Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am very sad because one of my three veiled chameleons has died. I bought two girls about 2 months ago and they are both doing great they are huge! I bought the girls when they were about 8 weeks old and I did everything perfect. UVB, 90 degree basking spot, screen cage, ficus, branches, dusted crickets every day, etc....

About 3 weeks ago I decide to order a male kryptonite bright veiled chameleon from raging reptiles. I got him when he was 7 weeks old. He has been doing fine except he hasn't grown that much, not like my girls. Today, he looked fine around 11:00 am. when I misted him and just now I found him dead at the base of his ficus tree. His body looks fine, but his eyes are black. Does anyone have any idea what happened to him? He was pretty close to a window. Could he have gotten to hot? It doesn't seem like it would have gotten to hot and it's not even that far from my girls' cages.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

I am sorry to hear about your veiled. You say that his eyes were black? He might aswell have been overheated. Did you spray him directly? I'm not sure, but I remember once when I went to buy crickets from my local reptile specialist store, these people brought over a dead baby veiled(roughly 6 weeks) who had black on it's eyes, the pet store mananger took one good look at it and said it had been overheated. Better leave this up to an expert to anserw......... sorry again
-phibia5

from my experience their eyes all trun black when they die. All three of my brevi's turned black (I have photos if you want to see them - I know, it's a bit morbid but I took them as a record of sorts). The area of their internal organs turned black next. I am guessing it has to do with loss of circulation - sort of like a human's lips, fingers and toes turning blue when we die.
If it IS from overheating then I may have a clue as to their demise.

lele

I still miss them
-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

You mentioned that you bought 2 eight week old veileds two months ago, which would place them at about 4 months old (hope my math is right).
The male you got was 7 weeks old when you got him 3 weeks ago, which would put him at 10 weeks old, or 2 1/2 months old.
You mention the UVB, basking spot, and dusted crickets. Are you 100% sure about the basking spot temp? Were you using a thermal probe? You also mention a window. You don't mention whether that window was open for ventilation, or what the outside temp was.
You also weren't clear whether you had the male with your females. Could it be that the larger females were intimidating the little guy? Not necessarily that they were in the same cage, but maybe they were within visual distance enough for them to intimidate him?
Baby veileds (under 3 months) are very fragile. I don't reccommend new cham keepers get such young chameleons. Big difference in 2 months vs. 3 months!
Don't know about the black around the eyes thing. True, babies shouldn't be kept as warm as adults, but I'm not buying the statement from the pet store owner regarding the black around the eyes. I'm wondering where he got this information from.
My condolences for your loss, wish I could be of more help!
-----
Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

He was in his own cage and the window was closed. Im positive on his basking spot temps because I used a digital thermometer, but that was about a week and a half ago. The girls were in separate cages from him, but they were within his visual grasp. I thinks it weird that something happened to him and not the girls though, because all of the cages are near the window. I have also noticed that the ficus in his cage is also expiring, the ones in the girl's cages are fine.

The only thing I can think of is that the temps in his cage rise during certain times of the day and I'm not aware of it. I have moved my girls away from the window and they are doing great.

I just ordered another male from the same place as the first one, raging reptiles. The guy there had a few that were about 4 months old so I bought one of them. He was more expensive, but he should be more hardy, right?

Thanks,

Matt

>> I have also noticed that the ficus in his cage is also expiring, the ones in the girl's cages are fine.

Can you elaborate on this? His ficus is dying? Why? Just taking a stab at things, but perhaps there was a pathogen introduced via the ficus?
I would definitely try to rule EVERYTHING out before getting another veiled. A good idea would be to take the dead lil guy to the vet and have a necropsy (or is that an autopsy?) performed to establish exactly what killed him. Might be too late for that though.
Just as a precaution, I would take out all live plants from this cage, repot them, and scrub the whole cage down with a diluted bleach solution before putting anything else in that cage. I might even consider replacing all live plants in the cage, at least temporarily.
Yes, this is probably overkill, but better to be safe than sorry.
-----
Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

.

Another from the same place? Are they making good on the one that died? Three weeks may be too long for any guarantee but they should offer something - just my opinion.

I agree with Victor. Scrub that cage, wash and repot that plant or get another all together. Hope all works out ok with you next one. Just a thought - 4 months is still pretty small so you may just want ot set him up in a smaller cage (if you have one) with a few little plants (washed and repotted), branches etc. and see if you can get him to cup feed to assure his nutrition.

just my 2 cents...

lele

-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica the j sisters were sent to freedom last month
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Thanks for the advice, I will scrub the cage and I am getting a new plant.

Matt

Matt,

I am so sorry about your little cham - it is always heartbreaking. The black around the eyes seems to happen no matter what (see my response to phibia5)

He was a very young cham. Your source may have had something to do with it (pet store? wild caught?)

I am glad your girls are doing well and hope that they continue to.

lele
-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta