Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female Jackson Chameleon in my care for less than 36 hours.
Handling - Just when moving her to her enclosure.
Feeding - She wouldn't eat the crickets or meal worms I tried to feed her, also tried a moth.
Supplements - Didn't get on a schedule yet, but put apple and calcium diet food in with crickets and calcium + D3 for dusting.
Watering - On schedule to mist 3 times a day, plus a drip system that would drip for about 2 hours, and would setup to drip twice a day.
Fecal Description - Not tested for parasites, couldn't find any fecal matter.
History - I work at the pet store where I got her and from what our pet handlers say she only was observed eating a cricket twice in the 2 - 3 weeks we had her there.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - The cage she was in at the store was probably 12 high, 12 wide, and 18 deep. Not ideal at all, and partly the reason I bought her when I did. At my home she was in a 75 gallon glass enclosure, which was to only last for another day or so until I was finished building the mesh enclosure that would add another 2 feet to the height of the enclosure. I know that glass enclosures are not ideal but felt the 75 gallon setup was better than the tiny enclosure she was in, in the store.
Lighting - 12 on 12 off, 5.0 uvb, and a 60w bulb for heat.
Temperature - 3 temperature gauges, the heat only varied maybe 5 degrees from side to side, the lowest temp was 75, the highest 85.
Humidity - Humidity gauge in the upper middle of enclosure, lowest it's been is 59%, highest in the low 70% range.
Plants - I had some plastic plants as well as 4 medium sized plants so she could hide, the plants I bought were listed on fl chams as acceptable plants.
Placement - Living room, not near vents or fans, just by the cold air return. I'll admit it's a somewhat high traffic area, however there was no traffic for about 28 of the 36 hours I had her.
Location - Located in the upper midwest.
Current Problem - Well Sally (my Jackson Chameleon) was purchased from the pet store I work after I was worried about how she was being kept. To be fair the pet handlers at the store did the best they could to take care of her, it was more a problem of the store manager ordering her not knowing what was needed for her care. I bought and setup all everything before buying her and just had the upper enclosure to finish building when I purchased her. Perhaps I should have waited but I figured a 75 gallon aquarium was better than the tiny enclosure she was in at the pet store. A pet handler and the assistant manager each saw her eat one cricket while she was there for 2 to 3 weeks. If she ate more or not, who knows. I don't know if she had uvb in the store or not and I don't know if the crickets were being dusted, I will find out today. She looked pretty thin when I got her but after doing hours and hours of research I felt I could get her back to a healthy weight. One employee said last night that she didn't think she looked to good a few hours before I bought the chameleon.
Now on to what I had control over. She seemed calm during the ride home, staying light colored, but stayed fairly dark at first in her new home. She would get to a medium green but never to the almost pale color she was at the pet store. I'm thinking this is because of the stress of a new environment. When I went to work yesterday she was a medium color green and according to my wife stayed that way the whole day. By the time I got home it was already lights out for the chameleon so I didn't get a good chance to look at her under good light, but she appeared to be a little darker than when I had left for work, but not the very dark color I had seen her the night before after we brought her home.
I tried feeding her crickets, a moth, a couple meal worms, and she MIGHT have eaten a meal worm and a cricket but I can not be sure since I wasn't cup feeding her (although I was considering doing it this morning, however I never got the chance since she passed). She was misted 3 times a day like I mentioned above, and water dripping on leaves close to where she could drink, which I do think she drank from a little bit. She didn't move around to much in her new home staying within the same 6 inch area on a couple different sticks.
So my question, did I do something wrong and that's what killed her or is this a case of bad treatment in the store and she passed under my care, maybe partially stress related because of the move? I've been pretty upset about this all morning and really need to know if I did something wrong and maybe chameleons aren't the best choice in pet for me or if it's more the stores fault. I just wish my first post wasn't under such horrible circumstances, we did only have her for 36 hours but the family was attached to her even if we weren't able to hold her or look at her much to give her the space she need to get used to her environment.
Thanks for any advice, and for reading my long first post.
Your Chameleon - Female Jackson Chameleon in my care for less than 36 hours.
Handling - Just when moving her to her enclosure.
Feeding - She wouldn't eat the crickets or meal worms I tried to feed her, also tried a moth.
Supplements - Didn't get on a schedule yet, but put apple and calcium diet food in with crickets and calcium + D3 for dusting.
Watering - On schedule to mist 3 times a day, plus a drip system that would drip for about 2 hours, and would setup to drip twice a day.
Fecal Description - Not tested for parasites, couldn't find any fecal matter.
History - I work at the pet store where I got her and from what our pet handlers say she only was observed eating a cricket twice in the 2 - 3 weeks we had her there.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - The cage she was in at the store was probably 12 high, 12 wide, and 18 deep. Not ideal at all, and partly the reason I bought her when I did. At my home she was in a 75 gallon glass enclosure, which was to only last for another day or so until I was finished building the mesh enclosure that would add another 2 feet to the height of the enclosure. I know that glass enclosures are not ideal but felt the 75 gallon setup was better than the tiny enclosure she was in, in the store.
Lighting - 12 on 12 off, 5.0 uvb, and a 60w bulb for heat.
Temperature - 3 temperature gauges, the heat only varied maybe 5 degrees from side to side, the lowest temp was 75, the highest 85.
Humidity - Humidity gauge in the upper middle of enclosure, lowest it's been is 59%, highest in the low 70% range.
Plants - I had some plastic plants as well as 4 medium sized plants so she could hide, the plants I bought were listed on fl chams as acceptable plants.
Placement - Living room, not near vents or fans, just by the cold air return. I'll admit it's a somewhat high traffic area, however there was no traffic for about 28 of the 36 hours I had her.
Location - Located in the upper midwest.
Current Problem - Well Sally (my Jackson Chameleon) was purchased from the pet store I work after I was worried about how she was being kept. To be fair the pet handlers at the store did the best they could to take care of her, it was more a problem of the store manager ordering her not knowing what was needed for her care. I bought and setup all everything before buying her and just had the upper enclosure to finish building when I purchased her. Perhaps I should have waited but I figured a 75 gallon aquarium was better than the tiny enclosure she was in at the pet store. A pet handler and the assistant manager each saw her eat one cricket while she was there for 2 to 3 weeks. If she ate more or not, who knows. I don't know if she had uvb in the store or not and I don't know if the crickets were being dusted, I will find out today. She looked pretty thin when I got her but after doing hours and hours of research I felt I could get her back to a healthy weight. One employee said last night that she didn't think she looked to good a few hours before I bought the chameleon.
Now on to what I had control over. She seemed calm during the ride home, staying light colored, but stayed fairly dark at first in her new home. She would get to a medium green but never to the almost pale color she was at the pet store. I'm thinking this is because of the stress of a new environment. When I went to work yesterday she was a medium color green and according to my wife stayed that way the whole day. By the time I got home it was already lights out for the chameleon so I didn't get a good chance to look at her under good light, but she appeared to be a little darker than when I had left for work, but not the very dark color I had seen her the night before after we brought her home.
I tried feeding her crickets, a moth, a couple meal worms, and she MIGHT have eaten a meal worm and a cricket but I can not be sure since I wasn't cup feeding her (although I was considering doing it this morning, however I never got the chance since she passed). She was misted 3 times a day like I mentioned above, and water dripping on leaves close to where she could drink, which I do think she drank from a little bit. She didn't move around to much in her new home staying within the same 6 inch area on a couple different sticks.
So my question, did I do something wrong and that's what killed her or is this a case of bad treatment in the store and she passed under my care, maybe partially stress related because of the move? I've been pretty upset about this all morning and really need to know if I did something wrong and maybe chameleons aren't the best choice in pet for me or if it's more the stores fault. I just wish my first post wasn't under such horrible circumstances, we did only have her for 36 hours but the family was attached to her even if we weren't able to hold her or look at her much to give her the space she need to get used to her environment.
Thanks for any advice, and for reading my long first post.