Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a friend of mine owns a chameleon and he died tonight, we were in the midst of looking for a reptile vet in the gta of ontario so we could take him in.. he hadnt dusted his crix for a week or 2 (i personally dont know why) but it seems a bit soon for him to be sick from that.. how fragile are these guys? i know alot of them arent social but how easily do they get stressed? if u can email me some info on what may have happened to the little guy.. my email is xox_my_harlequin_romance_xox@hotmail.com.

We don't have enough info on his care to even guess why he died. Dusting or not dusting food may have been only one part of the reason. If his cage was not set up correctly, if he was kept at the wrong temp or humidity level, if the crix were not gutloaded correctly, if the lighting was wrong, if he was handled too much, all could be part of the reason. To be really honest, if his owner just didn't know or care enough to keep up with dusting chances are he was not caring for him well in other ways. But, without an autopsy you will probably never know for sure. Chams may not be more "fragile" than other herps, but they DO take a lot of time and attention and a more technical setup as compared to something like a corn snake. I'm sorry he's gone.

I live in Burlington and one of mine went to a exotic reptile specialist in Oakville/Burlington area today. If you can get down there, I can give you the phone number and website.

Also, the death might not even have been from lack of calcium, but lack of vitamin D3 with allows the chameleons body, to absorb the calcium. Without Vd3, all that calcium passes through their system without absorbing much. UV and D3 suppliments will help. But if you would like a better reason for death, go check out his setup, with temperatures and measurments of size etc.

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