HELP! what just happened?!

[s2jay]

ill try to keep it short and simple..

I have a Nosy Be panther (less than a year old) in what was near perfect health. Everything was fine, he is chubby and colorful and ate lots. however I tried to take it out of its cage late at night while it was sleeping (I've done it before with no problems) and it freaked out! He took a few huge breaths with its mouth open and went limp. He didn't die but he turned a dark green and is still moving but barely has the stregth to stand/stay on its feet! Wth! This ever happen to anyone???

 

[krbshappy71]

ill try to keep it short and simple..

I have a Nosy Be panther (less than a year old) in what was near perfect health. Everything was fine, he is chubby and colorful and ate lots. however I tried to take it out of its cage late at night while it was sleeping (I've done it before with no problems) and it freaked out! He took a few huge breaths with its mouth open and went limp. He didn't die but he turned a dark green and is still moving but barely has the stregth to stand/stay on its feet! Wth! This ever happen to anyone???

Wow. Um, I would take it to the vet. Like, immediately. But I am very, very new to chameleons so that would freak me out and I'd take it to a vet.

 

[elrojo]

How has he acted today? Totally a wet blanket, still? Laying on the bottom? Can he even hold himself upright?

I removed a woma (Aust. python) to clean it's cage once while it was at rest and it started thrashing around like a full-on seizure and later died. I'm convinced I shocked the animal, whether it died of heart attack or what, I'll never know since I didn't get a necropsy. That's a one in several thousands freak thing, and probably will never happen to me again. But I have still made it a point to wake reptiles before picking them up since. Hope everything turns out okay for you, let us know.

 

[OOOst16]

Chameleons naturally let go of the branch there sleeping on,....free falling to escape the predator when there disturbed at night. You never touch a sleeping chameleon. Let him re coup, I'm not sure what a vet could do at this point. You shocked him no Dout about that....that explains the color. I learned this the hard way. I touched my Cham while sleeping and he let go and free fell about 3 ft down. Scared me to death, but hes fine, and has been since.

 

[Silkyslim]

So how do you wake a sleeping cham? Or do you let him lie? Think noise or you blowing on him might wake him? I suppose if you were close enough he might freak out at having your face so close to theirs after a slumber.

 

[carol5208]

The question is...why do you want to disturb a sleeping cham? I mean if there is some type of emergency then yes but otherwise why wouldyou wanna freak them out when they are in the middle of sleeping. just curious as to why you would want to do this.

 

[krbshappy71]

I don't know why the original poster was waking his up, nor why Silky wants to wake theirs up, but Swyft falls asleep on his free-range tree and I prefer to put him to bed in his cage before I go to bed myself. I have put him to bed at 9 p.m, moved it to 8 p.m, now sometimes he dozes off at about 7 p.m. so I may have to move it up again. It seems to depend on how much free-range time he got that day.

To wake him I sing his name in a sing-song voice as I approach. I don't get right in his face until I see his eyes open and look at me. Then I just sidle up slowly, singing his name, and scoop him up to put him away.

So far he hasn't been startling but thanks for the warning that it could shock them, I wouldn't have known that.

 

[ajacobson]

You might have given him a heart attack or almost. You shouldn't startle a sleeping cham. Hope he's ok.

 

[Silkyslim]

Hah I would never wake him up short of a house fire WHEN I do get mine. I just fired off some random questions as this will be my 1st cham and I have a ton of them.

 

[Elizadolots]

I would just say to the original poster that once it's "lights out" in the cage, it's "lights out" until morning barring an emergency.

I understand the need to move a free ranging chameleon and sort of love the "singing his name" thing...very lovely. And, I would expect a chameleon who was free ranging to learn to expect a "pick up and move".

But the cage is supposed to be safe. As owners, I think we need to respect their sense of ownership over the cage. Intruding when not necessary is a violation of that.

 

[Cuda]

I put it this way first hope its ok ( heart attach stress for sure) Would you want someone to latch onto you and drag you outside went you tucked in under the covers sound asleep in a dream.

(I've done it before with no problems) No problem for you! You were not the one sleeping! Should have freaked out the first time then you might not have done it a secound.

 

[Leedslad88]

I would just say to the original poster that once it's "lights out" in the cage, it's "lights out" until morning barring an emergency.

I understand the need to move a free ranging chameleon and sort of love the "singing his name" thing...very lovely. And, I would expect a chameleon who was free ranging to learn to expect a "pick up and move".

But the cage is supposed to be safe. As owners, I think we need to respect their sense of ownership over the cage. Intruding when not necessary is a violation of that.

I agree somewhat however....

If you free range your cham then get used to his sleeping patterns (mine are regular as clockwork) and move him before he sleeps. Wking a cham can have sometimes fatal effects and it is important that you recognise their lifestyle and keep everything regular to avoid any unnecassary waking up.

That said if it is an emergency then try turning on a night light to slowly bring him round. Be very aware that chams tend totake a fall if they are woken to avoid being eaten by predators even more so if they are CB.

 

[krbshappy71]

I agree somewhat however....

If you free range your cham then get used to his sleeping patterns (mine are regular as clockwork) and move him before he sleeps. Wking a cham can have sometimes fatal effects and it is important that you recognise their lifestyle and keep everything regular to avoid any unnecassary waking up.

That said if it is an emergency then try turning on a night light to slowly bring him round. Be very aware that chams tend totake a fall if they are woken to avoid being eaten by predators even more so if they are CB.

Thanks for the info. If he falls asleep, do they stay asleep all night? I am usually awake in the morning to turn on his cage lights before he is awake, so if they sleep all night I could just leave him on the tree the days I don't get to him fast enough, rather than risk startling him. The room isn't free-range safe when I'm not at home during the day because he is so active but if they sleep all night I could put him away in the morning before I go to work.

I do try to be careful not to startle him but that was just to be nice, I didn't realize it could be so harmful if I did, yikes.