1 yr old panther passed

[tino442]

Came home to find my normally healthy lizard lying on the bottom of his cage. His eyes were opened and his breathing was labored. While waiting for the vet he passed in my hands. He was perfectly healthy this morning. Any reason as to what could have caused his sudden death?

 

[camimom]

Im very sorry.

can you fill this out so we can see what your care was like?

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

 

[tago]

Came home to find my normally healthy lizard lying on the bottom of his cage. His eyes were opened and his breathing was labored. While waiting for the vet he passed in my hands. He was perfectly healthy this morning. Any reason as to what could have caused his sudden death?

Wow thats crazy idk what i would do. Sorry for your lost. It be nice to see a pic of your guy

 

[tino442]

2x2x4 screen cage life umbrella plant, 5.0 lighting, 60w bulb, cage sits 3ft off ground, daily misting and dripping, dubia roaches and cricks with calcium plus rhepasy. Handled once week for couple of minutes,was very healthy looking great color, healthy appetite , owned lizard for 8 months never had a problem. I am baffled as to what could have caused his sudden death.

 

[camimom]

what was the basking temp?
supplementing schedule?
what were your bugs gutloaded with?
what exactly happened leaading up to his passing?

 

[tino442]

Temp 85, everyday supplements calcium plus, bug burger, otherwise very colorful active and healthy

 

[camimom]

chams dont just die suddenly.


something happened.

so what did you feed him that day?
how much food?
how much water that day?

what happened that day?

 

[tino442]

Nothing different , he was fine in the morn he was drinking the night before . The only sense i can make was a new batch of cricks that were to small. Maybe he ingested a stone from the plant at the bottom looking for small cricks

 

[camimom]

if he ingested rocks that could def cause problems.

thats why you dont keep rocks in the cage that they can ingest.


or maybe the crickets were tainted somehow.

 

[TheHoff93]

I am so sorry to hear this. this makes me so sad im sorry for your loss. i hope you get to the bottom of it.

 

[tino442]

I"m sick over the passing of my son's panther. I've been taking care of "cash camillionare" while my 19 yr old son is on vacation. He'll be home on sunday how do i break this horrible sudden death to him?

 

[tino442]

if my cham swallowed a rock his passing would be that quick. he was fine inthe morning and passed 8 hrs later. thanks

 

[Hoj]

Could he have been biten, or anything in the air pesticides ect. And contrary to some opinions chams can just die suddenly. They are masters of hiding the issue untill the very end as the weak get picked off in the wild first. So he may have had issues for awhile and was hiding it very well. What was his last poop like and how long ago.

 

[jannb]

I'm very sorry to hear about the passing of your sons panther. If you take him for a necropsy that should give you some inside on what happen to him.

 

[Rottsko]

very sorry to hear about your loss. how big are the rocks at the bottom of the cage? are they small enough that he could've actually swallowed it?

 

[tino442]

mostly bigger than a pea but there are some pea sizes. could a stone do this so quickly. can he look so healthy and roam the cage climbing on the screen and be sick?. i did notice that he was not pretending to shake like a leaf when going for his food? so baffled. thanks for any info.

 

[lysinlight87]

mostly bigger than a pea but there are some pea sizes. could a stone do this so quickly. can he look so healthy and roam the cage climbing on the screen and be sick?. i did notice that he was not pretending to shake like a leaf when going for his food? so baffled. thanks for any info.

From what I understand, they can look pretty good but actually be really sick. I think that's why people sometimes lose them so quickly- by the time symptoms start to show they've already been sick for a while.

I would have thought they would be able to swallow pea-sized stone, but as already suggested, a necropsy would be your best way to establish what really happened. Unfortunately, we can only offer you guesses as to what happened.

Sorry this happened whilst your son was away- animals seem to have a habit of waiting til their owners are away