Necropsy on my chameleon GRAPHIC PICTURES

reallyfunguy

New Member
I don't know a much about necropsy. Just seen a few pictures. Hard to cut open my pet but I wanted to know what happened to him. I'm not a pro my far. Do you guys have any ideas from the pictures what could have happened? I'm thinking he fell.
This is him yesterday
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Found him on the bottom of cage. Couldn't climb well. Very weak. I moved to the top where he could bask and not fall off.
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This is VERY WEIRD, Im not sure what happened to you poor Cham but please do not cut on him. There is NO WAY I could cut on something that I loved. Also the first pic he look’s very malnutritioned and dehydrated. Please ask for help WAY before this happens. I’m not trying to be mean but this is WAY OUT THERE!!! Chameleons don’t just fall and die. Many many issues lead up to there death.
 
I don't know a much about necropsy. Just seen a few pictures. Hard to cut open my pet but I wanted to know what happened to him. I'm not a pro my far. Do you guys have any ideas from the pictures what could have happened? I'm thinking he fell.
This is him yesterdayView attachment 228233

Found him on the bottom of cage. Couldn't climb well. Very weak. I moved to the top where he could bask and not
He looks to very thin and possibly dehydrated. Now there could have been a medical reason for this bit it could also have been poor husbandry. Certainly a healthy cham doesn't fall at all.
 
Chams fall from time to time healthy or not but that won’t kill them I’d say it was more along the line of a parasite.. veilds can make them selves look skinny and the eyes weren’t sucked in but if you see the tail looking like bone almost like a spine it’s most likely worms but cutting him up is on some other level shit lol
 
Chams fall from time to time healthy or not but that won’t kill them I’d say it was more along the line of a parasite.. veilds can make them selves look skinny and the eyes weren’t sucked in but if you see the tail looking like bone almost like a spine it’s most likely worms but cutting him up is on some other level shit lol
Ya I didnt want to cut him open but I don't want to get another chamelaon without knowing what happened to him. I seen many other threads where this was done and an article encouraging this.
 
This was taken Feb 15. Now that I think of it he has been eating a little less. I was feeding him around 5 to 7 med size crickets and went down to 4 to 5 the past couple weeks.
 

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I'd agree that he's quite thin, and possibly dehydrated. Experienced keepers can review your husbandry if you fill out the "how to ask for help" form and see if there's anything that can be improved upon for the future/may have contributed to his decline.

In the future, I'd suggest having an experienced veterinarian perform the necropsy. That's the best way to get accurate answers! Or, at least, as accurate as possible. It's easy to damage something when you're poking around, and difficult to recognize anything medically relevant. While fresh cadavers are the best to work with, they can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours before decomposition starts to set in if you're unable to reach a vet right away.

~Amanda
 
This is VERY WEIRD, Im not sure what happened to you poor Cham but please do not cut on him. There is NO WAY I could cut on something that I loved. Also the first pic he look’s very malnutritioned and dehydrated. Please ask for help WAY before this happens. I’m not trying to be mean but this is WAY OUT THERE!!! Chameleons don’t just fall and die. Many many issues lead up to there death.

Sorry.. but I was really happy about the fact he open him.. we have learned from necropsy since zillions of years..
 
The reason we have veterinarians do autoposys on chameleons because they are experts with cham anatomy and would know what ailments cause what damage. we would just cut them up then get disgusted or others go eww ahhh at whats inside without knowing anything....... uugghh
 
This is VERY WEIRD, Im not sure what happened to you poor Cham but please do not cut on him. There is NO WAY I could cut on something that I loved. Also the first pic he look’s very malnutritioned and dehydrated. Please ask for help WAY before this happens. I’m not trying to be mean but this is WAY OUT THERE!!! Chameleons don’t just fall and die. Many many issues lead up to there death.

While I agree that a vet or someone experienced should do the necropsy if you really want to find what's wrong, I disagree with the statement that this is weird and way out there. We'd know very little about animals(including people) without somebody doing this at some point. So you're basically saying it's strange to have curiousity? One can love something and still want to know what happened, possibly to prevent it in the future.

I think people are brainwashed into thinking you need an expensive degree to learn something(not knocking anyone that does), but you could find info about this online and learn your self. There's other members here that do necropsies without being vets, they had to learn somewhere. Though if you're more concerned with immediate answers, it would be best to get somebody qualified.
 
In some situations i believe theres nothing wrong with performing your own necropsy if you can stomach it and have a basic understanding of the anotomy of the species. If your assuming cause of death is impaction, egg bound or simple easy to spot like that, that will give you piece of mind. But the reality is the untrained eye most likey wont find anything. Performed my own necropsy years ago on a female veiled who laid a clutch of 28 eggs acted normal for about 10 days after (eating, drinking ect) then slowly withered away. I assumed their was afew more eggs left in her as she was a difficult layer and to my surprise when i opened her up, their was 7 shrunken eggs fused together. rip clover
 
I doubt its the fall that killed him, you don't really see anything inside that's been ruptured I agree with the probable parasites and dehydration, was there any change in behavior like falling asleep when lights were on or sleeping in your hand or any other signs or lethargy?
 
Unless you are a trained scientist, there will be little to nothing you'll learn from chopping up your pet. Sorry. I am on the "this is weird" side of the discussion. You'll learn way more by analyzing external factors related to your husbandry and seeking advice.
 
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