jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
***Graphic Photos*** that should disturb everyone.
Last night, the big male Mellers I bought a week ago lost his fight. I'm devastated.
I bought him knowing he would likely die simply because he was so big and the big ones just don't handle the import process well at all. Mellers, I learned, handle import far far worse than other species.
Joel turned him down because he believed, based on how deep the scallops were on his back, that he was a male and he did not need any males. Joel was correct, he was male. When Joel was explaining why he wasn't taking him, that darned chameleon looked directly into my soul so he came home with me.
Joel was staying at my house that night and much of the next day before he started off on his four-plus hour drive back home with the three he bought. We set them up with their own automatic misting system and we misted for more than half an hour at a time over and over again.
The Mellers I had never moved around his cage and didn't eat although he was drinking. I tried everything to get him to eat. I spent a couple of hours hunting for bright green grasshoppers, flying things, anything that might tempt him. He wasn't interested in eating anything as far as I could tell. It was always two steps backwards for every step forward. I'm used to the ups and downs of keeping new wild caughts alive, but my quads had always been two steps forward and one step back. I ended up taking him to my vet on Tuesday to have his eyes flushed and subcutaneous fluids. She gave me some Carnivore Care and made sure I understood to feed very tiny amounts since you can kill a starving animal by feeding it too much.
He perked up a bit with the fluids and food but not nearly as much as I expected he should have. He continued his downward slide. Last night I knew he was dying and I desperately wanted to do something but just left him alone to die in peace.
This morning I woke up to him dead. There is nothing more disturbing looking to me than a big dead chameleon. It took me a long time to muster up the courage to pull him out of the cage and put him in the fridge. It took me more hours to be able to do a necropsy. I was sure I would find something that would show I killed him. Mellers are known as the 90-day chameleon but I could only keep this one alive 7 days.
I'm not a vet so any comments are from a lay person.
When I peeled back the skin, the first thing I noticed were hematomas and broken ribs. When I cut the ribs off, I saw why he died. His lungs were full of blood. Someone must have used a big stick and whacked him out of a tree. He had bruising on both sides of his body around his shoulder.
I hate the wild caught trade yet I am a part of it.
If at all possible, please, please buy captive-bred animals even if they cost more. What this animal went through makes me sick, just sick and I was a part of it. You will never be able to buy a captive bred Mellers for as cheaply as any wild caught but it just doesn't matter. Breeders won't try to breed them because they can't compete with the wild caught prices. As consumers, we should be happy to pay a higher price to prevent this happening. Two weeks ago, he was free, he was healthy and he was happy. Now he's in a garbage can.
I'm just sick over this.
Janet
Left side of his body, head to the left, back at the top of the picture.
The inside of the same rib cage as above. You can see many fractured ribs.
This is the other side of his body around the shoulder, the right side, with the skin peeled back. His head is to the left in all the pictures.
The lungs--I tried to get them out in one piece including the trachea but obviously failed.
Last night, the big male Mellers I bought a week ago lost his fight. I'm devastated.
I bought him knowing he would likely die simply because he was so big and the big ones just don't handle the import process well at all. Mellers, I learned, handle import far far worse than other species.
Joel turned him down because he believed, based on how deep the scallops were on his back, that he was a male and he did not need any males. Joel was correct, he was male. When Joel was explaining why he wasn't taking him, that darned chameleon looked directly into my soul so he came home with me.
Joel was staying at my house that night and much of the next day before he started off on his four-plus hour drive back home with the three he bought. We set them up with their own automatic misting system and we misted for more than half an hour at a time over and over again.
The Mellers I had never moved around his cage and didn't eat although he was drinking. I tried everything to get him to eat. I spent a couple of hours hunting for bright green grasshoppers, flying things, anything that might tempt him. He wasn't interested in eating anything as far as I could tell. It was always two steps backwards for every step forward. I'm used to the ups and downs of keeping new wild caughts alive, but my quads had always been two steps forward and one step back. I ended up taking him to my vet on Tuesday to have his eyes flushed and subcutaneous fluids. She gave me some Carnivore Care and made sure I understood to feed very tiny amounts since you can kill a starving animal by feeding it too much.
He perked up a bit with the fluids and food but not nearly as much as I expected he should have. He continued his downward slide. Last night I knew he was dying and I desperately wanted to do something but just left him alone to die in peace.
This morning I woke up to him dead. There is nothing more disturbing looking to me than a big dead chameleon. It took me a long time to muster up the courage to pull him out of the cage and put him in the fridge. It took me more hours to be able to do a necropsy. I was sure I would find something that would show I killed him. Mellers are known as the 90-day chameleon but I could only keep this one alive 7 days.
I'm not a vet so any comments are from a lay person.
When I peeled back the skin, the first thing I noticed were hematomas and broken ribs. When I cut the ribs off, I saw why he died. His lungs were full of blood. Someone must have used a big stick and whacked him out of a tree. He had bruising on both sides of his body around his shoulder.
I hate the wild caught trade yet I am a part of it.
If at all possible, please, please buy captive-bred animals even if they cost more. What this animal went through makes me sick, just sick and I was a part of it. You will never be able to buy a captive bred Mellers for as cheaply as any wild caught but it just doesn't matter. Breeders won't try to breed them because they can't compete with the wild caught prices. As consumers, we should be happy to pay a higher price to prevent this happening. Two weeks ago, he was free, he was healthy and he was happy. Now he's in a garbage can.
I'm just sick over this.
Janet
Left side of his body, head to the left, back at the top of the picture.
The inside of the same rib cage as above. You can see many fractured ribs.
This is the other side of his body around the shoulder, the right side, with the skin peeled back. His head is to the left in all the pictures.
The lungs--I tried to get them out in one piece including the trachea but obviously failed.
I just lost my very first female Lateralis, about a week ago, and it was so sad. It's just the most awful feeling when you feel responsible for them, but can't seem to save them.
