We lost Apollo

[JennyBug]

My husband and I lost our Ambilobe panther, Apollo, this past Friday. I went to check on him in his cage and he was gone. We buried him (we're big softies that way) back in our woods.

Some things we noticed before he died:
1. We moved to a new house, could his death have been stress related (we moved the animals in mid-August)
2. He stopped eating. We tried dusting, different kinds of dust, different bugs. Some of you may remember that he went through a period when we first got him where he didn't eat for about 2 weeks.
3. He spent most of his time on the floor or on the low branches. He seemed too tired to climb.
4. When he did climb, he was having trouble climbing. He would lose his footing and we would have to right him on the branch. He seemed to get disoriented easily.
5. No matter how much we misted, his eyes were sunken in. He looked dehydrated constantly, even when he would drink water straight from the mister.

We thought about donating him to the local vet so they could learn more about reptiles, but in the end we couldn't do it. He wasn't in the best of health when we got him, and I think moving hurt him stress-wise. He was our first panther, and we're going to wait for a while to get another one (we want to save up and get the best possible cages and supplies - spare no expense type of thing). What we had worked, I just wonder if we got a poor specimen.

Any thoughts?

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Age? Was he young, or up in age? Sorry for your loss.

 

[hallenhe]

I'm sorry to hear about Apollo. Some of the symptoms sound consistent with a kidney problem; these aren't uncommon in older chameleons. It sounds as though he may not have been the healthiest to begin with, through no fault of your own. I'm glad that you're not giving up on chameleons altogether, and wish you a good, healthy, lively one in the future.

 

[draetish]

My husband and I lost our Ambilobe panther, Apollo, this past Friday. I went to check on him in his cage and he was gone. We buried him (we're big softies that way) back in our woods.

Some things we noticed before he died:
1. We moved to a new house, could his death have been stress related (we moved the animals in mid-August)
2. He stopped eating. We tried dusting, different kinds of dust, different bugs. Some of you may remember that he went through a period when we first got him where he didn't eat for about 2 weeks.
3. He spent most of his time on the floor or on the low branches. He seemed too tired to climb.
4. When he did climb, he was having trouble climbing. He would lose his footing and we would have to right him on the branch. He seemed to get disoriented easily.
5. No matter how much we misted, his eyes were sunken in. He looked dehydrated constantly, even when he would drink water straight from the mister.

We thought about donating him to the local vet so they could learn more about reptiles, but in the end we couldn't do it. He wasn't in the best of health when we got him, and I think moving hurt him stress-wise. He was our first panther, and we're going to wait for a while to get another one (we want to save up and get the best possible cages and supplies - spare no expense type of thing). What we had worked, I just wonder if we got a poor specimen.

Any thoughts?

I am sorry for your loss, did he not go to the vet at all?

 

[JennyBug]

Apollo wasn't old at all - he was very young. We took him to the vet when he wouldn't eat when we first got him, and we were just told to wait it out and he would come around. He wasn't looking great, but we thought that it might be a weather change (I'm in Indiana and it's starting to get cold - no, they're not outside).

As far as the vet, we have been there two or three times a week for the past three weeks. One of our dogs had a litter of puppies, and when they were four weeks old, some sick person tried to skin one of them alive. He lost a three inch wide strip of skin all the way around his back, and we spent substantial money getting him fixed back up. It's not an excuse, but we were preoccupied with a puppy that at one point was in a grave condition (he had sepsis), but I digress...

Trust me, if we had known Apollo was doing so poorly, we would have taken him in right away, but I don't think I realized how everything had added up until after he was gone. I'm kicking myself for this because he was such a cute little guy. Our two veileds are still doing extremely well, so I'm hoping it was because he wasn't terribly healthy when we got him. I spent a lot of time on the forum and on other breeder sites looking up panther info before we got him, and we seemed to do most everything right, I just don't think he was from solid stock, and I know the woman who had him before us wasn't treating him well (she gave him up because she got tired of buying crickets).

 

[draetish]

Apollo wasn't old at all - he was very young. We took him to the vet when he wouldn't eat when we first got him, and we were just told to wait it out and he would come around. He wasn't looking great, but we thought that it might be a weather change (I'm in Indiana and it's starting to get cold - no, they're not outside).

As far as the vet, we have been there two or three times a week for the past three weeks. One of our dogs had a litter of puppies, and when they were four weeks old, some sick person tried to skin one of them alive. He lost a three inch wide strip of skin all the way around his back, and we spent substantial money getting him fixed back up. It's not an excuse, but we were preoccupied with a puppy that at one point was in a grave condition (he had sepsis), but I digress...

Trust me, if we had known Apollo was doing so poorly, we would have taken him in right away, but I don't think I realized how everything had added up until after he was gone. I'm kicking myself for this because he was such a cute little guy. Our two veileds are still doing extremely well, so I'm hoping it was because he wasn't terribly healthy when we got him. I spent a lot of time on the forum and on other breeder sites looking up panther info before we got him, and we seemed to do most everything right, I just don't think he was from solid stock, and I know the woman who had him before us wasn't treating him well (she gave him up because she got tired of buying crickets).

You've had it rough and I didn't mean to imply that you were negligent. I just wonder about vets and how reliable they really are and how you know if you find the right one. I had a male panther that wasn't that bad off, but kinda lathargic and I took him in and the vet gave him a shot and he was dead 30 mins later. I kicked myself for not taking him to the expert at the pet store first. I'm very leary of vets and their opinion so I tried to gather as much info as I can. I am truly sorry for your loss and comend you on your efforts with the cham and puppy, you are truly a sincere and caring person.

 

[Lovereps]

Very sorry for your loss

 

[JennyBug]

My vet is actually very good. His father was the president of the Greater Cincinnati Herpetological Society for many years, and he actually specialized in reptile care. He didn't give Apollo any treatment when he did see him, he just explained to us what was wrong (dehydration) and told us that it wouldn't be right for him to treat him (it would have required so little it wouldn't have been worth the stress on the cham). He's an excellent vet.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off as defensive, it's just been a really hard month. We got in a little deep with the vet care for our pup, and while we can get out fairly easily, it's still stressful. I didn't mean to seem like I was on the defensive, I know you all are just trying to help.

 

[draetish]

My vet is actually very good. His father was the president of the Greater Cincinnati Herpetological Society for many years, and he actually specialized in reptile care. He didn't give Apollo any treatment when he did see him, he just explained to us what was wrong (dehydration) and told us that it wouldn't be right for him to treat him (it would have required so little it wouldn't have been worth the stress on the cham). He's an excellent vet.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off as defensive, it's just been a really hard month. We got in a little deep with the vet care for our pup, and while we can get out fairly easily, it's still stressful. I didn't mean to seem like I was on the defensive, I know you all are just trying to help.

You weren't being defensive and I know you will come through.

 

[Murrdox]

You said his eyes always looked sunken despite his drinking... how were his urates?

It's possible he simply wasn't hydrated enough, and just needed substantially more water intake than he was getting. Lack of hydration can easily lead to loss of appetite.

I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm glad your Veileds are doing well! I wish you luck when/if you get another Panther!

 

[panthercham]

Sorry for your loss JennyBug, sounds like you had a rough time over the last few weeks

Sorry to hear about your pup as well, I really dont know how people can do that sort of thing...