urgent -cham dying!!

L

lostinegypt

New Member
Please help me.
I posted on the other forum that i had recieved a chemeleon from a parent (i live in egypt).

i do not have any insect to feed him, i do not know of any suppliers who sell or ship insects to egypt. my insect trap has only attracted ants- which i know i cant feed him.

i recieved him on thursday in a distressed state. He seemed much better when i put him into the enclosure and was drinking well. i was told to give him apple and melon until i could find insects. it does not appear that he has eaten anything.

I woke up today and he is on his side with his leg in the air. i thought he was dead but he moved. i have misted him and given him fresh fruit but he is still lying there on his side. i think he is starving to death. i hate this parent for putting me in this position.

please help me what can i do?? i dont want him to die - i have everyone i can think of looking for insects for me. the only insects we ever see is cockroaches - but i havent found any, flies - but i havent caught any and ants - lots of ants.

please help asap
 
Roaches are good. Feed those to him. Normally to be safe, you would want to clean the roaches guts out by letting it eat carrots or lettuce for a day. But if it is a real emergency, I would probably take a chance. How long has your cham been without food?
 
i don't know how long he has been without food.i got him thursday and he hasnt eaten since then. I dont know if he has been eaten before i got him from the parent. Apparently he was eating dry cat food!!!!

i havent seen any cockroaches for ages - if i do find one i will put it in his tank but they are huge - will this be ok??

what can i do in the meantime?? what else can he eat?? i cant get insects as yet.
 
They will also eat the leaves of live plants. Make sure it is not a toxic plant. Here is a link to a safe plant list. http://flchams.com/safe_plant_list.asp
For the roaches size, a general rule with all feeders are:
1) If the insect (feeder) is smaller than the width of the chams head, it will be able to eat it. Sometimes they try to eat bigger bugs too.
2) Stay away from brightly colored bugs ex. Lady bugs, monarch butterflies. They are most likely toxic.
3) It is good to gut load the insect before feeding to your cham. Let the insect feed on carrots, romaine lettuce, potato. But in your case you don't have that much time to do this.
 
Try flower petals, mine will always want to eat flowers but I only give them clean, dreanched in water rose petals.
Read about flower petals being eaten by chams and then try all that you can, its not much but atleast it gets rid of hunger.
 
Can you catch flies...? I would think that no mater where you go especially where there are people and animals there are flies. and other insects. Ants are not a good feeder.

He's probably too sick for baby mice too. grasshoppers. gold fish? not too sure about that too.

Hope this helps

OPI
 
i have just put out raw meat with water on it. i know this will attrack flies but how do i then catch them, wont they just fly off when they see me coming??

he seems very very slightly better, he is no longer on his side but upright - just, eyes still closed, very wobbly.

i have put in lettace, melon, orange and apple. fingers crossed i can get flies. do i put them in live or will he be too ill to catch them live??
 
ok i am very happy, i have just found a grasshopper!! ( i think - it may be a cricket im not sure) i have put it in the tank but it climbed right to the top. dont think chameleon knows its there. i am taking chameleon to vet now in another city. im not sure how much experience this vet has with exoctic pets but its worth a try and if it gets better he may know where to buy insects from!!. fingers crossed guys!!!

will message when i get back.
 
Good. A vet is your best bet right now. Your cham might be too weak right now to hunt for food. You might have to hold the cricket in front of him in order to get him to eat.
 
While you are at the vet, see if you can get a new IV bag/dripper. They make great drippers and are good for giving your cham water. Just hang it above the cage, and let the water drip slowly onto any leaves in the cage. your cham will drink off the leaves.
 
Put the meat in a container with 1 hole in the lid and then the flys probably will go in but wont get out, and make sure there isnt water at the bottom of the container you just want the meat wet because the flies WILL drown in water.
 
Fly paper

Why don't you just buy some fly paper and unravel it and catch the flies taht way? I believe the sticky stuff is non toxic so I would chance it in this case and at this point in time.
 
i have just come back from the vet i managed to find one that deals with exotocs and has worked in america.

the vet was nearly 2 hours away and by the time i got there he was very very ill, nearly dead and had started to go black - his eyes were black. The vet looked at him and said he was very de-hydrated and looked like he hadnt eaten for weeks. He said he was prob handled too much as well. He said there was nothing he could do and that the chameleon was taking his last breaths. He said i could take him home or leave him to die at vet. I left him at vet.

I feel so bad no and so angry with this parent.

Maybe i should have took him straight to the vet on thursday when i got him - he didnt look that bad thou - i feel so guilty.

thank you for all the advice guys, i really appreciate it.

Chemeleons are really amazing animals, im just sorry i couldnt save this one :(
 
From the way it sounded-there was nothing you could really do. I am sorry that you had to go through all of that, but once chams go downhill, they go down really, really fast.
 
sorry that you had to go through all that,

It actually proves the fact on why animal care etc. should be tought to everyone. I'm not just saying with chameleons, but when you get a pet you should research that pet to a full extent. Whoever got it probably got it from someone else who told them that cat food was fine, or they found it and remember giving cat food to another lizard and just figured it would be fine.

I honestly think that general animal care should be tought to kids in elementary school. Not in like how to feed them and such, but how to act around them etc. I cant tell you how many dog "attack" stories i've heard about due to the kid running up to the dog and slapping(petting hard) the dog and the dog freaked out and snapped back.
 
this is a HUGE problem in egypt. Its not that everyone is cruel, but it is ignorance. They have no education on how to look after animals. parents are not interested either. the school gives money to charity, they wanted to give money to an animal charity but the parents thought the money should go elsewhere.

i got my terrapin in similar sitaution, a child had bought it and decided they no longer wanted it so they brought it into school. It was in a tiny (and i mean tiny) bowl and had been fed on fish food. the terrapin didnt know what to do when i put it into a 4 foot tank!! lol!!

we have egyptian teaching assistants in school and one of them saw my terrapin and said 'oh i have one of those at home', she was keeping it iin a tiny bowl and feeding it fish food. she was horrified when i told her that the terrapin would die if she didnt change its habitat and eating habits, she had no idea!! she said but that is what the man in the pet shop told me. she had also been washing the terrapin with shampoo!!! again its education, she gladly took all the advice i gave her.

its the same with pet shops they sell all kinds of animals, including cats and dogs in cages. its really hard as a westerner.
 
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