Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted earlier about the unexpected babies, well...I've lost 3, and there's one that walks around soemtimes but just wont open his/her eyes, so she doesnt eat. I assume there's ot much I can do for her...soemthing you have to let nature take care of. The rest though look great! They're getting so big, and eating A LOT. Thank you for all your help...I sitll gotta get those pics, I've been soo busy with school lately!

If anyone knows anythign about the eyes....it would be great, has anyone ever had this happen?

3 weeks so far...and goin pretty good...

there are some babies that just aren't supposed to make it. In nature, These are the ones that ae predisposed as the "decoy", so that the rest would have a better chance of survival. three babies dying is not too much cause for concern, at least not yet.Unless you have one dying each week, Then you probabaly havea problem with the way your keeping it. i noticed babies keep their eyes closed a lot more than adult when basking, but not for long tough. When you disturb them, they would normally move. what you could do for that one baby you think looks weak, remove him and put him in his own container/cage. That way you know for sure he is eating and not being bothered. umm...what babies were these again?

Thanks. Yeah, the weak one is by herself in a smaller cage. With one other one thats a little smaller then the rest. I'll probably move the small one though, size doesnty seem to bother him, lol. The one that wont open its eyes though is still alive, she drinks when i spray her, but she just wont open her eyes. She doesnt look really skinny or anything, but she doesnt eat because she cant see the food. Maybe could I syringe feed her like baby food? Or maybe I should just leave her...it's been 3 weeks and the ones that died, died during the same two days and since then there's been ntohing at all. So I'm confident in the rest.

What do you tink about the feeding thing though?

Oh..I'm not too sure what kind...the female has one horn. I'm thinking it's a Jackson though.

Oh dear...if the female has one horn, she is a c. j. Merumontanus more than likely especially if you think she is a Jackson's.

I have to comment here, and I'm sure that I'm going to get flamed...but why on earth would you buy a chameleon that is GRAVID when you don't even know what species it is? How do you know how to keep her as far as temps, humidity, etc.? Did you do general chameleon research before buying??? By the way, how ARE you keeping the adult female as far as temps, humidity, basking light, etc. goes?

If they are Merus, don't be surprised if they all die...these little guys are not the easiest to keep alive, and they seem to die for no reason at all. Not to be pessimistic, but the one with the eyes closed will probably die. I hope they continue to do well for you, though.

Keep feeding fruit flies and pinhead crickets. Seperate out any that don't seem to be growing as fast as the others...mist a few times a day so that you see them drinking. Temps should be low to mid-70's, and humidity fairly high.

I e-mailed you awhile back asking you about the babies, but I never got a reply.

Gotta run for now

Kristen
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1.2 c. quadricornis
1.2 c.j. merumontanus
0.0.2 neonate c.j. merumontanus
1.1 r. brevicaudatus
0.0.2 red eared sliders

I would feed the little one with a eye dropper. She may already be lost, but she is your responsibility and you at least have to try.

Good luck with them all! Do you have any pics?
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~Melissa
1.0 Ambanja Panther (Diesel)
0.1 African Hegdehog (Kaimah)

If those are meru's that you have, i have information scattered all around this website. And you can see soem pictures of some adult and baby merus there, so u can tell for sure if it is meru. Check it out.

Link

Trina Cliff, excuse me, but if you actually did read my post from a week ago, you would have noticed that the babies were "unexpected." in case you dont know what that means..it means I didnt know she was gravid. And yes, for your information I DID get information on chameleons, this isn't my first one. It insults me that someone would come on and speak to me like that. Just because my chameleon unexpectedly had babies means in NO way that I dont know how to properly care for a chameleon. Dont you worry about the adult, she is just fine. And the babies, are doing GREAT. They're soo much bigger and eating great. And yes, i expect the one with the closed eyes to die..it's nature and thats why they have so many, but i will still try. And thank you for your pessimism, it really helps the situation.

To all others, thank you very much for the help, and yes that's the one I have in the picture. I'll get pictures as soon as i can. I appreaciate how u've been able to make raising these babies easier.

I did read your post and saw that you said they were "unexpected"; however, many will tell you that when aquiring a female chameleon that is more than likely wild caught (I'm assuming that you know the female is wild caught) expect her to possibly be gravid if she is an adult. At least be prepared by arming yourself with knowledge and knowing the species would be priority #1. For example, I bought a female Merumontanus awhile back...the people did not know if she was gravid or not, but she was wild caught...I did the research and was hoping for and expecting babies at some point...she did drop them about two months after I bought her. She only dropped three babies (one slug) and was pretty fat, so I would imagine that your girl, dropping as many as she did, had to be pretty huge.

That is not the point, however. My point was that you mentioned that you did not know the species of your chameleon. To me that shows that you did not do much learning before purchasing her. Then, once the babies were born, there was not much of an attempt made at even figuring out the species of your female. I did e-mail you awhile back offering to try to help to identify the species of your female, but I never recieved a reply. I also posted on this forum asking you about them a little while back. The species makes a big difference in how you care for her and the babies.

I'm sorry if you felt condemned...I was simply making a point that no one was seeming to want to touch with a ten foot pole. I understand that you are doing your best now, but really it would have been much better for you and the chameleons if you had done more research beforehand. It's a moot point now, and I was not being doom and gloom about the one baby to "not help the situation"...I just would not want you to get your hopes up as once eyes are closed that much, there tends to be little hope. Trying to force feed a creature that small would be near impossible, and if you try to force liquid down it, there is a huge chance for aspiration which would kill it.

How long have you had the female? What chameleons have you had before? Again, not trying to be doom and gloom, but Merus have the reputation of simply dropping dead for no reason...so try to learn as much as you can from others that have kept them successfully so hopefully you will not be one of the unlucky ones. I would like to try to help you to make sure that things are on the up and up for your female and the babies. So, if you would like to run through how you are keeping them, feel free. Temps, humidity, ect. would be a good start. Definitely don't assume that just because at the moment they are all eating and looking great that everything is perfect...these little ones can surprise you and take a turn for the worst very fast. That is a good reason to try to ensure that you are doing everything you possibly can correctly.

Kristen
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1.2 c. quadricornis
1.2 c.j. merumontanus
0.0.2 neonate c.j. merumontanus
1.1 r. brevicaudatus
0.0.2 red eared sliders

Thank you, I understand your point..but when you come on here insulting someone trying to get help...it doesnt make them want to come on here again because of people like you. Luckily, I've been on here before, mostly in the beardie forum and I know that all these people arent waiting to blow up at someone who made a mistake.

And once again, I dont understand where you got that I didnt attempt to find out exactly what kind she was. I never got your email, and I'm sry for that, at that time I would've replied because of how depserate I was to find out about her.

The one with the eyes closed is still hanging on, and ya..I've figured out that she just wasnt one of the ones to live and that's nature. But what surprised me, is I've taken care of gravid chams before and her size wasnt that big at all, which is why i was so amazed. I don't believe she was wildcaught though, I got her at reptile depot as CB at a reptile show.

Also, I knew exactly what kind of species she was when I got her. Once I got down all the care requirements and such, I rememebred it was a jacksons, but not the exact name. Now, if I knew she was gravid, then I would have remembered. I've had the female since July and she's doing really good.

I've had a few Panthers, a few other Jacksons and a Veiled before. And I own other reptiles so I'm nto new to reptiles. So I have an idea about how precise car eneeds are and how fragile chameleons can be. But now I have the name of the exact species and this time, I will write it down!

Thank you

Well, that explains some things...I hold my tongue alot when I see some of the things that I read on this board, but honestly, I hold Merus near and dear to my heart, so this hit home...that is why I spoke up.

Scroll down a bit and you'll see where I asked you a few times more about your female and, specifically, the babies...just so you know I wasn't blowing smoke when I said I really was trying to help you out.

I felt a bit blown off when I was trying to find out more info to, in turn, help you learn more, so maybe that is why I responded the way I did. I saw that as not making much of an effort in trying to figure out what species she was. I'm not sure why you wouldn't get my e-mail unless maybe there is some spam blocker that blocked my e-mail address.

About Reptile Depot...if she is a c. j. merumontanus (by the way, does that ring a bell???) from Reptile Depot, I can all but guarantee that she is not CB. Not many people out there are even successful breeding Merus, much less Reptile Depot who doesn't really breed much of anything. They import, import and import some more. Actually, I got my female (who is WC) from Reptile Depot as well. The fact that she was an adult gravid female also would make my point more valid...if she was a juvenile, maybe they got lucky and had a gravid female give birth and raised the babies...that's stretching it though.

It doesn't matter really, though...obviously since I just told you that mine was WC, as well...actually, all three of mine are WC. I've never seen a CB Meru offered for sale anywhere...if I had seen one, I would pay an arm and a leg to snatch it up.

Kristen
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1.2 c. quadricornis
1.2 c.j. merumontanus
0.0.2 neonate c.j. merumontanus
1.1 r. brevicaudatus
0.0.2 red eared sliders

One thing I know for sure is that if you got a large sized CB Meru from Reptile Depot, it was surely WC. The only reason anyone should consider a Meru a true CB would be if it was a baby, and only if the price was high, because anyone that actually got a baby to grow up to a decent (breeding) size would either A: Not sell it or B: Sell it for a price that you wouldn't buy it without knowing what it was. By the way, the 22" Melleri they have packed 3 into a 16" cage aren't CBB either.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

Ya..I've been thinking about that. I'm starting to think she is WC. If I would've known I probably wouldn't have gotte her...I feel bad owning WC. I'm taking her to the vet on monday and getting a fecal test..all that fun stuff. So I have an idea exactly what sate she's in and even more the babies. If she had some parasites, would they be carried over to the babies? I'm guessing most likely..

Oh, and about your email, I do have a spam blocker, I'm looking through my "junk mail" folder seeing if I can find it...there's a lot. I'm sorry about that.

Also, since you have so much experience with these, do you have any tips on care for your adults? I would love to really learn even more about these, so I can provide the best care possible for her. I read they dont need a cage that big, the one she's in is about 4 feet tall, lol. I'm building more plants and branches in it. I dont usually handle her because I know how chameleons dont like to be handled,b ut when I do, she turns a beautiful bright green. I think these are my favorite chameleons I've had yet.