I need to know what if anything I missed. Hipefully the pic is attached. We bought this guy a a local show today. I know he was, what I thought, a little dehydrated. Well he did not make it even 12 hours. He drank when he got several times. I tried to open his mouth to see if he may have choked on a cricket but I can not get his mouth open and I can't bring myself to cut him open. He was a nice green with just a tinge of blue through him. He did seem to want to sleep all day though, that gave me a bad feeling. Is there something that I may have done in such a short time frame? Sorry to ramble but I am just at a loss.
Jackson Help!!!
- Thread starter Kcbeck
- Start date
Blink
New Member
I am so sorry at you lost the poor guy. 
If it makes you feel any better, I honestly doubt that he passed from anything you did in that short amount of time, unless, like you said, he choked. Unfortunately, many chameleons sold at shows are first off often wild caught and not in good condition. Second, the stress of a show is sometimes to much for chameleons, especially if they were sick to begin with. From the picture, he looks very thin and somewhat dehydrated. His death could have been caused by any number of things. It is impossible to know for sure unless you have an autopsy done by a vet. Once again, I am sorry for your loss. I know how much it can hurt, even if you only know the little guys for a short time.
If it makes you feel any better, I honestly doubt that he passed from anything you did in that short amount of time, unless, like you said, he choked. Unfortunately, many chameleons sold at shows are first off often wild caught and not in good condition. Second, the stress of a show is sometimes to much for chameleons, especially if they were sick to begin with. From the picture, he looks very thin and somewhat dehydrated. His death could have been caused by any number of things. It is impossible to know for sure unless you have an autopsy done by a vet. Once again, I am sorry for your loss. I know how much it can hurt, even if you only know the little guys for a short time. 
junglefries
Avid Member
Show chameleons can suffer from a LOT of stress. Really not a good place to purchase a cham. A store owner friend of mine won't even take chams to sell at his expo booths, because of this.
Tyzoone
Member
Makes sense there's a ton of constant movement at those shows and it would easily drive any cham nuts....
Sorry for your loss btw....
About the choking, when my second cham passed away I noticed he regurgitated all the food he had eatin earlier as it was laying next to his body. Is this natural after passing for food to come up? I never actually determined his cause of death either but assumed he choked.... Maybe it's just a post mortum thing to release foods after passing?
Sorry for your loss btw....
About the choking, when my second cham passed away I noticed he regurgitated all the food he had eatin earlier as it was laying next to his body. Is this natural after passing for food to come up? I never actually determined his cause of death either but assumed he choked.... Maybe it's just a post mortum thing to release foods after passing?
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
I've seen that a lot. Doesn't mean they choked, but possibly that their stomach was full of undigested food. They don't have a sphincter muscle that closes the stomach off from the esophagus and their stomachs are pretty small, so stuff can come up if they are losing muscle control.
