2 of my lizards were dead when i got home from work

MrsP

New Member
I am fairly new to lizard life, but i had a Chameleon (about 8 months) and just got a baby bearded dragon a month ago. For the past week the bearded dragon was not doing well, sleeping a lot during the day, and only drinking when i hand fed him. The chameleon on the other hand was doing fine. Eating well, drinking well, and generally chilling like he always does. I left for work yesterday morning around 10am, after feeding everyone. The bearded dragon was looking very pitiful, but the chameleon was peppy. I was out of big crickets and was going to stop and get some on my way home, but i had a lot of small ones for my beardie, so i gave some of them to the chameleon. He ate them all, and i left for work, worried about the beardie. When i got home from work, my husband met me at the door and told me that both of them were dead! I was half expecting something to happen to my beardie as he was not as engaging as he was last week, and pretty lethargic, but not the chameleon! Any ideas of what might have killed him? I went through a bunch of different scenarios, like he caught whatever the beardie had, but they live in different room, and i dont touch him, so i am doubtful that we could have transfered anything to him. Maybe the pin head crickets i was feeding the beardie were bad? Can crickets carry something that kills lizards? I am slightly traumatized, and very baffled as to what killed my babies!
 
Affecting both sharing the food source, Id be inclined to suspect the crickets, but without extensive
information about both its just an assumption.
What were you feeding the crickets, how were they kept?
Could they (crickets) have come into contact with household chemicals, sprays etc?
My sympathy :(
 
Veiled Chameleon, and the crickets were kept in to separate cricket houses (the kind you can buy at petsmart with the tubes that they climb into). I am not sure what kind they were, but i feed them Flukers high calcium cricket diet (brown wood chip looking stuff) and Flukers Calcium Fortified cricket quencher. I had pinhead crickets in one, and regular big nasy crickets in the other, They both ate the same thing. Both lizards were fed the pin head crickets yesterday morning. Beardie had been eating them last week before he got sick, and i gave them to the chameleon for the first time yesterday.
 
really sorry to hear of your loss, i would have to suspect the crickets but would know where to start to prove it. maybe you could find out if anyone else who gets crickets from where you did had any problems, just a thought.

hoj
 
Do you breed your own crickets or buy them? If you buy them, when did you buy this batch
you've been feeding, and did you buy them from the same source? Its possible this batch was contaminated at the store?
The chameleon had not eaten any of these crickets before yesterday? But had eaten crickets from the same source before?
Seems a little co-incidental that the chameleon should die too suddenly, after eating the same crickets, though it seems
the beardy took longer to succumb, this is strange, something may have been building up in its system (beardy), but the chameleon
should not have had such an immeadiate reaction I would think.
All this is based on speculation about the crickets though, It may simply have been a coincidence.

Any changes to the enviroment of either lizard recently?
Can you tell us a bit about each lizards housing, and general state up till yesterday?
 
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No changes to his environment that i can think of, we changed his cage to a glass one with a mesh top to a bigger completely mesh one, but that was about a month ago. I dont suppose i will ever know the answer... I live on a boat which i guess it not really lizard friendly but we did everything to keep his living conditions stable as far as temp and humidity. Movement was the only thing i could not control.

No i dont breed my own crickets, i am not that dedicated :) I get them from pet smart, or another private local pet store. These came from pet smart. I thought about calling them, but they get a delivery every Thursday and are usually out by Monday, and i bought these last week, so it was pointless to warn them of my suspicions. I thought about having the crickets "tested" or something, but Coma ate all of them yesterday before he croaked....

The beardie probably had something totally unrelated, but he was just a baby and might have had something when i got him, just took a while to finally die, poor baby... But i am still baffled as to the sudden death of Coma. It was just weird they they were both alive yesterday morn, and dead when i got home...

Thanks for brainstorming with me though! I appreciate the suggestions
 
Veiled Chameleon, and the crickets were kept in to separate cricket houses (the kind you can buy at petsmart with the tubes that they climb into). I am not sure what kind they were, but i feed them Flukers high calcium cricket diet (brown wood chip looking stuff) and Flukers Calcium Fortified cricket quencher. I had pinhead crickets in one, and regular big nasy crickets in the other, They both ate the same thing. Both lizards were fed the pin head crickets yesterday morning. Beardie had been eating them last week before he got sick, and i gave them to the chameleon for the first time yesterday.

I don't think a 8 month old veil would show any interest in pinhead crickets unless deprived of all other food.
 
Just a thought but do you use any kind of gas to cook on the boat? You could have a gas leak somewhere. The fuel lines on the boat could be leaking and the fumes could have killed them. Theres no way of knowing without a necropsy. I would check my air quality though.;)
 
On another forum a member lost a large portion of her pets from moving them into another room with black mold in it. They turned their heater on and that probably did them in.

A necropsy will be your best bet. Sorry for your loss.
 
I live on a boat which i guess it not really lizard friendly but we did everything to keep his living conditions stable as far as temp and humidity. Movement was the only thing i could not control.

Wow, nautical Reptiles! thats new, Guess theres no stopping enthusiasm once you get hooked on herps! Just curious, how did the heating/electricity work in regard to lighting?
A boat would certainly be a challenge!
I dont think movement would bother the cham much, not sure about the beardy, never considered that before! You've given me food for thought.
Dont think its related to your loss in any way.
How were you keeping the beardy hydrated? With very small things hydration is probably the most important aspect, they dehydrate in the blink of an eye.
Beardy bubs tend not to drink from still water sources, and spraying/misting a few times a day works well. Had the beardy left droppings?
 
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