Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is the one that had been doing so bad from day one. She, first, started scratching her eyes non-stop...and did that *ballooning* thing with them all the time. I never saw her eat and drink, though I did see my other two. She was walking the back of the vivarium back and forth...then, the laid eggs. Once she did that, I never saw her eat or drink after that..she perched herself on one limb, and basically didn't move for about a week...I couldn't even get her to open her eyes...even when I took her out on one last ditch effort to wake her up and get her to eat...she never would. I'm wondering if her not ever opening her eyes again was the main problem...obviously she couldn't eat or really drink blindly.

Anyway, she passed on today...but I'm wondering if I should take her remains to see if they can determine if she had parasites or not. Does anyone know if they can tell once they are dead?
If parasites are found, I'll have to quarantine the other two and clean/sterilize my whole set up...then I'll have to find someone to treat the other two. I guess I need to do this soon since if it ends up being parasites, I'll need to remove the eggs so I can clean the enclosure. They've been there for over a week, so I'm wondering how long until it's too late to move them.

I'd love anyone's advice or input...I'm very sad that she died.
Thanks for listening.
Kristen

Well, same thing here. I was checking her once again, and BLAM, there she was, cricket munching away on her leg. Damn, i have no idea what happened to her. Lost two Rh.Brevicaudatus, and i fell as if it was my own fault... I just KNOW it has something to do with eggs... I just dont know what. Im gonna take the body to my vet to see if she can open her body to check for eggs...(maybe their still viable). Im so sorry Lele, I guess i failed you. Once again, im truly sorry.

Anthony

Sorry to hear that yours did not make it either...it seems that ours had the same symptoms, but I'm going to also see if I can find a vet that will do a necropsy to see if he can determine what killed her. Mine did lay eggs, but who knows if she retained one or something.

PLEASE let us know what they say...are you going to take her today?

Kristen

Hi Anthony,

I am very sorry to hear that she didn't make it. I feel very fortunate to have three healthy kids. You, John, Kristen and myself all got them around the same time (give or take a few weeks). I am wondering about the difference in wild caught and captive/born/bred (mine are captive born) and how much of it has to do with parasites and/or other WC problems compounded by the obvious stress.

You did not fail me I think that had we arranged for a shipping adventure it probably would have killed her anyway. When they come from a pet store you just can't know the history...it's so unfair to these critters. I hope your other cham(s) are doing well.

lele

>>Well, same thing here. I was checking her once again, and BLAM, there she was, cricket munching away on her leg. Damn, i have no idea what happened to her. Lost two Rh.Brevicaudatus, and i fell as if it was my own fault... I just KNOW it has something to do with eggs... I just dont know what. Im gonna take the body to my vet to see if she can open her body to check for eggs...(maybe their still viable). Im so sorry Lele, I guess i failed you. Once again, im truly sorry.
>>
>>Anthony

Most likely the eye problems were symptoms of some systemic issue, not the cause. Chams scratch their eyes for lots of reasons, and they sit with them shut for lots of reasons. THe cham sat with eyes shut mostly because she was generally sick and uncomfortable enough not to hunt. There are viruses and bacterial diseases in chams that we know literally nothing about. It could have been something as complicated as liver or kidney damage from importation care causing edema, all kinds of things. If these females were gravid when caught and shipped there could be major metabolic stresses (a good time for parasites and infections to get the upper hand) on the cham that caught up with them once they arrived in your care. I am so sorry she died. I haven't tried the pygmy leaf chams as I don't feel able to deal with their health problems...they are very fragile.

Most likely the eye problems were symptoms of some systemic issue, not the cause. Chams scratch their eyes for lots of reasons, and they sit with them shut for lots of reasons. THe cham sat with eyes shut mostly because she was generally sick and uncomfortable enough not to hunt. There are viruses and bacterial diseases in chams that we know literally nothing about. It could have been something as complicated as liver or kidney damage from importation care causing edema, all kinds of things. If these females were gravid when caught and shipped there could be major metabolic stresses (a good time for parasites and infections to get the upper hand) on the cham that caught up with them once they arrived in your care. I am so sorry she died. I haven't tried the pygmy leaf chams as I don't feel able to deal with their health problems...they are very fragile.