What did we do wrong?

[pamelab6612]

This was out first time and we did all our research got our cage and temp right for everyday and our humidity. We brought home our first (we have been snake people) nosey faly panther chameleon. Everything seemed ok until two days ago. From the looks of it he started a shed. He was acting strange, hanging upside from the top screen of his cage, keeping his eyes closed all the time, not eating and barely drinking. Well I misted one time and he started flailing around and fell to the bottom. His cage is screen all around and glass on the bottom. We were told it could happen with him being a baby. So I grabbed some of the extra leaves we had and put them on the bottom as a cushion. He then fell again and this time looked to be on his head and of course hit the one small spot there were no leaves. He kept falling cause he wouldn't open his eyes. This morning I walked into the room and he was yet again on the bottom and black. I have been terribly upset all morning and have no idea what I could have done wrong. I really want to have chameleons and this was a huge blow. Any help would be apreciated. We would like to get another but not until we know what we did wrong this time.

 

[carol5208]

How long have you had him? It would be best to fill out the form, even though it is a pain so we can see if there is something that needs to be changed. If you have had him a short time, there is a great possibility you have done nothing wrong and he may have come to you with some type of illness that is now presenting itself. If he is upside like that, I would not mist him if it may cause him to fall again.BTW hanging upside down is normal behavior, but closing of the eyes is not of course if it is during the daytime hours..
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Decadancin]

I'm not sure if you have a good reptile vet, but you might need their help. Sounds like you haven't had him long, and that something may have already been brewing prior to you getting him. Shedding can cause a little discomfort, and lack of appetite, and maybe even add a bit of stress to a chameleon, so if there was anything already present, your cham may not have been able to properly fight it off. Falling can be a reaction to escape a threat from predators, but this doesn't seem to be the case. Had he been eating and drinking normally before starting his shed?

 

[pamelab6612]

I am sorry I didn't make it clear he actually has died.We had him 3 weeks. He was eating not a lot but he was eating after a week of him not really eating I got a small tub and fixed it up so he could climb down to it and eat crickets with out them being able to crawl up and they were refined to small area. He would drink each time I misted and on occasion go straight for water but showed no other signs of dehydration. He was pooping an had the whitish looking pee. He has seemed to be ok until he started shedding. He hasn't eaten a lot but he still had been pooping. It was just very strange he kept his eyes closed no matter what he was doing. When he was climbing around they stayed squeezed shut. It's why he kept falling. The only disruption he had was about a week ago we got hit by a bad ice storm and took him to my mothers because our power went out. We put him in a small plastic cage since we were therefor only a day and a half but he was fine the whole time and after.

 

[pamelab6612]

Looking back we have actually had him 4 weeks and the ice storm was 2 weeks ago.

 

[camimom]

How old was he when you got him?

it sounds like he was sick before you got him,

 

[Carlton]

This was out first time and we did all our research got our cage and temp right for everyday and our humidity. We brought home our first (we have been snake people) nosey faly panther chameleon. Everything seemed ok until two days ago. From the looks of it he started a shed. He was acting strange, hanging upside from the top screen of his cage, keeping his eyes closed all the time, not eating and barely drinking. Well I misted one time and he started flailing around and fell to the bottom. His cage is screen all around and glass on the bottom. We were told it could happen with him being a baby. So I grabbed some of the extra leaves we had and put them on the bottom as a cushion. He then fell again and this time looked to be on his head and of course hit the one small spot there were no leaves. He kept falling cause he wouldn't open his eyes. This morning I walked into the room and he was yet again on the bottom and black. I have been terribly upset all morning and have no idea what I could have done wrong. I really want to have chameleons and this was a huge blow. Any help would be apreciated. We would like to get another but not until we know what we did wrong this time.

Please describe your husbandry (exact type of lighting, your supplementation, gutloading, humidity and watering, cage description, etc) so we can see anything that might have contributed to his problems. There is a lot of bad husbandry info floating around out there but without these details we can't even guess what might have happened.