I'm here to learn

[suezan]

Okay,
I'm pretty upset. My Cham died this morning..
Night before Last night she jumped off her tree. (about a 5ft drop)
and landed on my hardwood floor.
Her mouth came open right away and she started twisting..
I picked her up and put her in a dark box on a warm towel.
and kept her that way for about 25 min..
give her water which she drank.
went through the same routine over and over again.
She started doing better and opening one eye..
she could see my hand and would climb up to me.. I'd give her water that she would drink on her own..
gave her a shower.. ( tree in the shower and the spray hitting the side wall.. keeping the door shut) about 20 min or so..
She was starting to look better color wise, more green than brown/black camo..
Than this morning she was really dark and looked bad..
with in an hour or so.. she was gone.
I had 2 X100 wt red lights on the top screen..
no bright lights and she still wanted under foliage.. it was like she wanted to get out of the warmth..
Was it to warm for her in shock?

I miss her so very much.. This is heart wrenching..
So, here is my set up, cause I don't want to do this again!
it's so painful to loose a friend.

Did she jump because she didn't like the new light I put up?
I installed a 48 inch Zoo Med Repti 5.0 light (fluorescent) on my ceiling,
above her tree.. 1 ft above the highest branch to 5ft lowest,
I'm going to give all my info.. below
cause
I want another cham..
but I'm scared to have my heart broken!
And even worse
my Cham broken


Cage Type - Glass terrarium
What is the size? 175 gal
Lighting - I have a 48 in fluorescent 5.0 zoo med light above her terrarium.. about 5ft
I have 2 X 100 watt red zoo med night light on all the time for heat.
one on one side and one on the other
they are on top of the screen top.
a 150 Watt basking light zoo med on the top screen.
How long do you keep the lights on during the day? 12 hrs
Temperature - What temperature range have you created? 75 to 78 degrees
Basking spot temp 85 degrees
What is the temperature at night? 60 to 65

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 70%
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? spray
Plants - Are you using live plants? No
If so, what kind?
Location - Where is your cage located? in my bedroom
Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? no

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, 4 horned Mountain Cham
sex, F
age 8 months
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? Crickets, moths, king meal worms, sow bugs, fruit flies. I can catch lots everyday.. no poisons used for miles around
What amount? as much as she wants
What kind of schedule? 2 x a day
How are you gut-loading your feeders? fresh veggies and fruit some chick starter.
Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use? NONE
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use?
I made a drip system that falls onto leaves.. and back up..system is flushed out and cleaned with white vinigar and flushed clean and clear.
Do you see your chameleon drinking? Yes, all the time.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. That Depends on what she eats. Firm and the color changes.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.
I want to make sure that everything is right before I do this again..
I was always worried about everything..
I didn't find this forum until about 4 days ago.. and have been flying by the seat of my pants on this.
Info is so vague out there and it helps to talk to real people!
I live in a place where we have no herp vets around..
We are lucky to have a horse Vet that comes out to the ranch from an hour away..
so,
I have to know how to treat my animals and self vet..
How do you treat shock like what my girl did..
What could I have done different.. other than not leave her to jump!

 

[SweetPea]

I am sorry

I don't have an answer I am also new the the forum but I wanted to tell you that I am very sorry for you loss. You are in my thoughts

Amy

 

[Brad]

Hello suezan,

Sorry to hear about your chameleon. Was this your first chameleon? The species and gender of the chameleon is challenging to care for and is probably not a good choice for people new to chameleons. You are doing the right thing at looking for what went wrong before purchasing a new cham.

I can not say for sure why your chameleon jumped like that. It is possible he was startled and felt severely threatened. I have never observed this behavior directly, but I have read about it many times. Did you see him jump? Is it possible he fell?

I have never cared for this species so others may have better advice. The large glass terrariums look really nice and work great with some reptiles, but they really are not good for the chameleon you were caring for. Air becomes stagnant in aquariums and air circulation is very poor. A nice screened enclosure is the recommended cage type. You mention you installed a reptisun 5.0 five feet above the terrarium. This should have been present from day one, and five feet is too far away to provide much benefit.

Chameleon News has a great article on a similar species you may want to check out.

 

[suezan]

Thanx for the Reply

Yes, this was my first Cham.
She was given to me by a friend (2 months ago) who bought two , a male and a female .
It didn't take long for her to realize, they did not get along.
The Pet store she bought them from was not very informative about the care of what they were selling!
I had no idea
myself
what I was getting into when I agreed to take the female..
But, She quickly captivated my heart!
I knew that I better quickly learn what she needed..
but I couldn't find info on her particular species.
Plus, I had no idea where to look on line..
I have had lots of other herps before, and reptiles.
Lots of wild animals and birds..
Domestic animals as well.
it wasn't hard for me to see, I still lacked in knowledge what was needed to care for her..
To answer your question,
She didn't fall, I'm positive.
She was very comfortable in her tree..
and would spend hours there happily..
She would climb all over from spot to spot as she wanted.
I didn't see her jump, I just caught the tail end of,
on the floor and her moving her head from side to side.
I do have a reptisun 18" light on the top of my screen also that I forgot to write down..
The 48" is above her tree.. sorry about that confusion.
and I'm so happy that you mentioned the wire cage.. I was in the process of switching over...
It will be my next purchase.
before I get my next cham.
I'm looking at all kinds of species.. which one is the best for a beginner?
I would love to get all of them and I enjoy them immencly!
But I realize there is a lot to learn first..
and just like anything else, it helps to have resources and lots of material to read..
PLEASE,
Keep educating me..
it's most welcome!
PS
The article was *Fantastic*
Thank you..

 

[SweetPea]

Hi my name is Amy and I wanted to tell you Tara sent me 18 page attachment with infromation on veiled charms. It was very helpful I Still have the attachment if you E-mail me I will forward it on to you it will really help.
My e-mail is [email protected]

 

[Tara]

The Care Sheet for veileds is by Eric Adrignola..downloadable from his Website

Here is the link to Eric's site..just click on the "Veiled Chameleon Caresheet" link and wait a second or two and a download screen will ask if you want it to download. I clicked save and saved it to a place in my PC and then opened it to read later offline.
Here is a link...

http://www.zorabellarose.com/chameleons.html