Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got in a sub-adult Mellers and there were no heat packs in the box! I knew this after the guy shipped it and have been sweating its arrival all day long - makes for a really long day - especially when a next-day air shipment doesn't arrive until 7:30PM! It was 45F for a high today, max. and we had our first freeze warning last night.

He was alive when I opened the box and I've been gradually warming him up. He looks suprisingly good 2 hrs. later...nice colors, decent movement. Should I be worried about possible RI problems down the road after this 24 hr "freeze ride"?

Warning signs to look out for?

Thanks,

Bill

Glad to hear that the melleri is looking ok. You did the right thing by warming it up gradually and hopefully there won't be any major problems. That said, a RI is a definite possibility. Things to watch out for are wheezing, open mouth breathing, whole body breathing (where the chameleon takes huge deep breaths) excess mucus in the mouth and/or a popping noise when breathing. Hope you don't see any of those issues and best of luck with the new guy.
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Christopher Luecht
Chameleon Crazy
www.chameleoncrazy.com
Email: info@chameleoncrazy.com

From my experiences, URI's occurr from more of a cold and overly wet/damp/humid situation. Coldness alone SHOULDN’T be an issue. If someone disagrees, then I am all ears – this is just from my experiences.

Congrats on the new Mellers, hope it turns out well.

-roo

Thanks for the replies! Its amazing, I put him in a temporary cage last night and he ate all the crickets that were in there! Unbelieveable the resiliency demonstrated buy this Cham!

Once I found out the box had no heat packs I stopped construction of his big ole' enclosure. Now its back to the garage to finish up. 5'x4'x4' 1/4" mesh screen. I'm also "caging in" a 6' section of an outside wall (4' high by 6' long) that has Passion Vines growing rampant on it for when the temps warm back up here in Vegas) It gets great late morning sun for about 4 hours and the vines are dense enough for plenty of shade as well.

Bill