PardalisGirl
Avid Member
This last week has been a horrible one for me with regard to my collection. I lost my beloved adult Melleri Layla on Wednesday night. She was in great shape until last Sunday. Sunday she looked great but refused to eat. Monday her color was horribly distressed. I called and got a vet appointment for Tuesday. She faded rapidly from there and died at the vet while he was trying to save her. He did a necropsy and we suspect that Salmonella was the culprit. That can't be confirmed until culture tests come back. The necropsy showed that all her organs were inflamed which means the infection had become septic. He had started her on antibiotics but it was too late. I'll post an updated post on her in the Melleri forum after test results come back. I was in tears for days over that loss.
Then Friday night my husband and I woke to a smell that was filling our house. It was an acrid smell coming from our heat vents. We've had a cold snap here. The furnace was making noises too. We shut it down and went back to bed. The next morning the smell was gone but I discovered a number of my small Montanes where dead. The house was a little cold but I've gone to winter cage heating so all the cages had proper temperatures. I found a dead male Laterispinis, a dead female Uthmoelleri and three dead Thamnobates (one male and two females).
The only thing I can think of is that the fumes coming from the vents were toxic enough to kill off more sensitive species. When the furnace repair man came he said all the wiring around the furnace motor was fried and a bunch of nearby plastic was burnt. We were lucky that we shut the furnace off. Our house could have burned down. The plastic must have been somewhat toxic. Nothing else seems to have been affected except the small Montanes. I'm lucky that I had my new Blue Crown Conure covered for the night. Birds are very sensitive to toxins and chemicals. I'm also lucky my Uthmoelleri hatchlings were in one of my two main chameleon rooms. The vents are closed in those rooms because it gets too hot with the heat on due to all the basking lights. The Montanes that died where all in my dining room where the vents were open.
Anyway, it's been a totally crappy week. I'm numb. Numb from losing these incredible creatures and numb with cold. My cages all have heat but our house is without a furnace in freezing temperatures until later this week. I'm using every trick in the book to get the house temperature up to 58 degrees. Ugggghhhhh
Then Friday night my husband and I woke to a smell that was filling our house. It was an acrid smell coming from our heat vents. We've had a cold snap here. The furnace was making noises too. We shut it down and went back to bed. The next morning the smell was gone but I discovered a number of my small Montanes where dead. The house was a little cold but I've gone to winter cage heating so all the cages had proper temperatures. I found a dead male Laterispinis, a dead female Uthmoelleri and three dead Thamnobates (one male and two females).
The only thing I can think of is that the fumes coming from the vents were toxic enough to kill off more sensitive species. When the furnace repair man came he said all the wiring around the furnace motor was fried and a bunch of nearby plastic was burnt. We were lucky that we shut the furnace off. Our house could have burned down. The plastic must have been somewhat toxic. Nothing else seems to have been affected except the small Montanes. I'm lucky that I had my new Blue Crown Conure covered for the night. Birds are very sensitive to toxins and chemicals. I'm also lucky my Uthmoelleri hatchlings were in one of my two main chameleon rooms. The vents are closed in those rooms because it gets too hot with the heat on due to all the basking lights. The Montanes that died where all in my dining room where the vents were open.
Anyway, it's been a totally crappy week. I'm numb. Numb from losing these incredible creatures and numb with cold. My cages all have heat but our house is without a furnace in freezing temperatures until later this week. I'm using every trick in the book to get the house temperature up to 58 degrees. Ugggghhhhh
