Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i sent my mom to the vet apointment cuz i had to work. when she got there the lady at the front desk said the reptile doctor was not in and that he is only in in the morning. she said their must have been a mistake when she booked our apointment. she said she "wasnt thinking" so she made apointment for this morning. but when i woke up he was gone. this makes me so mad. i cant beleive they did that. i found him on the floor of his cage. i looked him over real good and found a cupple of tiny hard round pimple like things between his front legs. i dont know if that had anything to do with his death or not but i never noticed them before. does anyone know what they could have been? i just got him about a month ago may not have even been that long. thanks for your help.
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brandy

Sounds like it may have had internal parasites. These usually go unnoticed until severe damage is already done. Do you know if your chameleon was wildcaught?
I'm sorry for your loss.
Cricket

i got him at a pet store that i now work at and they diddnt know much about him just that he was a male. when i brought him home he was pretty skinny but i figured it was from being in the pet store and he was stressed and did not want to eat cuz when i brought him home after he setteled in for a day he started eating and quickly gained weight. but i started to notice him losing weight again soon after that. i feel so bad i should have took him to the vet as soon as i got him but i keept putting it off because i diddnt think he was sick.
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brandy

Tragically, this is what happens to most chams like flapnecks, Senegals, gracefuls. They get trapped by the hundreds in the wild, spend who knows how long at exporter facilities in crowded, too hot, too dry conditions, they get shipped halfway around the globe, sit in a wholesaler's facility again in crowded conditions with no individual care, and end up at a shop that has no clue how to care for them and can't tell the buyer much either. They didn't spend much to buy them so the loss to the shop is low. Chams hide their problems until they are simply too weak to keep up the show. They look very attractive when they are really stressed. His problems started long before you saw him. Even if your vet's office had done their job correctly he was in serious trouble. You need to make sure your vet knows how the office screwed up, and that this was a critical situation. If they couldn't see your pet they should have had a backup to refer you to.

The sad lessons you got to learn include:

Don't buy a wc cham unless you've kept that species before and know how what potential problems they will have. You don't want to contribute to the misery of imported chams and certainly didn't intend on adding to this one's problems.

Don't buy from a pet shop that can't prove they have a clue how to care for the animal. Check up on the info they give you...don't just accept it. Petshops that buy "cheaper" imports typically give out the wrong information, but the buyer who loses the pet later seldom ever tells the shop. DON'T RESCUE unless you know what you are doing and can convince the shop to change their policies on imports or what they sell.

Get set up with a herp-experienced vet BEFORE you need them and have a baseline exam done before problems show up. If only to get an established relationship going...the office is less likely to "lose" you and your pet in the shuffle if they know you. Also, if your vet hasn't seen this type of animal before it gives them a reason to educate themselves ahead of time. Then you will both know if another vet will be needed in an emergency. Have a backup vet for emergencies. Don't assume a vet can deal with a cham...most have never seen one.

Educate yourself about the species before you decide to buy it. Your house and climate may not be right for some species and it will be very hard to create a setup that works. With imported wc chams you don't have time to experiment. The cham is very stressed, dehydrated, possibly sick, scared, suffering from infections, parasites, and organ failure, so you need to be ready for anything right off.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but this is such a common story it just makes me sick. You didn't intend on causing any harm to your cham I know, but learn, take action with the shop, the vet, and hopefully any chams you decide to keep in future will do much better.

If you lose a cham FIND OUT WHY, so you don't unintentionally have the same problem again.

PS: I don't think the little pimples on the cham had much if anything to do with it's death unless there was an undiagnosed infection going on. They could have been subcutaneous parasites, but without a necropsy there's no way to know.

Very well written Carlton. I agree 100%

Cricket

sorry for takin so long to reply, you most likely wont even see this . but no you are not being to harsh. i do have a regular vet but im not too happy with his service. before the mixup with my cham he once told me that i should be feeding my mali uromastyx pinkies. if anyone has a uro they know that just is not true. but i cant seem to find another close to me. i do have one for emergencies if i cant get in but is over an hour away and also could not get him in any sooner. i talked to someone at the store and he said that most of the time they dont know if the animals they get are wild caught or captive breed. the vet said he was sorry and that it would not happen again. i dont think anything that i did made him sick, he must have been sick when i got him like you said. temps may have been a tad too high at times but not enough to do alot of damage. overall i tried my best to care for him properly. i researched alot before i got him but saw him at the store one day and fell in love. your right i should not have done that. it was nice of you to try and help me when my cham was sick. thank you.
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brandy