It is really hard to say exactly what caused your chameleon to die and I am sorry for your loss.

I live in Florida as well and I have kept chameleons outside for many years here in central fl. (north of Orlando.

If you enjoy chameleons do not be discouraged by your chameleons death, try and learn what you can from it study up on them more and move forward.

The first thing I would wonder about is how small your chameleon was, if it was a hatchling or under about 3 inches that is a very tough stage to start with if you have never kept chameleons before, even keepers with lots of experience can have trouble with chameleons of this size if they are not careful. There is also the possibility that if it is a hatchling that there could have been congenital defects that would have caused it to die no matter what you did, for that reason alone I have always chosen myself to let any lizards ( chameleons or other wise.) to get some size on them before I sell them off to anyone particularly novices who are not all that experienced yet. I would suggest trying a bit larger chameleon for your next one.

Cage wise a screen or mesh cage is an excellent choice (for the most part should be the only choice.). Temperature wise it has been a little too warm for my taste to keep juvenile lizards of any type outside in fl. right now. I currently have a juvenile panther chameleon and several juvenile calotes that I moved inside a few weeks ago until temps subside a bit. You may not realize it but it is getting way hotter than 90f here right now (it's really been getting into the low 100's quite often.). An adult veiled in a large cage will do just fine in these temps with proper hydration and cover as will panthers but you should be keeping juvies inside right now until you have a better feel for keeping chams out doors. hope this helps and feel free to ask for more info if you need help.

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