Help!

[tylerg]

My 2 year old oustalet has been doing fine, I have had him for almost a year now. I take him outside daily and I know how to care for chameleons. I took him outside today for only 2 hours, and when I came back he was dead. The only thing I noticed was that his nose was sort of runny, but besides that he was fine. Can anyone help me out here?

Your Chameleon - Male Oustalet
Age - 2 Years old
Handling - Two times every day. Taking him in and outside
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? Dubia roaches, I do it twice a day and I gut load them as of right now with oranges and cat food
Supplements - Everything is Reptcal, dust w/o Calcium every day lightly, w/ d3 once a week, multivits every month
Watering - Little dripper system, I have seen her drink, I have spray twice daily
Fecal Description - Normal fecal
History - I have had him for over a year, he looked healthy until I saw him laying on the floor of the cage.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Free range, fake ficus tree and many vines across the walls.
Lighting - Zoomed Uvb 5.0 and 100w heat lamp, turns on around 9am - 9:30pm
Temperature - Top of the cage is around 90 and bottom I would say 75, Lower 70s at night, crappy stick on thermometer
Humidity - 40%, Spraying the cage, I dont really measure
Plants - Fake ficus tree
Placement - Corner of my room, no air vents or windows nearby.
Location - Dallas/ Ft Worth Texas


Current Problem - He was fine all day, and when I went outside to take him in he was dead, the only thing I noticed earlier that his nose was runny, but besides that he was fine.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I'm sorry for your loss. Isn't it high 90s or even 100 degrees outside in your area? Temperatures like that can kill quickly, especially if the cham was in direct sunlight. My panther overheated in 90 degree weather in less than 20 minutes when I lived in Texas. I couldn't put any chams in the shaded outdoor cage in the middle of summer because it's just way too hot. Unfortunately your gutloading was not good either. Cat food should not be used and you had no sources of calcium in your gutloading at all.

 

[tylerg]

I put him under a tree with half shade half sun but I always go out and mist him and put a dripper outside. Oustalets are use to high temperatures anyways from what I have read, I also have a female oustalet and she is perfectly normal. And I usually use Flukers orange cricket food and this mix, I dont know what it is but it came with the Dubia I ordered I just assumed it was crushed dog/cat food.