I lost a good chameleon today. 
It was only five years ago that my partner picked him out of a group of babies, saying "if you have to keep another one, make it this one" and named him Trucker, because he just didnt stop "trucking" around the cage, "driving" right over top the other two in the same enclosure if they stood in his way.
He was a good chameleon, a pleasure to have. Perhaps not the best looking, but nevertheless he had "something" about him that caused most visitors to pause at his cage the longest.
I already miss him. His empty cage is down here in the computer room (also the quarantine room). Im going to have to take it outside so I dont have to look at it.
The vet believes he contracted a virus, probably while he was living elsewhere providing stud servies. Though I believe it was the medications that finally did him in, pushed him over the edge. In my heart I knew that we were over-doing it on the meds, but I agreed to the shot gun approach in the face of his fast decline. He went from looking okay to dead within two weeks. This chameleon has had some health issues in the past (pinworms, a skin issue that was never positivly diagnosed) but of late he'd been fine. He was large, strong, very active, a good eater, seemingly robust, etc. Obviously I thought loaning him out as a breeder wasnt going to hurt him - the other persons girly seemed fine and her fecal test was clean, but it seems I was wrong. Or maybe it was just his time.
I have some of Truckers siblings, both an older brother and one from the same clutch as Trucker, and they are still fine, as well as all the others, thank fully. Im glad I quaranteened Truck, as a matter of normal practise. I have a lot of babies in the house right now and it would have been awful had my other adults and the babies been put at risk. Perhaps he will live on hopefully having fathered some babies.
Im trying to find the positive, but its hard. hell its just not possible. This so sucks.
It was only five years ago that my partner picked him out of a group of babies, saying "if you have to keep another one, make it this one" and named him Trucker, because he just didnt stop "trucking" around the cage, "driving" right over top the other two in the same enclosure if they stood in his way.
He was a good chameleon, a pleasure to have. Perhaps not the best looking, but nevertheless he had "something" about him that caused most visitors to pause at his cage the longest.
I already miss him. His empty cage is down here in the computer room (also the quarantine room). Im going to have to take it outside so I dont have to look at it.
The vet believes he contracted a virus, probably while he was living elsewhere providing stud servies. Though I believe it was the medications that finally did him in, pushed him over the edge. In my heart I knew that we were over-doing it on the meds, but I agreed to the shot gun approach in the face of his fast decline. He went from looking okay to dead within two weeks. This chameleon has had some health issues in the past (pinworms, a skin issue that was never positivly diagnosed) but of late he'd been fine. He was large, strong, very active, a good eater, seemingly robust, etc. Obviously I thought loaning him out as a breeder wasnt going to hurt him - the other persons girly seemed fine and her fecal test was clean, but it seems I was wrong. Or maybe it was just his time.
I have some of Truckers siblings, both an older brother and one from the same clutch as Trucker, and they are still fine, as well as all the others, thank fully. Im glad I quaranteened Truck, as a matter of normal practise. I have a lot of babies in the house right now and it would have been awful had my other adults and the babies been put at risk. Perhaps he will live on hopefully having fathered some babies.
Im trying to find the positive, but its hard. hell its just not possible. This so sucks.
