defensive strategies, so once detected usually end up as dinner. Whenever you put your hand near them, their immediate response is the same as if your hand were a big snake. You might not see that response because it is all internal at a hormonal level, but it is there. Over time, you can desensitize (tame) them to their natural fears, but be aware, that expecting to die is their default response to humans.

She might have been ill or very stressed right from Day 1. When they are really stressed, they shut down. I suspect she was ill, which in itself causes stress. It is normal for them to be stressed for awhile when they move homes.

You misinterpreted your chameleon's initial behavior to one of boredom. And then you took your wrong hypothesis (boredom) and added a lot of stress on an already stressed and (possibly) ill chameleon.

How were you to know? In a perfect world, you would have known a lot more before you bought your little girl, but it's not a perfect world. I'm really sorry for your loss. I hope I haven't added to your grief, and I hope you don't beat yourself up over it.

I would not recommend a chameleon from PetSmart or any other big box pet shop. I would definitely not recommend a female. A veiled is a very tough chameleon that will forgive a lot of your husbandry mistakes. I believe a panther is also a fairly tough, forgiving chameleon. No chameleon will forgive poor UVB lighting for long, though.

As an aside, a dead chameleon looks pretty rough. There is a whole bunch of things that happen to their pigment cells at death.

 

[Dojo]

Thank you all so much for the information and the heart felt condolences. It means alot.
I had a basking light and a UVB. Also I had a dripper on the plants down to the water bowl.(the water bowl was just at the bottom to catch the water n dump). Also, I truly believe she wanted out because when I opened the top she would run to my hand and climb out onto me. When she went to sleep she was sleeping with her head against the glass by my bed. I knowrrecently read about the screen cage and was waiting until I got paid but she didnt make it. I constantly monitored the temp and also I gut loaded the crickets and dusted them with calcium.

I hope this answers all the question and again thank you. She really did grow on me so fast.

 

[Carlton]

Thank you all so much for the information and the heart felt condolences. It means alot.
I had a basking light and a UVB. Also I had a dripper on the plants down to the water bowl.(the water bowl was just at the bottom to catch the water n dump). Also, I truly believe she wanted out because when I opened the top she would run to my hand and climb out onto me. When she went to sleep she was sleeping with her head against the glass by my bed. I knowrrecently read about the screen cage and was waiting until I got paid but she didnt make it. I constantly monitored the temp and also I gut loaded the crickets and dusted them with calcium.

I hope this answers all the question and again thank you. She really did grow on me so fast.

It makes me so angry and sad to hear stories like this. They are terribly common unfortunately. Well-intentioned but inexperienced buyers get taken advantage of by pet stores that provide poor care for their livestock and little to no correct husbandry information. I know you received a gift so that's a little different from someone who went out and bought their own cham on impulse (and then didn't follow up with research on how to take care of one). Either way, you ended up with a vulnerable creature that broke your heart. Plus the terrible feeling that you caused her death makes everything that much worse.

Even if you had the perfect cage setup waiting it sounds like something was wrong with this little cham from day 1. Chams take time to "learn". It is natural for them to hide signs of health problems until they no longer have the energy to. Appearing weak or sick makes them a target for predators. A cham's approach to the world is to be secretive. Its easy to misinterpret their behavior which leads to problems as you found out. She wasn't being social while napping on you or your wife. She was exhausted and trying to shut out the world. She probably wanted out of that tank because it was unsuitable and stressful for her. Chams naturally feel more secure as high up off the floor as they can get. It would be pretty normal for her to make a run for it every time you opened the tank up. Don't take it personally, but she wasn't coming to you because she wanted your attention, but because you were a convenient tree.

At least you are trying to understand what happened so it never happens again. I'm sorry you found us too late to save her!

 

[Dojo]

That sounds right on point. Her feet were like hm.. kind of shakey when she would take a step. Well, I will be on this site alot until Christmas and after. My wife is planning on getting another for me from a breeder that come with a screen cage, mister and all the things he needs but thats only if I fully understand how to take care of them and read the signs. Thanks everyone

 

[Carlton]

That sounds right on point. Her feet were like hm.. kind of shakey when she would take a step.

Shaky steps are not necessarily a sign of trouble. They hesitate and dither around when they feel exposed to view. It helps them look less like an animal and more like a wind shaken leaf. And, as they are busy watching everything else around them they are sort of feeling their way along the branch.