Breeder Sold Me A Chameleon With A Parasite

I would not blame the breeder for a chameleon's death almost three years later. Besides the time you had to take care of the animal and the countless variables that can occur, there are no guarantees that any animal purchased will survive the stress or challenges of captivity. As for customer service, there doesn't appear to be a lot here, but unfortunately there is only your side of things. If you would like to do a review of this you can try Fauna Classifieds BOI for a proper platform for that.
 
This story is 2and half year old,this cham is having trouble on parasites that long.....it makes me wonder if this is a real story:rolleyes:
 
Carlton said:
Parasites are part of insectivorous herp keeping. I wouldn't be horrified to find out that a new cham had parasites. Most chams carry some as they do get them from their feeders. The particular part of the parasite life cycle when testing happened to occur can affect the test results. They can be missed. The level can bloom with stress. Different feeder producers are more or less careful about their livestock's parasite load too. Do the fecals, get the result, treat as the result dictates. Its something you should do on a regular basis as part of basic health care. If your cham is acting normally, eating and drinking, active, and maintaining weight he will get over this pretty easily.
Click to expand...


This. I personally give my chams a deworming routine once a year just because of this. Is that something I would recommend to everybody, hell no. I've been keeping Chams for four decades and that experience plays out in dealing with routine de-wormings.

Side note, sucks if the seller doesn't respond to a private e-mail or PM. On the other hand, I wouldn't blame the seller for an animal dying three years later. Nor would a court in many cases.

Use the BOI. I have for a decade.
 
jpowell86 said:
He lived for almost 2 1/2 years past your purchase date? Am I seeing this timeline incorrectly?

How old was the animal when you got him?
Click to expand...
I was told he was he was 6-8 months but I do not believe anything they told me. It was a hard fought 2 years.
 
Decadancin said:
I would not blame the breeder for a chameleon's death almost three years later. Besides the time you had to take care of the animal and the countless variables that can occur, there are no guarantees that any animal purchased will survive the stress or challenges of captivity. As for customer service, there doesn't appear to be a lot here, but unfortunately there is only your side of things. If you would like to do a review of this you can try Fauna Classifieds BOI for a proper platform for that.
Click to expand...


No I'm over it we attempted to contact him after we got home and saw the first stool. We tried again to contact him after we got the results back from the vet. I did everything I could for Irie, the vet even told us that it would eventually kill him. We just tried to give him the best life we could. What I am pissed about is we asked if the animal was health and were assured he was and that all his stool was regular and tested. Which we knew was a lie from the first droppings we saw when we got him home. I just hope no one else buys from him.
 
OldChamKeeper said:
This. I personally give my chams a deworming routine once a year just because of this. Is that something I would recommend to everybody, hell no. I've been keeping Chams for four decades and that experience plays out in dealing with routine de-wormings.

Side note, sucks if the seller doesn't respond to a private e-mail or PM. On the other hand, I wouldn't blame the seller for an animal dying three years later. Nor would a court in many cases.

Use the BOI. I have for a decade.[/QUO


The breeder sold us a sick animal. The only reason he lived this long is because of all our effort and care. We racked up a lot of money in vet bills. If I sold someone a damaged product I would at least try to make it right. he did not even attempt to contact me or my girlfriend he just went on like it was ok. I do not expect him to do anything now, I was just posting so no one else has to go through this. I wanted people to know so they can avoid this guy. My other Cham is health and free of all parasites, so its not like I don't have a clue how to take care of my animals. All I'm trying to say is stay away from that breeder.
Click to expand...
 
As I recommended, if you have a review of a breeder, this isn't the place for it, but it is unfortunate that you have gone through this. I would not "blame" the breeder for parasites, but I would consider the lack of communication you state as ridiculous. If what you say is true about trying to contact them, and I don't have any reason to doubt you, then that is not acceptable. A reputable breeder should always want success for their new owners and part of that is helping out with valuable information and direction. Having only one side of the story here, I have to take you for your word, and must say that I'm sorry that your chameleon and you went through this. I wish we could have helped you out and perhaps could have offered some better advice.
 
There's no sense in me continuing to talk about it. I was sold an already sick animal, that the vet told me right from the start would probably not recover.
 
Last edited:
Banders675 said:
There's no sense in me continuing to talk about it. I was sold an already sick animal, that the vet told me right from the start would probably not recover.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you lost your chameleon after working so hard to keep him healthy. Your vet told you two years ago that he wouldn't recover. What did the vet diagnose him with?

You say the breeder sold you an animal with a parasitic infection. Normally, parasites do not kill the animal. Most parasites can be controlled by proper medication and good husbandry, with the emphasis on husbandry. Either your vet did not give you the proper treatment or you didn't do what was necessary to clear your animal of parasites. It often takes more than medication to get rid of parasites. You have to get rid of the eggs from the environment.

You cannot blame the breeder for your animal's death since you've owned him for a couple of years. If he was sick all his life from a parasitic infection you and/or your vet weren't doing a good job treating him It is possible that his immune system was compromised, possibly by stress which in general can be attributed to your husbandry skills. If you keep an animal in sub optimal conditions--wrong temps/humidity/hydration/nutrition/over handling--you will cause it stress which weakens the immune system.

You admit your vet does not know why it was unhealthy and died. Maybe he had kidney failure, a very very common problem in captive chameleons since so few are given proper humidity and hydration. Many medications are also very damaging to kidneys, especially when the animal is dehydrated.

You really just don't know what was wrong. An unhealthy animal is not much fun, but I've always believed that if you give the animal what it needs, it will heal itself. If it doesn't stay healthy, I always believe I must not be giving it what it needs.

Again, I'm sorry for your loss. I hope I didn't add to your grief.
 
#1 that guy is a huge asshole #2 you should spam until he responds or try and get ahold of people who have bought chams from him and see if they have a parasite also
 
jajeanpierre said:
I'm sorry you lost your chameleon after working so hard to keep him healthy. Your vet told you two years ago that he wouldn't recover. What did the vet diagnose him with?

You say the breeder sold you an animal with a parasitic infection. Normally, parasites do not kill the animal. Most parasites can be controlled by proper medication and good husbandry, with the emphasis on husbandry. Either your vet did not give you the proper treatment or you didn't do what was necessary to clear your animal of parasites. It often takes more than medication to get rid of parasites. You have to get rid of the eggs from the environment.

You cannot blame the breeder for your animal's death since you've owned him for a couple of years. If he was sick all his life from a parasitic infection you and/or your vet weren't doing a good job treating him It is possible that his immune system was compromised, possibly by stress which in general can be attributed to your husbandry skills. If you keep an animal in sub optimal conditions--wrong temps/humidity/hydration/nutrition/over handling--you will cause it stress which weakens the immune system.

You admit your vet does not know why it was unhealthy and died. Maybe he had kidney failure, a very very common problem in captive chameleons since so few are given proper humidity and hydration. Many medications are also very damaging to kidneys, especially when the animal is dehydrated.

You really just don't know what was wrong. An unhealthy animal is not much fun, but I've always believed that if you give the animal what it needs, it will heal itself. If it doesn't stay healthy, I always believe I must not be giving it what it needs.

Again, I'm sorry for your loss. I hope I didn't add to your grief.
Click to expand...


They vet treated him a couple of times. My other cham seems totally fine with his husbandry we have had him for I think 4 years now. the vet did say from day one that what he had would kill him eventually. They could never pin point just exactly what parasite he had. I'm to the point I want to just give my other cham away just so we dont have to watch him die in a couple years.
 
EveryGreen said:
#1 that guy is a huge asshole #2 you should spam until he responds or try and get ahold of people who have bought chams from him and see if they have a parasite also
Click to expand...

I want to but I don't think it would do anything. Lesson learned, I'll never deal with him again. He need to to drop paradise from his name for sure.
 
Banders675 said:
They vet treated him a couple of times. My other cham seems totally fine with his husbandry we have had him for I think 4 years now. the vet did say from day one that what he had would kill him eventually. They could never pin point just exactly what parasite he had. I'm to the point I want to just give my other cham away just so we dont have to watch him die in a couple years.
Click to expand...

This is part of the equation that makes no sense to anyone here and I am asking for clarification, not accusing you.
If the vet does not identify the parasite, they can not possible predict a fatal outcome. There are no parasites that I have ever heard of taking 2 years to kill an animal and they could not be treated. The only parasite that I know of to be fatal and missed by vets are usually lung, liver, or other organ flukes or worms and these aren't found in CB animals. Something isn't right about the situation. The seller should have replied, I agree, but we also don't know if the seller changed contact information or had some other reason for not replying.
My hypothesis is that the chameleon may have had a flagellate bloom, due to the stress of being moved to a new home. This would account for lose stools. These can correct themselves, but sometimes require metronidazole. At any rate, failure to properly identify and correctly treat whatever the issue was resulted in constant handling, medicating, and stress, so that the animal never had a chance to adjust and thrive. Something wasn't right with this vet's approach and diagnosis and I there is no way this was a parasite problem, unless you experience a parasite never encountered in all of the years of reptile keeping.
 
Banders675 said:
They vet treated him a couple of times. My other cham seems totally fine with his husbandry we have had him for I think 4 years now. the vet did say from day one that what he had would kill him eventually. They could never pin point just exactly what parasite he had. I'm to the point I want to just give my other cham away just so we dont have to watch him die in a couple years.
Click to expand...

I'm really confused. How can a vet know a parasite will be terminal but not be able to identify it? I thought your vet didn't know what was wrong based on your comments in a previous post.

Keeping chameleons is a funny thing. Not every chameleon reacts the same way. Not every immune system is the same.
 
My question with the more than 2year long "parasites problem" and the vet's diagnosis are the puzzle point in this story,if the vet can not identify the parasites problem,why is the vet giving a medication to this sick cham; why is the sick cham live for 2and half year long with the incorrect medication,U wont be surprised the side effects on the incorrect medication that did the damage to the cham since it never cure the so called parasite problem in the first place!!!
If this was my cham,I will definitely seeking another chameleon specialist vet for the second opinion since the first vet can not even identify the real problem cause in the first place,and given the meds could not even served the right purpose.
 
My guy came from Chameleon Paradise. He recently chewed some bark off a log and threw it back up, so I took him in for a work up, and ran a stool sample for parasites to rule that out.
My vet said Bruce must be doing a great job, because there were no real "parasites". What we did have was an abnormally high number of flagellates that are normally present in the GI tracts of reptiles. Stress, medication, many things... can throw off the delicate balance and allow these flagellates to grow exponentially.
Since I came with a chameleon who was not eating, he decided to treat for it with a course of metronidazole. To be honest, I wasn't worried about it, and it seems to have done no harm. Perhaps what your vet meant was that your chameleon would have these flagellates for a life time.
Regardless, parasites are part of life, and part of most pet ownership. I accept that as a part of life.
Bruce isn't the easiest guy to get in touch with, and he can be pretty peculiar. Given time, he did return my calls and texts and gave me good, solid information. I could see him blowing you off if you came at him with a combative attitude. But my take was that he was very capable and experienced, and I have been very impressed with my chameleon.
I'm sorry, it sounds like you have been through an awful time with your guy struggling. Your situation sounds pretty close to mine, from the same place with the same diagnosis. He's only been under my care for a couple of months, but I hope things work out better for me. Fingers crossed and sorry for your loss. :-(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

gnocchi24
Good Veiled Chameleon breeders in FL?
Replies
6
Views
302
Andrew1283
Andrew1283
Raymond1412
Anyone know of any good Veiled Chameleon Breeders in CA?
Replies
15
Views
666
Jeevesieb
Jeevesieb
bellaz
Possible parasites?
Replies
4
Views
254
Beman
Beman
yoteango
Parasite treatment in leaf chameleons (Brookesia stumpffi)
Replies
7
Views
611
yoteango
yoteango
Camiezone
Reminder of the importance of CORRECT supplements.
Replies
3
Views
273
Camiezone
Camiezone
Back
Top Bottom