worst of the worst

[FaunaBgirl]

Mine is an ongoing nightmare. I have neighbours right next door to my door, who smoke outside. I try to get the little bit of sun the 4 feet of cement offers me in the mornings for my cham. I went inside, and came out the the cigarette smoke hitting my cham. I tried to explain to the big oaf, but he blew smoke in my face. Now whenever I try to enjoy my plants and chameleon there, they come out to smoke. What can I do? I'm thinking of getting skunk scent, because it does not bother me. Any ideas?

 

[Sal]

Mine is an ongoing nightmare. I have neighbours right next door to my door, who smoke outside. I try to get the little bit of sun the 4 feet of cement offers me in the mornings for my cham. I went inside, and came out the the cigarette smoke hitting my cham. I tried to explain to the big oaf, but he blew smoke in my face. Now whenever I try to enjoy my plants and chameleon there, they come out to smoke.

How very rude! There is just no penetrating the ignorance of some folk!

Skunk scent might be good (can you secretly spray it around their porch area when they are not around?)... I like being passive aggressive.. they can't blame you and you can just say 'yeah it stinks.. hope it doesn't get inside or come around when we are out here.. skunks have rabies ya know!' You could even mention that you are thinking of sitting outside of your front door (or different area than the one you currently sit outside).. if they are true bumholes... they will go there to try and irritate you (you may have to actually do it once for them to believe you though).

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Ok... I've looked into the skunk essence and it's doable. Any other suggestions? I have a feeling this is war and I need more amo.

Thanx Sal... but they are wanting to smoke there because they are too lazy to go down the stairs. But they should at least care about the little guy and do it once in a while, for his sake and safety. Smokers do not know how harmful they are, and how far reaching it is, and they don't care. They think it's harmless.
I need help or this spring is going to be insane or I will end up in jail.

 

[Jordan]

I personally think you are being rude by telling someone what to do when on their own property at least in regards to this situation. It sounds like you live in apartments. The smog from the cars, probably a dense population in the general vecinty, would be way more of a worry then a cigeratte. It is easy to smell the leaves and paper burn. You can not really smell the concentration of smog.

I live in East Tennessee. Generally we have higher smog levels then Los Angelos. A couple years it has gotten the prize of being the dirtiest air in America. You would not know it to just look around though. Maybe you should consider stuff like this when you get so easily offened just because you can smell it.

By the way most people who smoke can not smell that good.

 

[jleahl]

Ah yes, Jordan, our treasured Smoky Mountains...with the worst air of any park! So many people drive through and leave their exhaust! BTW, for some reason I thought you lived in Middle TN....I'm in Knoxville (great place for people with asthma!).

Sorry for the hijack....

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Dog WAS responsible

One day, many many years ago when I was still keeping many species, my neighbor's big and crazy lab mix dug under the fence between our yards, chew 'through' the galvanized wire of one of my outdoor chameleon enclosures, and grabbed my 20", 4 year old, male veiled chameleon. I came home from work to find pieces of him scattered throughout my yard.
It took all the restraint I had NOT poison that dog! My neighbor at that time was a real jerk too and refused to reimburse me for the chameleon or the damage to my enclosure. I even had to fix the fence so the dog couldn't dig under it again.
At least it wasn't my parsonii enclosure he went after.

I read this the other day and it's ate at me ever since. In the name of good dogs everywhere, that dog WAS responsible for his actions. Dogs know most the time when they are doing something wrong. He knew when he dug under the fence that he was going against his given territory. He knew when he was tearing into the cage, he was doing something "different." And when he destroyed life, he was reflecting his jerk owner's attitude toward the dog itself and life.
The dog should have been shown the parts in his face and beaten within an inch of his life, to instill the fact that he indeed was a bad dog. Now the dog thinks this is acceptable behaviour. WRONG!!!
I know some dog owners will think it's a bit harsh, the beating... but done right, it should be as nightmarish mentally as it probably was for the chameleon.... and then for the poor chameleon owner. What a nightmare to see your cham all over the back yard. YICK!!! I want to poke out my mind's eye imagining it.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Oh Dear.
I'm sorry but I have to respond.
It is never the animals fault. Dogs operate instinctively on many
levels and they are dogs, not people.
Projecting that level of human understanding onto a dog is just unfair.
I would be devestated if this happened to my cham but the last one to blame would be the dog.
If a dog eats your shoes, chews up the couch, is aggressive toward people or other dogs, is able to get to and kill a neighbors pet.....it's always the owners fault. We can't always predict or prepare for what might happen when keeping animals, but with a reasonable amount of care and forethought most of these "accidents" can be prevented.
I'm sorry the cham lived nextdoor to an irresponsible dog owner.

-Brad

 

[SeanCJ]

Faunagirl- Although I appreciate your understanding of my situation back then, I do have to disagree with your recommended reaction towards the dog.
Of course, my first gut reaction was 'G#* D#*n dog!' but my real anger and disgust was solely towards the owners of this dog. I never really blamed the dog, as he was never trained properly, nor shown any love or any time spent with him. He was simply one of those 'back yard' dogs that is there only to bark if someone comes along late at night. I actually felt sorry for him. He was well fed and watered but otherwise neglected to a non stimulating back yard existance. I totally disagree with the 'beating' you recommended. That is something I could never do.
I am glad that my college days ended shortly thereafter and I was able to move to a much better neighborhood.

 

[JonathanF]

My first veiled(also my first chameleon) had a really bad case of MBD, She was ok for around 2 weeks but then she took a turn for the worst, one of her back legs was all twisted up and for a while she wasnt even strong enough to climb a branch. She would just lie on the floor, criquets climbing on her. I took her to an exotic vet, she got calcium shots , they gave me meds to give her and I had her xrayed.

For the next weeks I took care of her and to be sure she ate, I would put her in a small container with a few gut loaded criquets and watched her until she ate them. She was so weak at first that she wouldnt even shoot her tongue at them, she just tried to bite them but they would jump away. I felt so bad for her since she couldnt catch them that I took a few criquets and got rid of their back legs(It sounds bad I know) this way she could eat them and she gradually got better and better until she became a healthy and agressive veiled(this story has a happy ending)

I then went to the pet store where I got her and gave them so much crap that they agreed to paid for her medical bills, i told them they wouldnt get rid of me until they did.

 

[Heika]

My very, very worst was trying to force feed a sick neonate. That whole thing about making sure you don't put too much in? Well, it is really important. I was using a syringe without the needle, and pushed on the syringe.. a whole bunch came out when I only meant for a little to come out.

Amazingly, I thought the chameleon was alright for a minute, just surprised. But then, as I watched, to my absolute horror, it began gaping. When I finally realized it was drowning, I tried rubbing its tiny throat, tipping it head down, etc. I didn't have long to wait.. it quickly turned black in splotches and died in my hand.

When the baby veileds came along and had to be force fed, I was pretty nervous about doing it..

 

[marxous]

My very, very worst was trying to force feed a sick neonate. That whole thing about making sure you don't put too much in? Well, it is really important. I was using a syringe without the needle, and pushed on the syringe.. a whole bunch came out when I only meant for a little to come out.

Amazingly, I thought the chameleon was alright for a minute, just surprised. But then, as I watched, to my absolute horror, it began gaping. When I finally realized it was drowning, I tried rubbing its tiny throat, tipping it head down, etc. I didn't have long to wait.. it quickly turned black in splotches and died in my hand.

When the baby veileds came along and had to be force fed, I was pretty nervous about doing it..

thats such a sad sad sad story!!! i would feel so heart broken if my cham died in my hands... :'(

 

[Sal]

It is never the animals fault. Dogs operate instinctively on many
levels and they are dogs, not people.

I completely agree. Dogs are just dogs and they don't know any better.

Now beating the owner within an inch of his life - that I could do.

 

[Chris Anderson]

My worst is fairly well known to most. I was away for a long weekend over Thanksgiving about a year and a half ago. roo had been taking care of my animals while I was away. He had been at my place the day before I got home and everything was fine. I walked in when i got back to find, among other animals, my pair of parsonii dead in their cages. After realizing that there were so many dead animals in my house, I knew something was really wrong and got out of the house. The fire dept. and gas company came and when they turned on the furnace, found a carbon monoxide leak. Turns out that my chimney has two flues (one for the wood fireplace and one for the gas furnace and water heater) and while I could see a cover on the chimney, didn't realize there should have been two and one had been knocked off. Anyway, over the fall, leaves had fallen into the uncovered gas flue causing a small chimney fire. The ashes compacted in and blocked the flue and the night before I came home, it got cold enough in the house that the furnace came on and was unable to vent causing the CO to leak into the house and kill all the animals I had upstairs at the time (much of my collection was downstairs though). The female parsonii was gravid with her first clutch of 20 eggs. Expensive lesson that could have ended far worse...

Chris

 

[niki]

It's nice................in a very sick twisted way, to see that u are not the only one to make a mistake in the cham world. My sis thought it would be a great idea to pick up bobbers. Well he decided to take a leap into the air. He hit the floor with a thud. I thought he was gonna die, or I was going to die first of fear. Well he looked right up at my sister as if to say "don't ever touch me again or I may have to take it into my own hands "

 

[palomino]

One of my cats climbed the screen of the cage and managed to rip the side off of it. I caught him about to get my cham half way up the ficus tree. My bedroom door stays closed all the time now. Scared the crap out of me, but evrything turned out o.k.

this happened to me, except i wasn't home to stop the attack.

 

[Will Hayward]

This thread is really depressing. Not sure why it's taking off really.

It would be nice to have another photo thread or success thread like the one that Zerah started a while back.

 

[Heika]

This thread is really depressing. Not sure why it's taking off really.

It would be nice to have another photo thread or success thread like the one that Zerah started a while back.

I think the point is that everyone who keeps chameleons occasionally has a problem. Depressing? Yeah, but validating for people who may be questioning their suitability as keepers due to a bad experience.

Heika

 

[FaunaBgirl]

I probably did not articulate myself well.. . and when a dog owner is a good owner, there are not beatings. I guess the image in my mind enraged me. I had a dog who chewed a very expensive couch. She just would not stop.I finally had to put the stuffing in her face and yell crazy at her and hit her. but let me say that I do not hit hard on the haunch. I would never just random hit. But it took 3 times of that before she learned. But it was imparative she learn. And she did.
What I hoped to make clear in my emotional statement is that all my friend's dogs are very human in mental quality and I was saying that the dog who did that was a reflection of his owner. Some people should not have dogs. or even kids. We are human and make mistakes. For that, I fault no one. But this guy was an ass for not sharing the responsibility at all. The whole thing got to me. And while I would have realistically handled it the same way as it was handled, it would have drove me crazy for long after. It definitely wins for the Worst of the Worst story.

Now. for the smoking situation. I have done nice things to have a pleaseant couple of feet in front of my door.. and their door is only a few feet away. That is where they smoke. I come home from work and the smoke lingers in my apartment like a menacing ghost. I've had to move Fractal away from the sunny window because of them already. I have towels by the door cracks. The guy blew smoke in my face when I asked him to be considerate. I could hope they move, but they've just moved in.It's going to be a rough spring, trying to get Fractal his hour of sun availability in that area.
I will be getting the skiunk essence and maybe they will want to smoke elsewhere. By the way. I always say Hi nicely anyway. AND I delivered their package wrongly given to me in the nicest most cheerful way. I really am trying. So how will I get through to them?

 

[paczkica]

I can say that I know how frustrating a dog can be when he chews your things or goes the bathroom in your home. But hitting and sticking his face in it is not the way to train a dog, they usually will not even remember that they did it. It will just make your dog more shy and scared of your hand. A strict "no" in a loud tone of voice is much more effective in training a dog, and would have better results then hitting the animal.

 

[Jordan]

I do believe that sometimes dogs do need to be hit. It is natural for the other members of the pack to react with aggressive behavior to conva messages.

I think a better alternative would be to order this video. Trust me worth looking into.