ant bites? HELP!

[christyo2o2]

I took scooter my adult veild cham out for some sun today (i live in texas) so i could clean out his cage. he was doing good just soaking up the sun. i saw a few (like 3 or 4) ants on him. they didnt look quit big enough to be fire ants but i brushed them off of him as fast as i could. he seemed okay walking around and found a new sunny spot. then he stoped to bask. but when he did he had his eyes closed and mouth open. i know they do that when they get to hot so i decided i better bring him in. i tried putting him in his cage and misting him to cool him off but he was just barely hanging there with his eyes closed and mouth still open. hes now sitting on my lap watching me type this. not moving his eyes are open but look very sunk in.

i did a seach for ant bites though the other threads and read that a fire ant bite could kill my cham!! can someone please tell me if hes maybe just hot or if the ants could have made him sick! i have a good cham vet but i dont think i could get an apt till tomorrow if i had to.

thanks for any help or suggestions i can get

 

[jannb]

How is your chameleon?

 

[FOREVER ENDEAVOR]

i had my first 2 veileds eaten alive by ants...horrible experience...i hate ants...

 

[sharkey]

fire ants appear to come in a variety of colors and sizes - it is possible that the fire ants got him but for him to just have had a few would indicate not. fire ants are aggressively territorial and swarm - so just a few - w/out any more in the area or near by (w/in a few inches) means they probably weren't them. also this spp of ants stings in unison - they use a pheremone signal to time the stinging atttack. your cham would probably be writhing in pain. this doesn't negate the possibility of an ant injury of some sort.

no other ant in N.A. has the severity of problems associated w/fire ants - at least for mammals and birds.

 

[Kat77]

i had my first 2 veileds eaten alive by ants...horrible experience...i hate ants...

My god, that is horrible. I can't even imagine! How did this happen?

How is your chameleon, Christy?

 

[christyo2o2]

he seems to be doing better now. im thinking maybe he just got overheated. hes back in his cage now but stayed out for most of the day. for some reason he would fight with me when i tried to put him back in his cage. so he just sat on top of it for a few hours. ill let him get some rest tonight and see how hes doing in the morning and make sure that his eyes are not closed during the day. Thanks for the concern. Im sure he will bounce back he always does!

 

[Tygerr]

Christy, I'm glad to hear your cham is doing okay. Did you ever find out what type of ant it was on your cham?

As for "An African legend has it that the gods entrusted enternal life to the chameleon as a gift for mankind." - very creative paraphrasing! Have you heard how that legend actually ends?