Sudden Passing

[Davidmc2013]

1. Jangobelle's Information:
   • Female Veiled
   • approx 3 months old (from my understanding)
   • In my care for about 1 month
   • Handled at 2-5 times weekly
   Feeding & Supplements:
   • 15-20 small to medium crickets daily
   • Dusted with Zoo Med Repti-Calcium Tuesday and Thursday
   • Dusted with Zoo Med Reptivite Saturdays
   • Gut loaded with Flukers High Calcium Cricket diet and Flukers calcium fortified thirst quencher
   Watering:
   • Misted for 5 minutes 4 times daily with pressurized hand mister
   • 2 drips provided by Little Dripper on top of cage almost constantly
   • She seems to only drink when she is being misted, not very interested in drip
   • Drinks drips from vines occasionally
   • Strikes at droplets that collect at top of cage
   Fecal Description:
   • More yellowing of urates lately
   • Frequent droppings, urates range from white to nearly orange
   • not tested for parasites
   History:
   • Unknown, I got her from a Petsmart
   Cage Info:
   • 16x16x30 Reptibreeze mesh terrarium
   • Lighting: 5.0 Tropical Reptisun UVB bulb and a 50 watt Repti-basking spot lamp
   • Temperature:
     • Usually about 75 F
     • Drops to 68-70 F at night
     • Basking spot temp approximately 85-90 degrees (where she spent the majority of her time)
     • Coldest spot is about 60 degrees at the bottom of the terrarium
     • Measured with Imagitarium analog thermometer
   • Humidity is usually about 50-55%, rising to 65-70% during misting
     • Pothos plant helps to maintain humidity
     • Also, I have a zoo med reptifogger
     • Measured with Imagitarium analog hydrometer
   • Plants: Pothos is the only live plant, river rocks cover soil to prevent ingestion
   • Placement:
     • Top of cage is about 5 feet off of ground, bottom is about 2 feet off of ground
     • In living room, however only my girlfriend and I live here, so low traffic
     • There is a fan and vent in the room, however the fan is usually off
   • Geographic Location: Central Oklahoma
   Current Problem:
   This morning Jangobelle suddenly passed. She was at the bottom of her cage and cold. I picked her up and she was almost completely unresponsive. I took her to her basking light to warm up, but within a few minutes she had passed. She was active and eating just the day before. I'm not sure if it is something that I did wrong or if this was just sudden and possibly due to some underlying condition. If you have any ideas please share them. No offense will be taken if you think that my care may have been the fault, I just want to have an idea of what happened. Thank you for your time.
   
   Best Regards,
   David

(Pictures are from Yesterday and the night before)

 

[Jwillchamel]

Dehydration looks like but im not expert or vet in the pic she is alive you can see her back bone could be something else but i notice if mine are dehydrated i can see there back bone alot more like that

 

[serenaj25]

Im so sorry to hear about your girl. I think it could have been dehydration as well because of the orange urates and sunken eyes shown In the pictures. Most occasions chameleons won't show signs of anything being wrong until it is really severe. It could have also been something else but I will wait for some of the heath people to chime in. Again, my condolences to you

 

[Carlton]

Based on your description of the cage setup and the urates, she was chronically dehydrated. She may have been so before you got her, as Petsmart is notorious for their poor care and poor husbandry information they offer to customers. The analog humidity gauge could also be faulty leading you to think her habitat was more humid than it actually was. Misting for a few minutes once a day isn't usually enough to trigger a good drinking response and if the cage didn't have a lot of foliage to hold droplets long enough, she wasn't able to drink her fill over time. Do you use AC in your house? If you use that in summer and forced air heat in winter that can dry out the air a lot. She may have been thirsty for a lot of the time especially if she didn't drink from her dripper reliably. Chams can dehydrate in dry air fairly fast even with a dripper running.

 

[Angelwolf]

To me, she looks like she was chronically dehydrated and malnourished. Her casque looks sunken, especially in the back. They have fat deposits there, when properly fed, that should be full and slightly pudgy. Hers is not. Her eyes are sunken, and she should be able to completely shed in about 12 hrs, at that age. All of the skin shed stuck on her says chronic dehydration to me. I'm sorry you lost her. I think the blame probably lies on the pet store, but I'm not able to say for sure, not having seen the conditions she was kept in.

 

[Davidmc2013]

Thank you all for your replies, I appreciate all of your feedback and condolences.