BugzNelson
Member
Yato, my panther chameleon just died at a little over 4 years. I’m pretty wracked with guilt because I had him essentially his whole life and he didn’t even make it to 5 years so it’s clearly on me, but I’m all over the place in my head about it. If it were you, would you consider ever getting a chameleon again? Here’s what happened:
Yato was one of the coolest animals I’ve ever had and he seemed really happy (in his own grumpy sort of way) for most of his life. I did so much research before I got him, I used a spreadsheet to track his feeding and poops and sheds, and I spent a pretty penny, and lot of time and creativity setting up his first enclosure.
After his first year, he got some sort of skin disease—I don’t know exactly what. I took him to an exotic vet several times to investigate it, but after over 3 grand of expenses, months of topical treatments, every test under the sun (stool test, blood test, a skin sample test) and an incredibly stressed out chameleon, the vet came back with “we couldn’t identify the problem”. I posted here about it to try and get help so you can find more details and photos about it here https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/whats-going-on-with-yatos-skin.192933/
The community suggested it could be papilloma virus, which is incurable, but shouldn’t impact his lifespan unless the warts developed on a risky location. They were on his back so I figured, maybe it’s OK, but I had the vet’s concern in the back of my head that it could be something fungal. Since Yato’s first enclosure had rock, and moss and all sorts of fun stuff, I wondered if fungus could be growing somewhere hidden and doing this to him. To be safe, built a new enclosure with essentially the same setup but less “living” things, mostly silk plants but a few real pathos. (This change happened about 6 months ago).
This was my biggest regret—the new enclosure was an expensive change that Yato hated. It changed his routine for patrolling, basking, and where to find water—though I did my best to keep locations similar to the previous. I could see Yato try to do his old rounds and his lizard brain took so long to realize the branches had moved. He started dehydrating (even though on paper his water situation hadn’t changed) and I would hand drip water in-front of him until he figured out where the new water sources were.
He never liked it, and his warts got worst. The one on the right side of his back grew to the size of a quarter! And he never wanted to be in there—he always was eager to come out. But he finally figured out new hiding places, new water sources and new basking locations. His hydration went back to normal so I thought all was well except one this—the dome on his head looked a bit caved in. His eyes seemed find but the dome made me think he was skinny. He didn’t have a loss of appetite, actually he was always eager to eat, but the done made me think he was skinny.
The last month and a half of his life was rough. First, our house’s AC went out and the temperature control of the room he lived in was unpredictable. It took us over a week to fix it and when we did I noticed Yato was dehydrated again and a bit pale. I amped up his water, and got hornworms to help supplement some hydration, and a week later his eyes and poop seemed OK—but he still looked pale. Sorta like he was about to shed but he never did. I upped his feeding schedule because his head still looked skinny to me and started asking my husband about planning a vet visit. After our last vet experience with him, we’ve been weary about whether or not the vet would actually be of any help.
At the beginning of last week, the week he died, I fed him, cleaned his cage, refilled his water and emptied the water tray. My husband and I are planning an out of state move and so we were hosting a good-bye party for him, his sister and their childhood friends. Because of this, all I did with Yato for three days was check his temps, his water and release some BSF for him to catch. He was hiding (which he often was and I was actually happy he figured out how to hide in his new enclosure) so I didn’t think much of it as long as flies were in there for him to catch. We found him dead this weekend right after the party because we smell something off in his cage. He must have died a day or two after I last saw him alive and we just didn’t notice because he was in one of his hiding spots.
Of course, something I did or didn’t do contributed to his death—but I don’t know if it was his skin, the room temperature going out of wack, the new enclosure stressing him, a dietary thing or something else but I feel like I let him down.
I truly enjoyed having a chameleon, but I don’t know if I should get another. I definitely won’t consider it until after we move and life settles enough for me to have the time and dedication again, but even still. There was a lot of difficulty in caring for Yato and at the end I still feel like I fell short. Would you advise trying again in a couple years or just calling it quits with chameleons?
Yato was one of the coolest animals I’ve ever had and he seemed really happy (in his own grumpy sort of way) for most of his life. I did so much research before I got him, I used a spreadsheet to track his feeding and poops and sheds, and I spent a pretty penny, and lot of time and creativity setting up his first enclosure.
After his first year, he got some sort of skin disease—I don’t know exactly what. I took him to an exotic vet several times to investigate it, but after over 3 grand of expenses, months of topical treatments, every test under the sun (stool test, blood test, a skin sample test) and an incredibly stressed out chameleon, the vet came back with “we couldn’t identify the problem”. I posted here about it to try and get help so you can find more details and photos about it here https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/whats-going-on-with-yatos-skin.192933/
The community suggested it could be papilloma virus, which is incurable, but shouldn’t impact his lifespan unless the warts developed on a risky location. They were on his back so I figured, maybe it’s OK, but I had the vet’s concern in the back of my head that it could be something fungal. Since Yato’s first enclosure had rock, and moss and all sorts of fun stuff, I wondered if fungus could be growing somewhere hidden and doing this to him. To be safe, built a new enclosure with essentially the same setup but less “living” things, mostly silk plants but a few real pathos. (This change happened about 6 months ago).
This was my biggest regret—the new enclosure was an expensive change that Yato hated. It changed his routine for patrolling, basking, and where to find water—though I did my best to keep locations similar to the previous. I could see Yato try to do his old rounds and his lizard brain took so long to realize the branches had moved. He started dehydrating (even though on paper his water situation hadn’t changed) and I would hand drip water in-front of him until he figured out where the new water sources were.
He never liked it, and his warts got worst. The one on the right side of his back grew to the size of a quarter! And he never wanted to be in there—he always was eager to come out. But he finally figured out new hiding places, new water sources and new basking locations. His hydration went back to normal so I thought all was well except one this—the dome on his head looked a bit caved in. His eyes seemed find but the dome made me think he was skinny. He didn’t have a loss of appetite, actually he was always eager to eat, but the done made me think he was skinny.
The last month and a half of his life was rough. First, our house’s AC went out and the temperature control of the room he lived in was unpredictable. It took us over a week to fix it and when we did I noticed Yato was dehydrated again and a bit pale. I amped up his water, and got hornworms to help supplement some hydration, and a week later his eyes and poop seemed OK—but he still looked pale. Sorta like he was about to shed but he never did. I upped his feeding schedule because his head still looked skinny to me and started asking my husband about planning a vet visit. After our last vet experience with him, we’ve been weary about whether or not the vet would actually be of any help.
At the beginning of last week, the week he died, I fed him, cleaned his cage, refilled his water and emptied the water tray. My husband and I are planning an out of state move and so we were hosting a good-bye party for him, his sister and their childhood friends. Because of this, all I did with Yato for three days was check his temps, his water and release some BSF for him to catch. He was hiding (which he often was and I was actually happy he figured out how to hide in his new enclosure) so I didn’t think much of it as long as flies were in there for him to catch. We found him dead this weekend right after the party because we smell something off in his cage. He must have died a day or two after I last saw him alive and we just didn’t notice because he was in one of his hiding spots.
Of course, something I did or didn’t do contributed to his death—but I don’t know if it was his skin, the room temperature going out of wack, the new enclosure stressing him, a dietary thing or something else but I feel like I let him down.
I truly enjoyed having a chameleon, but I don’t know if I should get another. I definitely won’t consider it until after we move and life settles enough for me to have the time and dedication again, but even still. There was a lot of difficulty in caring for Yato and at the end I still feel like I fell short. Would you advise trying again in a couple years or just calling it quits with chameleons?
