Baby Chameleon death.

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Yemen, 2 months old. Told it was a male by the shop i brought him from.
Handling - maybe 30 minutes every other day.
Feeding - Very small crickets 2-3 a day around 10 am fed with carrot lettuce and Nutrogrub
Supplements - Nutrobal multivitamin and Pro rep calci dust on alternative days as instructed by the reptile shop
Watering - spray bottle misted the viv3-4 times a day for a few minutes a time. Occasionally saw him drinking.
Fecal Description - Brown for his poop. a kind of powdery white for his wee (told this was normal by vet)
History - Brought from reptile shop. was told nothing about him before that.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Glass front, wood sides 3ft high
Lighting - 100w Exo terra light on a Habistat thermostat. 18" Exo Terra ReptiGlo10 UVB. both are on for 12 hours then off for 12 hours. around 7-7
Temperature - Basking area around low to mid 90s Cooler parts around 70
Humidity - I have a Hygromter (i dont know how accurate it is) usually during the day is around 50-60
Plants - All plastic plants.
Placement - In my room on top of a chest of drawers.
Location - England


Hi guys, around 2 weeks ago i purchased a baby Yemen chameleon. He was tiny, at a guess i would say around 2 months old. he seemed really happy was eating dusted crickets on a regular basis, and i always saw him drinking when i misted his viv 3-4 times a day. I tried my best to never make him feel stressed. He had a 100w heat Bulb, UVB, A 3ft Viv and plenty of hiding places and things to climb around on.

After having him for around 10 days i came home from work one day and saw he was asleep. and i read that if they sleep during the day it can be a sign of health problems. I thought it could have been a 1 off so i kept a close eye on him the next day and he was doing it again. I also got him out and he seemed really weak and just fell asleep on my hand. The next day i decided to take him to the vets. When he got to the vets he seemed to brighten up i told her about the sleeping a lot but she didn't really listen. she just told me that they need lots of calcium (which i had been giving him). She also sold me some calcium stuff to put in him water so he can get it that way.

The next morning i woke up and he was dead Which was a horrible thing to experience.

I did a lot of research before i purchased the chameleon and i didn't think i overlooked anything. But maybe i missed something? I would like to know what could have been the cause of his death before i decide to maybe get another one next month.

Below is a picture of him and his Vivarium. Any advice is appreciated Thanks

Since he died only 10 days after you got him, he was likely already sick before you brought him home. Where did you get him? If the main symptom was him sleeping during the day I don't know why the vet would have suggested calcium since a calcium deficiency would cause MBD and from the picture he does not seem to have any signs of that. Seems more likely to be an RI or vitamin deficiency.

What you posted about your setup looks good, as does the picture. If you copy and paste and fill out the form below people will be able to better determine if there are any problems:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

If the place you purchased him has any health guarantees you should be able to get a replacement as long as you verify your setup is correct.

Webster88 said:

I did a lot of research before i purchased the chameleon and i didn't think i overlooked anything. But maybe i missed something? I would like to know what could have been the cause of his death before i decide to maybe get another one next month.

Thanks

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The devil is in the details...if you look for the sticky message How to Ask for Help in the Health subforum and respond to the questions, maybe we can get an idea what happened. When it asks for brands, specifics as to temp, humidity levels, exactly what type of dusts you use and how often, what you feed your insects, please be specific. Something went wrong, but it often ends up pointing to one or more of these things.

Death of a friend

I am so sorry you lost your new little friend. The vet doesn't sound to qualified. Was she knowledgeable in reptiles?

Thanks guys, Ive updated the details using that form you recommended

Webster88 said:

Chameleon Info:
Feeding - Very small crickets 2-3 a day around 10 am fed with carrot lettuce

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I am very sorry for you loss. I wish pet stores would provide better detail in care for such pets! I feed my baby chameleons around 10-15 depending on the size of crickets each day. 2-3 seems far too few.

How much lettuce did he eat?

I'm not familiar with Nutrobal, but if its a multivitamin and you were giving it every other day that may have been an overdose. I think he should have been eating more than 2-3 crix a day as well. Did he not want to eat more than that each day? If not, maybe there was something basically wrong with the little guy. Two months is very very young to be sold. Many reputable breeders don't sell them until they are older and the chance that a hatchling is not destined to survive is lower by that time.

I did think he was a little young. And I tried to encourage him to eat around 3 times a day because he was eating so little. Most of the time he just wasn't intrested