Peritoneal Abscess (Beware:Gruesome Necropsy Picture)

Hi Everyone,
I just receive the report from my vet about Hanabi's death. I will copy and paste her report.

Mr. Poh,

I wanted to collect all of the data before I sent the pictures. The fecal exams from all of the chameleons came back negative, which is great news.

The pathology report for Hanabi came back as a peritoneal abscess. I believe it was secondary to free eggs in the cavity and the secondary intestinal intussusception.

The liver report was of normal tissue. The intestines were basically necrotic (dead) tissue and they could not identify the mass, other than it was an abscess. I believe it was a “petrified” egg because it was attached to a small blood vessel (see photo).

I will try to describe the photos, please call me if you have any other questions.


Photo 1: shows the intestinal intussusception and dead bowel. You can see the narrow part telescoping into the other intestine.


Photo 2: shows eggs in varying stages of decomposition. The yellow small ones are normal follicles. The large ones were decomposing.


Photo 3: another view of the intussusception.


Photo 4: this was one of the two masses we found, you can see where it is attached by a tiny blood vessel which makes me suspect it was an egg.


Photo 5: on the left was the other green, misshapen mass. There are also multiple eggs seen. In the lower left of the photo is one of the free eggs that were in the abdominal cavity.


Photo 6: here is the follicle egg mass.

I hope these help. I don’t think there would have been any way to save her because the eggs were loose in the cavity, but at least we can closely monitor the gravid females for any potential abnormalities.


HOLY COW......... I did the right decision to put her to sleep... seeing her suffers day by day....it HURT so BAD!!!!!!! RIP Hanabi

Peritoneal Abscess

So sorry about Hanabi's death. You did the right thing. There was absolutely no way to recover from that mess. You also did the right thing in having a necropsy done. It's a real learning experience and now you know for sure what the problem was. You don't have to guess. They can't tell us what is wrong and we do a lot of guessing in some repects. The necropsy afterwards can fill in a lot of gaps. I know it hurts but I will tell you that you obviously did everything you could for her and cared about her. That's the important thing.

And thank you for posting those pictures. They are not gross. They are very informative. I've had my vet do necropsies in the past. I now do them myself. I know several other people in this group do too. I usually find something very useful and/or informative from doing it. You do get used to it and for me it's part of a process of learning about the creatures l love. You also see how all the parts work together. I'm not suggesting that everyone try it out themselves. But it is a good idea to get a vet to do it if one can afford it and if you have questions that can not be answered without doing it. I'm impressed that you got your vet to do a full report with all the pictures. So sorry for your loss. I have a soft spot for all the female chams. Their bodies work so hard and the males get all the glory!

Wow, amazing that can happen. We can all learn something from posts like these, thanks for sharing it even though it is obviously unpleasant. Sorry again for your loss.

You can at least take comfort in the fact there was nothing either you or your vet could have done to save her. Thank you for sharing the information. Your vet sounds very thorough and I am impressed he gave such a detailed explanation.

Although I am not a breeder of chams, I found your post fascinating. You did right by your girl, and gave members here good information that could save their chams if in a similiar situation.

Thank you for sharing this information even in your grief.

Wow...that is some crazy findings! So sad! I hope you feel relieved now knowing you made the right decision! Thank you for sharing with us!

sorry for your loss Poh

I teared up, but her valuable pictures will go on to help others.
Peace be with Hanabi and you.