Poison!?!?!

[Phatturk]

Well last night was a horrible night. My female Veiled died in my hand, and I still can't think of a reason why, other than maybe poison! She was totally fine all day long, she ate and I hand fed her some worms just like everyday, until around 5pm when I saw her in the dirt of the hibiscus plant I have in her cage. She actually was eating the dirt and she never did that before. Less than 1 hour later she was squirming around like a snake and looked to be in a lot of pain with her mouth wide open and having trouble staying still. So she made these strange motions with her body for about 30 min and then I tried to give her a shower when I noticed that something was wrong and she died in my hand. Honestly from the first sign of trouble till her last breath was less than 1 hour. Am I an idiot and miss something? My Male seems fine and they both get the same food and treatment since day 1. I am so confused.

Now my question is, has anyone got any ideas or seen something like this before? When I bought this plant from home depot it had some small round fertilizer balls in the dirt just a bit bigger than sand grains (I took all that I could see out), would that kill her that fast if she ate it? Maybe she had bigger problems but I swear she was healthy until last night. She was only about 4 months old.

 

[moon61]

sorry to hear about your cham...from what you described sounds like she was choking on something...maybe something in the soil. i cover all the dirt in my plants with large river rocks so my chams cant get to the dirt... not even sure if the rocks are safe but they cant pick them up

 

[turrgon]

also even if take out the fertilizer the chemicals still remain in the soil. its recommended to wash a new plant in the shower very well as well as repotting it with fresh soil.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Truly sorry to hear this devastating news. :{
I wash all my plants leaf by leaf... painstakingly and water strip the roots till they are naked. Then I replant in "Supersoil" brand soil, as many on here has said that is the safe soil to plant in. No balls of death in it. So sorry..... :{

 

[Phatturk]

How stupid of me!! I never read anything about doing that with my plants and I actually read quite a bit on the subject. I better go fix my males plants right away.

But can I assume that it had something to do with the plant? Anyone seen this happen so fast due to some other illness?

Also, Thanks for the words of support they are much appreciated.

 

[Heika]

So sorry to hear you lost her. It is an awful feeling to find a beloved chameleon dying or dead. It screws me up for days, makes me question everything I am doing, and generally makes me a better keeper by forcing me away from complacency.

Have you considered having a necropsy done or doing one yourself? It is a bit gross, especially if you are very fond of your chameleon, but the information gained can be invaluable.

There is a very good article on DIY necropsies on Chameleon News: http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2002/may2002/necropsy/necropsy.html

Heika

 

[Vegas Chad]

When I think about getting a new cham the frist thing I do is go buy a nice ficus... I wash it really well by putting water and soap into a bucket and dipping the plant (not the roots) into the water and give it a wash... Take it out; hose it off and do it again... Then I take out the dirt and repot it in soil which I know is not full of fertilizer and chemicals. Now I have a plant that will grow and live for a few weeks without getting any more crap put onto it... Also something that I do just so something like this dosent happen is cover the base of the plant with plastic. A shower cap works great... Poke some holes in it so water can get to the plant... But it stops the chams from getting into and eating the dirt... Sorry for your loss... Learn from it and mush on with what you have gained. Good luck!