Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Sad News from the Chameleon Cage

It is with a heavy heart that I post today.

The first baby veiled chameleon died last night. :(

I could tell the end was coming. We just couldn't get him to eat. Instead of opening his little mouth and sticking out his tongue, he'd walk past the crickets. We tried everything we could think of. Pinhead crickets, small crickets, keeping the baby super hydrated and the cage warm.

Even sadder, the sibling is not far behind. He won't eat either.

I'd read of this online. Baby veileds who won't eat. If the temperature fluctuates or is too hot in the incubator. Our local reptile store thinks the first batch of eggs just wasn't a hardy batch. Of the original 23 eggs, only two hatched. There are still 3 eggs from this clutch in the incubator, but they've pretty much collapsed in on themselves, and I don't think we'll see any births. The other 42 eggs in the incubator are from the second clutch. And, as I've mentioned, the female is heavily pregnant again.

Sigh. This whole pet thing is not for sissies.

15 comments:

  1. Very true -- the whole pet thing is not for sissies. I'm sorry to hear you're having a rough time of it with your's.

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  2. Oh no! And the pictures looked so good and they looked so healthy hanging from the top of their cage! I'm sorry. But maybe the next batch will have some healthy babies!

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  3. sorry. and here i thought human babies were particular!

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  4. My condolences to your family. You will get there eventually with them. We had doves who mated and hatched babies several times. It took several tries before we got the right care combination to help the babies survive to adulthood. The backyard of our old house had a corner in the backyard that was our pet cemetary. All pets got full funereal honors.

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  5. Sounds like you've got your hands full there!

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  6. Oh, no! Poor little babies. I'm so sorry.

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  7. Definitely not for sissies. Used to make me so sad when the baby fish all died in my son’s aquariums despite all best efforts.
    But 42 more eggs and she’s pregnant again?! Wow.

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  8. oh sad :(

    have a happy Thanksgiving.

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  9. Oh, that is sad. Poor little things. Poor you and family. It sounds like a very tricky thing if they are so sensitive.

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  10. So sorry to hear about the babies. I hope the second batch are a healthier lot.

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  11. I mentioned this on FB but thought I'd post it here, too. Perhaps you can call the East Bay Vivarium (Berkeley CA) as they are a primo herpitology center. They breed a lot of species and might be able to give you some advice. (510) 841-1400

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Comments are always welcome!