Chameleon Possibly Dying

brighteyez

New Member
Our Jackson's Chameleon (Wilson) is acting extremely lethargic and is vomiting.

Before I get started here is what I think happened: Some malfunction happened with the misting system, so i think he has been severely dehydrated.

We were gone for a week and had a friend come by the house once daily to check on the chameleon, among other things around the house. When we got back the chameleon's cage was knocked over (the cage fell on it's side, but not off the ledge).

Wilson has had health issues since we got him (we got him from Pet's Mart). He has always had difficulty eating, is a runt, and had to have a leg amputated a while back due to a bone infection that just wouldn't go away. Wilson is a little over a year old now.

We immediately gave him a bath in lukewarm water, and he was moving around ALOT and seemed to love it, and was drinking, but then threw up (looked like a little bit of a super worm) and became super-lethargic (at first I was worried he wasn't breathing). We are trying to hold him at a downward angle and slightly to the side (in an attempt to make sure he doesn't breathe in his own vomit). He is still grasping things.

His eyes were very swollen and closed when we first saw him, but after getting his bath for a few minutes he opened both eyes. He doesn't appear to have any trauma to his body. He was just a *little* dark when we first came up on him (his "angry" color) but became a nice happy green once we put him in the water. He does look the slightest bit pale, and a little thinner than when we left him though

On a side-note our house-watcher left a note at 2pm today (it was 1130 pm when we got home) saying that all the super-worms had died. This is weird, and we have never seen this happen before...

I've already left a message on our vet's answering machine (whom is smart on chameleons) but I was hoping to get some tips to help Wilson make it through the night.

Cage: He lives in a nylon mesh cage, has a heat lamp and a UV lamp, and sits infront of a window. Right before we left we put a small fan next to his cage to increase airflow.

Temp: During the day the basking spot is about 81 F and the cooler parts of the cage are around 76 F. At night the cage is 75 F.

Water: We were hand-misting, but had re-started our mister. It is set to go off 3 times a day for 15 minutes at a time. The way it is set up, water collects on the netting at the top and will continue to drip several minutes after the mister stops, so Wilson has at least 3 20 minute periods to drink a day.

Suppliments: We use vitamin d and calcium power usually, but since we have been gone the past week hes been getting un-powdered food.

Food: All store-bought and gut-loaded using carrots and flukers, mostly crickets and superworms, but sometimes mealworms and silkworms.
 
Has he been getting D3 very often? It can make Jackson's severely ill, and they really only need D3 once every 6 weeks or so. Do you know how his cage fell over?

Gosh, I don't know what to suggest. At the very least my comment bumps up your thread so an expert can chime in. Probably all you can do until you get him into a vet is make him comfortable and provide him with a very long, warm misting session (or shower) so he can get a lot of water back. Although I'm not certain dehydration is what's causing this.

Wish you the best of luck! Poor guy, hope he recovers ok. Keep us posted on what happens.
 
I'm not even sure it fell over anymore... it looks more like it was purposely placed on its side. His dripper, which was on top of the cage, was acting as a support beam... there is no way it could have fallen under the cage in that manner... This makes me wonder why the house-watcher would put the cage on it's side??

He doesnt seem to be physically hurt (I.E. punctures, lacerations, bruising, disfigurement, swelling (other than the eyes.. but its both eyes so I am attributing it to something systemic))... to put it in more "human" terms he reminds me of someone who is really drunk (he kinda is just letting his arms relax, but if i touch his tail he seems to become more lucid and will move around a bit).

We have him sitting on a damp cloth and we are dripping water into his mouth.

Also, it is night time right now, and we are setting the temp to 80F since I am worried about his ability to control his body temp right now... Any thoughts on if this is good or bad?
 
Also.. i lied... I was just looking at him and noticed that although both eyes are swollen, the right eye is a little more swollen and has some bruising, perhaps from a fall. He is moving around more now, which I like. I am not as worried about him dying any second now..

He is keeping his eyes closed for the most part, and my wife is keeping him on a cloth on her chest and giving him water from a syringe,which he seems to be readily accepting. We will continue to do this for another hour or so, and possibly do another bath, then keep him in a small plastic container, on top of a cloth for the night.
 
We have also noticed that he is very pale/white in color. Particularly around the base of his tail. I'm not sure is if this is important, I just thought I'd add it.
 
Give him natural sunlight as often as possible, flies to eat (when he isn't interested he's a few days away from death), and the water supply you gave him at the moment
 
I would have a talk with your house-watcher to see what really happened. If they don't give you an answer that seems honest... do not let them watch your house any longer.
 
I agree with syn, it sounds like he is very very dehydrated and that does not just happen over night.
You should have them pay for your vet bills or not pay them (if you were paying them) for watching your home while you were away.
Just keep him hydrated and warm, maybe even slightly warmer than usual, if hes having trouble gripping I suggest over night you keep him in a big bin with some branches to hang on to, nothing too high, you dont want him to fall.
In the morning Id go to your vet asap, he doesnt sound very good to me :/
 
Ok... signing off for the night... My wife (whom knows way more about chameleons than I) said the whitening is often times a sign of them being cold. The "bath water" had become cool to the touch, so i replaced it with warm water, left him in for a couple of minutes, then took him out of the water completely and set him in a small plastic cage on top of a small cotton towel with a small, fake, leafy branch above him. We are going to wake up every couple of hours and try to offer him water via a syringe so we aren't spraying him and getting him cold. We will keep the house temp at 80 F, which should in theory keep his enclosure at 80. We are going to withhold food until we get a green light from the vet to feed him. I will be checking here again first thing when I wake up (about 6 hours from now) so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to voice them.
 
Post pics. How old is this chameleon? If he is dehydrated and not a baby, you may want to give him a warm shower. Put one of his plants in there with him on it and angle the shower so that it hits the wall near the plant (don't let the shower directly hit the chameleon). Maybe others can chime in on if it's safe to do that to him in this condition but it's a good way to hydrate a dehydrated chameleon.

Maybe your watcher was freaked out by a superworm, knocked the cage over, then just reset it onto its side. Then they were mad at the superworms for the whole thing and murdered them all, then left you a note all like "these superworms mysteriously died and I have no idea what happened."
 
He also said he is drinking alot Denton :p
There would be no need for a shower, that would more than likely upset him
in the state hes in.

Also if you mist him with warm water it'll help him clean his eyes out, it might help with the swelling or help ease what ever irritation thats going on.
 
I would have a talk with your house-watcher to see what really happened. If they don't give you an answer that seems honest... do not let them watch your house any longer.

I agree with u...If that happen to me I would be piss at that pet watcher..that me:D
 
I'm not even sure it fell over anymore... it looks more like it was purposely placed on its side. His dripper, which was on top of the cage, was acting as a support beam... there is no way it could have fallen under the cage in that manner... This makes me wonder why the house-watcher would put the cage on it's side??

He doesnt seem to be physically hurt (I.E. punctures, lacerations, bruising, disfigurement, swelling (other than the eyes.. but its both eyes so I am attributing it to something systemic))... to put it in more "human" terms he reminds me of someone who is really drunk (he kinda is just letting his arms relax, but if i touch his tail he seems to become more lucid and will move around a bit).

We have him sitting on a damp cloth and we are dripping water into his mouth.

Also, it is night time right now, and we are setting the temp to 80F since I am worried about his ability to control his body temp right now... Any thoughts on if this is good or bad?

Just a thought, maybe your house sitter dropped him or something and put the cage on the side to make it look like it had dropped and he got hurt that way. :( I hope he will be ok, after everything he has been through sounds like he is a fighter. Bless him
 
UPDATE!
Wilson made it through the night. My husband and I decided that he really needed rest so we didn't try to water him during the night, we just let him sleep. This morning he seems to be a bit stronger. He's sitting next to me and I've been trying to spray him and get him to drink as often as possible.

Yes, Wilson is about a year and a half, but because he's been so sickly, you wouldn't know it by his size. He's only aboout 4ins long without his tail.

About the shower. I just got a new shower head, and it has a mist feature. The mist is super fine, so even if I were to spray it directly on him, I don't think it would be harmful, although I would probably keep a good distance just to be safe. What do you think? Should I give that a try?

I'm currently sending pictures to my vet, he is supposed to call me later so we can talk. I'll try to get photos up on here when I can.
Thanks!
 
ALSO! The room I'm in doesn't have a lot of light, and I have him sitting in a little bin with a cotton towl and a fake vine. Should I have a uv light, or basking light set up for him? The temp is currently 74F in his bin.
 
How wierd. I would defiantly talk to whomever watched the house as they had better provide some good answers to your questions.
 
About the shower. I just got a new shower head, and it has a mist feature. The mist is super fine, so even if I were to spray it directly on him, I don't think it would be harmful, although I would probably keep a good distance just to be safe. What do you think? Should I give that a try?

It was just an idea, listen to others if they don't think it's a good thing to do in this situation. If he's already hydrated it prolly won't have any additional benefit. I hope he's OK, I think it's commendable to keep an amputee chameleon alive and give him a good life.
 
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