Female Carpet is dying. Can anyone help?

[Andie]

Purchased a pair of Carpets in January, from a guy who said they were CB. I (foolishly) didn't get her fecal checked because I got busy and put it off.

She's tried to lay 2 separate clutches of eggs in about 2-3 weeks of each other, but I could never get her to use a laying bin. She would only drop them from up above. She laid about 6 eggs the first time, and around 8 this time around.

This morning she was on the bottom of her cage and felt cold, so I put her up under her light. She seemed really weak and dehydrated so I put her in the shower for a while this morning. She drank a lot and perked up, slightly, but was still weak and not eating anything.

Ran my kids to lessons, but came home to her sprawled out on a perch, with her eyes closed and not under the lamp.

I'm attempting to warm her up then put her into the shower for more water, but I fear it's too late.

Does anyone have any last ditch ideas?

 

[Andie]

I should mention she gets fully supplimented feeders, including Vit A added about once a week or so. She's misted thoroughly 2-3 times per day and lights are on 12 hr timers.

 

[SCharton74]

If she laid her eggs from above it is likely that she didn't like the moisture of the soil in her laying bin. Mine did the same thing. They like it pretty damp. If you know Kevin Stanford, he is the man for carpets. Ask him. He's on facebook.

 

[Andie]

This is what she looks like now. Very bright yellow, eyes closed.

 

[kinyonga]

She looks pretty bloated....wondering if she's retained eggs?
I don't know if it's too late for a vet or not. I would try it....but that's just me.

 

[Andie]

She looks pretty bloated....wondering if she's retained eggs?
I don't know if it's too late for a vet or not. I would try it....but that's just me.

Yes, this is what's so frustrating to me. All the pics I've seen online show totally different gravid coloring, so I didn't even know she was gravid the first time. I suspected it, but wasn't sure, so she just started dropping her eggs.
Sometimes she looks fat like that, but then 5 min later, she looks thin and sickly. I just don't know and can't seem to find anyone who knows carpets well.

I contacted Keven Stanford but haven't heard back. I'm afraid she may not make it through the night....

 

[AdrianChamy]

hope she feels better tomorrow. Also I would bring her to the vet ASAP in my opinion better safe then sorry

 

[NHenn]

Andie, I'm sorry to hear about your female

Unfortunately at this point I feel her time has passed and she won't make it much longer. Carpet chameleons and female especially have a very short life span of only 2-3 years so it could just be her time and there isn't anything you did wrong or that you could fix. If you didn't purchase her from either Kevin or myself then I'm willing to bet she is not CB and is actually a WC female as I don't know any other breeders here in the US that works with lateralis.

As for laying, that is very typical with carpets and you have to force them to dig and lay most times or they will just drop from the branches. This normally causes some eggs to never be laid and a second clutch will develop later and cause problem which could also be the case here. Not that it will make much of a different but you should be able to palpate her belly and feel eggs if she has some in her as they will feel like little jelly beans. I know it is opposite of what most suggest but unless she has a ton of strength and you don't feel any eggs I wouldn't recommend going to the vet as they won't be able to tell you much more at this point and she most likely won't make it long enough to get any test results back and to start treatment. I've worked with a lot of wild caught carpets and this situation is very common and there just isn't much you can do but keep her comfortable and hope for the best.

 

[kinyonga]

IMHO...from the sounds of it you don't have much time to wait around for a vet visit. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Chachi]

I just had my fm veiled spayed because she did almost the same thing. Where are you? I have, hands down the best vet. I fed my girl baby food meat w a syrenge. Keep her hydrated and get those eggs and ovaries out of there