How did my jackson chameleon die

[RustyChamGirl]

I got him from the wild and had him for almost 2 years. Suddenly, he couldn't use his tongue. About a week later, I noticed he was weak. I toke him to the vet who said nothing was wrong with him except he has a tongue abscess and gave me some antibiotics. He started walking funny and bumping into the cage. He started getting weak and would fall off the branches. He could not use his grip any longer. I force fed him and he eventually couldn't not climb and eventually went to laying down. I went to give him his medicine, he toke one deep breath and was gone. This happened really quickly and suddenly he just passed.

 

[RustyChamGirl]

I really don't understand how chameleon can be so healthy and just suddenly drop dead

 

[Remkon]

If you really want to know you should have the vet do a necropsy on the body (and also fill out the how to ask for help form from the health section),
otherwise I'd advise you to not linger on it to much, grief a bit, then move on.

There are young professional athletes that play their match 1 minute and drop down dead the next...
Stuff like that just happens and sometimes there isn't an obvious reason for it.

 

[RustyChamGirl]

Think he would have had to have been sick from when I first got him because he was restless. He wouldn't sleep a full night but my girl does it the dim light. He would try to climb the cage all day and would be trying to get out. I got the girl and put her in a separate cage next to him just to calm him down. It wasn't something that would have killed him because it helped. alot. Idk.. I just know he was not normal the moment I bought him home from the wild. The girl is raised in captivity but the boy was not. There is too many differences between the two. It was devestating to lose my first pet. I tried to read up on all I could on proper care for him. I guess it just didn't matter in the end it hurt me so much to see him go. I'm not sure if I could ever heal because losing him was just too hard. Especially thinking what could I have done different? Its my fault.. I did something wrong.

 

[Bettina]

Do you have any idea how old he was? Live expectancy is about 10 years in captivity, those from the wild less. And they have all kinds of parasites. Maybe he never got used to captivity. You sound like a responsible person, most likely you didn t do anything wrong. In my country you cannot get wild chams, it s forbidden and they say too much trouble.

 

[Graves923]

If there was an abscess it could have become infected and spread. Couldve been resistant to the antibiotics that were prescribed. No way to really tell without a necropsy from the vet. Being wild caught there are a lot of variables. If you kept him for two years I doubt your husbandry was lacking.

 

[RustyChamGirl]

I was force feeding him a lot of water with the syringe because he couldn't drink... Did I give him too much water? I think I felt his stomach and it was too watery. Idk if I drowned him to death

 

[RustyChamGirl]

If I gave him too much water, wouldn't he have just thrown up? I just have done something by accident

 

[Bettina]

Don t be so selfreproachful. You did your best. Maybe your female is pregnant in the meantime, maybe you have something to look foreward to. All the best!

 

[absolutbill]

There's a few reasons why he could have passed away. One is that the vet gave too high a dose of antibiotics to him, causing him to walk funny and bump into the cage. Another thing I noticed is that you seemed to have placed them in the same cage together, at least in the beginning, when he was trying to escape. That is going to cause stress on him - then it looks like you moved the female out of the cage (which is a good thing!), but placed her in the cage next to him. Could they still see each other? That could also cause stress. Finally, you stated that your female sleeps in the dim light, but he wouldn't sleep a full night. What kind of dim light are you referring to? Is there a lightbulb on? Do you mean they are sleeping into the morning when the sun comes up before their cage lights come on? If there's a light on at night, they won't be able to sleep properly, and that will also lead to issues. Also, was your male ever tested for parasites before you placed the female in the same cage as him? If not, you will want to have her tested, because he could have passed something onto her which is harmful. Finally, if you had given him too much water, either he would have thrown it up, or he could have aspirated from it going down his windpipe, but it doesn't sound like either thing happened.

I hope you are able to find some answers, and I'm just writing what comes to mind from your posts. Ultimately the vet can perform the necropsy, but my bet is that if it was the overdose of antibiotics or stress you won't find that out as an answer. I wish you luck, and hope that your female lives a long and healthy life.

 

[Arpretty]

Sometimes the best learning experiences are the most painful, for yourself and for others involved. Take a breather. You are clearly remorseful - and I would assume you have learned a lot from this. Try to use this experience to motivate you to care for your female Cham the best way possible.