Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This morning I woke up and he was completely limp. He isn't moving at all I thought he was dead but he opens his mouth wide as if he's yawning every once in a while but his tongue gets stuck out of his mouth (not fully extended though). I'm keeping his tongue wet. His heart is still beating but I dont know what to do. He was completely healthy up to this point. Please help.

I know your in a hurry, but you need to be more specific really. Is his eyes open? When you say limp, do you mean paralyzed? Does he react to you touching him? His tounge is just hanging out? All in all man, the best thing to do is bring him to a Vet, thats what they are there for.

but for now you should get him to a vet ASAP. It sounds like he is having difficulty breathing.

what species?
how old?
how long have you had him?
when did he eat/drink last?
did he take a fall?
what is his setup like? light, temps, feeders, supplements, etc.
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

a veiled chameleon
I've only had him for about 7 months but he's about 2 years.
he ate meal worms last night and drank last night
he hasn't taken a fall, except this morning I first knew something was wrong because he was standing on his hind legs with his front stretched upward and then he just fell over.(Not a far distance though)
there are 3 different lights - a heat lamp, a u.v. moonlight and a u.v. daylight. At night it gets to about 65 and at day about 85. I feed them crickets by dropping about 10 in the cage every 2 days.(there are 2 chameleons, the male and female.) and I put about 4 meal wormsin there dish sometimes instead of crickets. I dust the crickets with a multi mineral supplement about once a week. They had a drip system in the cage but it was splashing the buttom too much so I switched to a clear glass water bowl and they learned to drink out of it.

There are two things which I think happened.
1) the heat lamp broke a few days ago and he might have gotten a respiratory infection.
2) there was small bark for the cage bottom (I'm actually in the middle of switching it out to the coconut fiber stuff) and he might have gotten a piece lodged in his mouth... or in his digestive sytem.

Does any of this make sense to you? He died today. I feel horrible that I couldn't take him to the vet. I pretty much knew he was going to die. I dont think there was anything they could've done.
xBritt

Im not sure what happened to him poor guy, but some things you definitely want to change (should you get another one) is to not keep 2 chames together unless they have TONS of room, that way they wont stress each other out alot. What size cage did you have them both in?
He could also have ingested some of the bark and that could have caused problems as well. Best thing you can do it take him to the vets and get a necropsy (spelling?) done and find out for sure what happened. Sorry for your loss!!

Erin
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1:0 Veiled (Gene)
1:0 Sambava Panther (Knoxville)
1:1 Albino Clawed Frogs (Phedre and Jos)
?? Fire belly toad (Harold)
Various cats and dogs

ya, we're looking to get another veiled chameleon or maybe changing the tank for a bearded dragon. We had two together in a 125 gallon tank so they had plenty of room. Thanks for the condolences.
xbritt

I may be mistaken, but 125 gallons is only a little bit bigger than a 24x24x48 cage. This is the minimun size for one adult chameleon. Too small for two.
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~Melissa
1.0 Ambanja Panther (Diesel)
0.1 African Hegdehog (Kaimah)

By tank, do you mean it's made of glass? Chameleons should be kept in screen enclosure, otherwise there is not sufficient circulation. Also, the UV can not penetrate through glass.

You still have one chameleon, correct? Most cham owners do not use a substrate at the bottom of their cage. It can hold bacteria and lead to compaction. I use shelf liner on the bottom of mine. It's easy to clean and you can throw it away and replace it with new stuff when needed.

What exactly do you mean by moonlight? You shouldn't need to heat the cage at night. No UV is needed at night either.

I'm impressed they drink out of a bowl. Make sure you replace the water and wash it out to kill bacteria.

Good luck with your other cham, I'm sorry you lost the male.
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~Melissa
1.0 Ambanja Panther (Diesel)
0.1 African Hegdehog (Kaimah)

the lights are mounted on top which is all screen and there is a fan that circulates the air through the rest. Ya, these were our first chams so there will be a lot we will change for our new ones (like no using any substrate). The moonlight is by exo terra..it's natural glo (no uv) so it just basically simulates moonlight.

ANY visible light at night will stress the chams and keep them from lowering their metabolism enough for sleep. Neither you nor they need it. Also, glass sided enclosures can really stress chams. They don't learn why they can't walk through the glass and can spend hours pawing at the tank. Also if the lighting is right they can see reflections of "competitors" that never go away. There may have been a respiratory infection, but chams who are really close to death often gape and lose control of their tongue as you described. Did you keep track of the tank humidity? Your tank was probably too warm from day to night (you need a drop of at least 10 degrees) and may have either been drier than you realize especially with the needed vent fan, or much too humid. Constant high humidity and low air flow is asking for URI. Without lots of spraying or dripping water your chams could have been dehydrated. Overall, I'd say stress of housing together, improper hydration/cage humidity, stress of nighttime light and/or heat, stress of glass, and probably some nutritional problems were to blame.