Emergency Plans

[Frank Castle]

I dont know why this poped into my head last night. Do you guys/gals have any emergency plans for your chams? Any Ideas that may help others that havent thought of this. I live in Southern California, yea we all know earth quakes. But others live in Areas with Hurricanse, Tornados, Freezing Temps, Hot Temps etc. I personally just got my cham 3 weeks ago and was wondering what I can do If something big happened to save my Cham? Thanks

Frank

 

[Will Hayward]

I have some shipping bags, (Mini pillow covers) that I saved up from imported chameleons. If I were ever needing to leave the house, I would put one chameleon into each bag. As they seem to go dormant in them, Healthy chameleons would be fine for a couple days if kept at a good temperature inside the bags.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

You cant do much but i would do as will just said, as long as you have a healthy cham.......

 

[Heika]

Last year during the hurricanes on the east coast, a lot of people were talking about this. There were folks who lost a lot of reptiles because they had no power, no water, no mail for feeders and no open stores to buy them, no nothing. It would be a terrible situation. Even the people with generators had problems, because a lot of folks couldn't purchase gasoline to run them.

Heika

 

[Will Hayward]

How about keeping bug nets of hand to catch wild feeding sources.

 

[Prism Chameleons]

There is another emergency situation chameleon owners should think about. What if you became ill or had to leave on an emergency on very short notice? It is always a good idea to put together a little "manual" to keep at home so that someone who has to take care of your chameleon in these types of situations knows what to do. Also, talk to a friend and another family member about this type of possibility and ask if they would be a "stand by" should an emergency occur.

A solution is to type out full instructions of how to care for them, what to feed them, how much, and where to obtain the feeders. Include if they need dusting and how frequently, how to take care of the water system, operating the lighting, how you keep your cage clean and safe, and maybe some signs to look for (such as hydration) if your chameleon is showing symptoms.

Additionally, if you own females to breed as well, have a section about your female possibly laying eggs and signs to look for should she be ready.

You never know what may come up in life and one day you may have to pack your bag and jump a plane for a family emergency or something may happen to you as well (I hate to say these things, but should be thought of). I'm sure the situation would be worse should you come home and have not had your chameleon properly taken care of because someone didn't know what to do or you didn't have a "stand-by" to help if you were ever absent for a period of time from your home.

I'm sure there is more instructions to add to you manual, but give it some food for thought .

 

[Frank Castle]

The pillow case things sounds good. I just dont like the Idea of not being able to, or unprepaired to do something to save my cham in an emergency. With all the time and effort, let alone the money we all put in to our chams, we should be able to come up with a viable emergency plan. Heaven Forbid anything ever happen. I would just like to be ready.

I also like the Idea of the care sheet emergency plan. I am going to fill one of those out really soon.

Some of the things I was thinking of:
Heat Pads (For skiing, shake them up and they get warm) would they work in cold climate w/pillowcase?
Small Cage some where else for Transportation
Bug Net (As stated above)

I dont know how many of us have really sat down and thought about this, but I thought it would be an interesting post?

Frank

 

[Jam]

You would have to be careful with those heating pads ... I have used them to transport my chameleon's in emergencies (when hermie was sick and needed a vet NOW and the closes emergency vet that does reptiles was over an hour away and it was cold/winter) ... but if you leave them right up against their skin they CAN burn (I never had this happened) bc I monitored it and also put a thin towel over the hand warmer as a layer of protection. Just something to keep in mind. Since cham's can't sense heat as well from their bellies (so I've been told)

jamie