A girl I know had a chameleon dumped at her petstore. She, after taking care of him for 7 months, started noticing stress signs (casque was sinking in, shedding weekly?) and decided to see if she could find him another home.
That home was mine. He was with me for a month.
I am overwhelmed with guilt because i SHOULD have taken him to the vet when i first received him.... but He seemed healthy - albiet a little thin and dry, but he had a good appetite, good grip etc. I just chalked this up to her poor husbandry and thought with a good feeding/watering/supplementing schedule, that he would look amazing in no time.
The girl fed him tonnes of crickets daily because she thought he was thin, dusted with only Calcium w/D3 and had a compact flourescent UVB bulb and 160 w heat lamp INSIDE his enclosure. She kept him in her unfinished basement, where there was drywall dust and other stressors in his environment. She didn't keep gauges as she felt she could guage humidity herself since she kepts frogs.
I changed him to a reptisun 5.0 linear tube, moved his heat lamp outside his cage, fed him every other day between 5-10 crickets (which he INHALED), and super worms a few times a week. His crickets were dusted every feeding with calcium w/o D3 and once month w/d3 He also got a multivitamin dust twice in the month I had him. He was misted twice daily for 2 minutes each time and had a drip going constantly. I unfortunately and stupidly hadn't got a humidity guage yet. (It was on my list, along with live plants, I just couldn't afford it yet)I know it's bad, but his feces were always well formed, and his urates were always pure white - when I didn't see him drink, I would give him water via syringe.
He was in a room all by himself in a 100 gallon reptarium. No breezes, no busy traffic in the room. Handling was at a minimum, unless I syringe watered him, then it was still for a short amount of time.
He just kept losing weight. First thing I think of is parasites. That maybe the fact that he was over fed let him deal with possible intestinal parasites better?
He wasn't showing any signs of weakness on friday, but he was looking thin so I booked him an appointment for Saturday, and that morning I found him on the floor on his side unable to get up. I rushed him to the vet, she tube fed him, dewormed him and gave fluids. He made it home, but died one hour later.
The vet is confident that it was a longer standing issue than the four weeks I had him... That I got the short end of the stick because I was a 3rd generation owner and I couldn't have known he was sick since the girl before me knew nothing about chameleons. ugh, I am sick to my stomach with guilt.
RIP little buddy.
That home was mine. He was with me for a month.
I am overwhelmed with guilt because i SHOULD have taken him to the vet when i first received him.... but He seemed healthy - albiet a little thin and dry, but he had a good appetite, good grip etc. I just chalked this up to her poor husbandry and thought with a good feeding/watering/supplementing schedule, that he would look amazing in no time.
The girl fed him tonnes of crickets daily because she thought he was thin, dusted with only Calcium w/D3 and had a compact flourescent UVB bulb and 160 w heat lamp INSIDE his enclosure. She kept him in her unfinished basement, where there was drywall dust and other stressors in his environment. She didn't keep gauges as she felt she could guage humidity herself since she kepts frogs.
I changed him to a reptisun 5.0 linear tube, moved his heat lamp outside his cage, fed him every other day between 5-10 crickets (which he INHALED), and super worms a few times a week. His crickets were dusted every feeding with calcium w/o D3 and once month w/d3 He also got a multivitamin dust twice in the month I had him. He was misted twice daily for 2 minutes each time and had a drip going constantly. I unfortunately and stupidly hadn't got a humidity guage yet. (It was on my list, along with live plants, I just couldn't afford it yet)I know it's bad, but his feces were always well formed, and his urates were always pure white - when I didn't see him drink, I would give him water via syringe.
He was in a room all by himself in a 100 gallon reptarium. No breezes, no busy traffic in the room. Handling was at a minimum, unless I syringe watered him, then it was still for a short amount of time.
He just kept losing weight. First thing I think of is parasites. That maybe the fact that he was over fed let him deal with possible intestinal parasites better?
He wasn't showing any signs of weakness on friday, but he was looking thin so I booked him an appointment for Saturday, and that morning I found him on the floor on his side unable to get up. I rushed him to the vet, she tube fed him, dewormed him and gave fluids. He made it home, but died one hour later.
The vet is confident that it was a longer standing issue than the four weeks I had him... That I got the short end of the stick because I was a 3rd generation owner and I couldn't have known he was sick since the girl before me knew nothing about chameleons. ugh, I am sick to my stomach with guilt.
RIP little buddy.
My thoughts are with you.
