Dead mouse in chameleons cage
- Thread starter Chams123
- Start date
Crashbandit05
Avid Member
^^ That's crazy! I would be asking the questions why did the mouse die in the cage, and if something could possibly affect your chameleon. Mice carry all sort of parasites, etc
Justsomedude
Member
man that's wild I am sure there are a sufficient amount of protein/ calcium in a mouse! Wonder how often these animals actually eat small rodents in the wild?
Justsomedude
Member
wouldn't they get impacted from the bones!?
Claudine
New Member
This was my first thought too - I hope the little fella was OK after that meal.
jcarlsen
Chameleon Enthusiast
Well, there's your answer as to how the mouse got in. I'd also like to see your setup. I'm curious why you'd keep an adult panther in a small enclosure, let alone a glass one... Do you have really bad humidity issues where you are?
Bermuda1237
New Member
I feel like veileds will try to kill anything smaller you put in the cage. That videos cool but that guy is clearly a terrible owner just by looking at his set up. It's possible your Cham killed it for territoral reasons and just didn't want to eat it or was put of by any struggle it put up. Cause the likely hood it would just wander in and die is pretty unlikely out of everywhere in a house you know. But if you haven't chucked the mouse check for broken bones he might of grabbed him and gave him a couple good bites before it got away then it just died at the bottom
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'm about 99% certain your cham did not kill this mouse. If neighbors or other land owners near your house put down rodent poison baits there's a chance the mouse was sick and searching for water. The commercially-available rodent poison baits (D-con, warfarin, etc) act as anti-coagulants. The rodent that eats the bait starts bleeding internally which causes extreme thirst. The idea is that a sick rodent will start searching for water, so they tend to die outdoors.
Sure chams are territorial but I very much doubt one would even attempt to injure another animal that size unless it had been physically attacked. Most likely the cham would have fired up, bluffed, and displayed, but stay as far from the mouse as it could if it was even awake. If there had been some sort of physical fight the mouse would have been more likely to kill or severely injure the panther. Mice are quick compared to a cham, very aggressive, and those chisel teeth can inflict nasty bites. As you said, there was no blood and you didn't describe any bites, scratches or bruises on the cham or the mouse.
Sure chams are territorial but I very much doubt one would even attempt to injure another animal that size unless it had been physically attacked. Most likely the cham would have fired up, bluffed, and displayed, but stay as far from the mouse as it could if it was even awake. If there had been some sort of physical fight the mouse would have been more likely to kill or severely injure the panther. Mice are quick compared to a cham, very aggressive, and those chisel teeth can inflict nasty bites. As you said, there was no blood and you didn't describe any bites, scratches or bruises on the cham or the mouse.
jcarlsen
Chameleon Enthusiast
Definitely an unconventional setup... Is this temporary while you set up a screen cage or something? Also, you say the door is always open, so you'd say that your cham is essentially free ranged 24/7? Do you ever worry about it wandering off somewhere/getting hurt?
