saberofblue09
New Member
Hi everyone,
My boyfriend works at petco and they received a shipment of new animals and some entered their 'wellness' room, one being a hatchling (apparently 2 days old) baby female panther chameleon. She was too small and fragile to put out on the selling floor. Her eyes looked way too large for her head and frame so the second he saw her he sent me a photo knowing it would be love at first site and I bought her the next day. She was very very small could sit at the tip of my pointer finger and I have very small hands.
Obviously, with my boyfriend being an animal care taker/ expert Kiwi's set up is perfect to my knowledge.
She has a screened enclosure (that I partially seran wrapped to hold in moisture) , plenty of leaves and branches and climbing hammocks, a dropper, a day and night uvb a heat lamp and a humidifier. Everything was going perfect for the first two months. Kiwi is about three months old now.
As for feeding I feed her every day or every other day -small crickets dusted with calcium.
I came home from work the other day excited to see baby Kiwi at 4pm and feed her and she was completely pitch white - more white than I have ever seen her before in a weird body position at the very last leaf of her cage. I tried to wake her and she was completely unresponsive, I touched her, I spoke to her, I misted her- absolutely nothing. I started freaking out thinking she died... its very unusual of her to sleep during the day like this and she was unresponsive, body position weird and the color was ghastly. After about an hour of watching her and her not responding to my touch or sound I was convinced she was dead and started crying my eyes out. I cried my eyes out from 4 pm to 12:30 am begging god and the universe to bring my sweet baby Cham back to me I was beyond devastated. I love her so much. Around 5pm I shut off all her lights because peering into her cage was making me cry even more.
My boyfriend got off of work at 11:30 at night and came over to my place around 12:30 am where I asked him to come over and take a look at her and tell me how she died and help me bury her because I couldn't bare to do it myself or alone. I did everything for her I was so heartbroken and confused. Was it because she was too small? He started telling me her eyes were moving and to my disbelief Kiwi was alive she was definitely not herself she seemed really lethargic and confused. Out of all the research I did when I though she was dead I came to two conclusions... maybe she over heated or maybe she was too stressed for whatever reason. We fed her - she ate normal, misted her and put her back in her cage.
The next day I stayed home from work and class to look after her health I didn't want to add to her stress. The entire day she was completely out of character and very timid which usually Kiwi is sassy and brazen.I fed her and misted her and didn't handle her too much because I didn't want to stress her. I limited her heat lamp exposure because I thought maybe the heat was too much for her?????
The day after that (two days since the incident) she was very active and herself again, she ate 4 crickets and seemed to be fine,
Today she was at the bottom of her cage again sleeping during the day curled up. Her humidifier was on for the whole day, she was misted, with her day uvb and day heat on. I tried to wake her again and she was unresponsive but this time had color to her body. Her eyes are moving around but something is wrong. Now its been an hour she's dark in color and in the same spot and won't move.
Sorry for the long explanation I just want to cover everything. Please help me why does she keep doing this. Is this normal? what do I do? how can I help her? is she sick?
One more thing I would like to add is that Kiwi is definitely premature in size. My boyfriend constantly kept telling me how small she was compared to the other chams at the pet store around her age, Kiwi is not even finger length at 3 months old. Her paws and arms look very frail. I take very good care of her. Petco has another female Cham in store who is actually younger than my kiwi and she is much larger and thicker in size. I knew she was a small baby but I had no idea how seriously small she is and now I am very concerned. They warned me when I initially bought her that she's too little and might not make it. I am just so upset and concerned. I have had no issues with her health for the first two months of having her. Could someone please tell me whats wrong with my child.
thank you so much for helping us.
My boyfriend works at petco and they received a shipment of new animals and some entered their 'wellness' room, one being a hatchling (apparently 2 days old) baby female panther chameleon. She was too small and fragile to put out on the selling floor. Her eyes looked way too large for her head and frame so the second he saw her he sent me a photo knowing it would be love at first site and I bought her the next day. She was very very small could sit at the tip of my pointer finger and I have very small hands.
Obviously, with my boyfriend being an animal care taker/ expert Kiwi's set up is perfect to my knowledge.
She has a screened enclosure (that I partially seran wrapped to hold in moisture) , plenty of leaves and branches and climbing hammocks, a dropper, a day and night uvb a heat lamp and a humidifier. Everything was going perfect for the first two months. Kiwi is about three months old now.
As for feeding I feed her every day or every other day -small crickets dusted with calcium.
I came home from work the other day excited to see baby Kiwi at 4pm and feed her and she was completely pitch white - more white than I have ever seen her before in a weird body position at the very last leaf of her cage. I tried to wake her and she was completely unresponsive, I touched her, I spoke to her, I misted her- absolutely nothing. I started freaking out thinking she died... its very unusual of her to sleep during the day like this and she was unresponsive, body position weird and the color was ghastly. After about an hour of watching her and her not responding to my touch or sound I was convinced she was dead and started crying my eyes out. I cried my eyes out from 4 pm to 12:30 am begging god and the universe to bring my sweet baby Cham back to me I was beyond devastated. I love her so much. Around 5pm I shut off all her lights because peering into her cage was making me cry even more.
My boyfriend got off of work at 11:30 at night and came over to my place around 12:30 am where I asked him to come over and take a look at her and tell me how she died and help me bury her because I couldn't bare to do it myself or alone. I did everything for her I was so heartbroken and confused. Was it because she was too small? He started telling me her eyes were moving and to my disbelief Kiwi was alive she was definitely not herself she seemed really lethargic and confused. Out of all the research I did when I though she was dead I came to two conclusions... maybe she over heated or maybe she was too stressed for whatever reason. We fed her - she ate normal, misted her and put her back in her cage.
The next day I stayed home from work and class to look after her health I didn't want to add to her stress. The entire day she was completely out of character and very timid which usually Kiwi is sassy and brazen.I fed her and misted her and didn't handle her too much because I didn't want to stress her. I limited her heat lamp exposure because I thought maybe the heat was too much for her?????
The day after that (two days since the incident) she was very active and herself again, she ate 4 crickets and seemed to be fine,
Today she was at the bottom of her cage again sleeping during the day curled up. Her humidifier was on for the whole day, she was misted, with her day uvb and day heat on. I tried to wake her again and she was unresponsive but this time had color to her body. Her eyes are moving around but something is wrong. Now its been an hour she's dark in color and in the same spot and won't move.
Sorry for the long explanation I just want to cover everything. Please help me why does she keep doing this. Is this normal? what do I do? how can I help her? is she sick?
One more thing I would like to add is that Kiwi is definitely premature in size. My boyfriend constantly kept telling me how small she was compared to the other chams at the pet store around her age, Kiwi is not even finger length at 3 months old. Her paws and arms look very frail. I take very good care of her. Petco has another female Cham in store who is actually younger than my kiwi and she is much larger and thicker in size. I knew she was a small baby but I had no idea how seriously small she is and now I am very concerned. They warned me when I initially bought her that she's too little and might not make it. I am just so upset and concerned. I have had no issues with her health for the first two months of having her. Could someone please tell me whats wrong with my child.
thank you so much for helping us.
I really appreciate all of your help & I only leave it on 6-8 hours a day while I'm at work and also depending on how cold & dry is is in this crazy New York weather.
