RIP Milli. Was it something I did?

[gutesglutes]

Your Chameleon - Male Ambilobe Panther Chameleon - Hunter bloodline from FL Chams. Approx a year and a half old.

• Handling - Probably close to every other day. He was friendly or maybe needy. Just feeding him he'd crawl right onto my arm.

• Feeding - Crickets. He ate about 6 a day every morning before I left for work. Worms in the afternoon a few times a week. He also had dubia roaches for awhile that I gave in the morning (took him off the past few months so I could fix his feeder so they can't escape.) Meal worms, wax worms, and horn worms on occasion.

• Supplements - Repti Calcium without D3 and Miner-all. Every other feeding I switched them. On occasion (If he was being picky or attempting a hunger strike I put Nature Zone Bearded Dragon Salad Dressing on the crickets.)

• Watering - Misting system that sprayed for 2 minutes every 2-4 hours (turned off at night) to keep humidty levels up. (I did notice that there was some mold on the top of the soil...could that have done it? I tried to let everything dry before misting again, but then I was also worried about the humidty levels in a dry Minnesota winter. Whenever I cleaned his cage I vacuumed up the top soil that had mold on it...and was planning on repotting the Scheffleras when spring came around.)

• Fecal Description - Not tested in a year, but solid, regular, and urate was white and watery.

• History - Got him as a baby from FLChams November 2015. He was in a zoomed chameleon start up kit as a youngin' then I built him a mansion out of an armoire that he moved into January 2016.

• Cage Info: Have not actually measured it, but it's a TV armoire transformed into a chameleon mansion. If you're a redditor you might've already seen it... but--> http://imgur.com/gallery/I1wh4

• Lighting - Zoomed UVB/heat dual lamp (100 watt heat lamp). Also, long length UVB lamp in back of cage.
• Temperature - 70-75 at night, 80-90 during the day with lights on.
• Humidity - 55% - 65%
• Plants - 2 pots of Scheffleras at the bottom, and Pothos hanging in the back toward the top, two fake ivy's on the right side of the cage near the feeder, and a fake huge plant stuck into the foam backing that holds drinking water (never actually saw him drink from it...but I kept it clean and filled just in case. He typically drank right from the nozzle of my spray bottle.)
• Placement - Living room.
• Location - Minnesota, US

I also want to note that his casque looked swollen, but after googling it and reading on here, it seemed normal and more of fat/water storage. Was this correct or should I have been more worried? I was just about to schedule his annual exam too. He also drooled when I gave him water, but I read that wasn't too weird.

I've also had to move with him twice. First home my roommate had 3 cats, second home he was the only pet. and Third and final home (my parents house) there are 2 dogs but they never cared or bothered him.

I think stress might have done it if anything or a parasite and maybe I didn't read his signs?
This past weekend he was pacing a lot. As I bent down to prep his crickets, he'd crawl the the bottom near me and as soon as I'd open the cage he wanted to crawl on me. He slept in a different position, higher on the cage last night and my dad asked me if he was ok. I looked at him and I thought I could see he was still breathing so I didn't worry. He must have been dying then because this morning it looks like he fell after dying. Lying at the bottom of the cage on his side, lifeless.

He was my first chameleon...sad to see the little man gone. He was so chill. I'd like to have another, but if it was something I did wrong, I need to fix it or learn or maybe I don't deserve another chameleon if it was my fault.

Any ideas?

 

[nightanole]

Odds are it was a congenital defect that didnt show up till just before adult hood when they are putting the most amount of growth/stress on the organs. There was nothing you could do to prevent it. Husbandry or parasites take a loooong time to bring a cham down.

And yes the do store fat on top of their heads, and on their hips.

 

[JaguarShark]

It seems you researched what was needed and did your best for him. Everyone gets better with more experience so firstly I want to say don't beat yourself up about it.
I can't see anything wrong with how you kept him. I noticed a couple of little things like you don't mention gutloading your insects (but you have some variety so I assume you did do some gutloading too). The uvb tubes are only good for around 6 months even if they still light up they need replacing (but you probably knew that already too).
Any pictures of him would help to answer your casque question but a little plumpness is not a worry. Sorry for your loss.

 

[gutesglutes]

Sorry, forgot to mention that. Yes, I gutloaded the crickets with apple, orange, flukers, grain, and once in awhile some greens or potato.
The UVB large bulb I had in the back of the cage I still haven't exchanged out, but I did put a new smaller one in the zoomed dual dome just a month or so ago.

Thanks for the help. If there's any room for improvement, please let me know. I'd like to get another one, but I might wait until I move again in July.

 

[Remkon]

I'm no vet but I think even a vet couldn't tell you what he died of with any degree of certainty with the information given and without having a good look at the animal.
If you wanted to know what caused it's death a necropsy would have had more chance of giving an answer.

On first sight your husbandry looks ok to me...

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[JaguarShark]

There's always room for improvement - reading on this forum will give you plenty of ideas. Once you have the basics down then the easiest way is to improve your gutloading (kale, dandelion, butternut squash are all good to mix in), plus any extra variety in insects is good too.

Did you have any vitamin powder with D3? I don't know what is in the Miner-all but it sounds like a multi-vit that might not have any calcium/d3.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry for your loss. Can you post a photo please?

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

Beautiful enclosure - I can tell you cared for him, I'm sorry for your loss

 

[jajeanpierre]

@gutesglutes I'm very sorry for your loss.

Without a necropsy, you really don't know. Nothing in your husbandry is out of the ordinary. Stress kills by weakening the immune system such that the animal gets sick. Ditto with parasites. There is obvious illness involved.

I remember reading a necropsy descripton by a vet who posts on this site often. She posted photos and explained all she was seeing. She showed the major artery that runs down the length of the chameleon and mentioned that she often finds an aneurysm in that artery had killed chameleons that had died suddenly for no apparetn reason like yours.

Again, I'm sorry for your loss.