Why chameleon may have died?

[pastel0711]

I work at a family run petstore and our female veiled chameleon recently passed away and was wandering if anyone can chime in on why she may have died so that we can assure it does not happen to the next one.She was a juvenile maybe 4 inch body minus tail. Was in our care a total of 3 weeks(about) She was being kept in a exo terra 12x18 glass cage(we had a large mesh cage on order for her).All sides except front were covered in a background. She had a basking lamp which allowed her to move along her veins/sticks to that she could get up to 90f if she desired. There was also a uvb light that she could get right up to if she wanted. Her cage was furnished with veins and sticks and a few plants. Substrate was eco earth covered in bark. She had a water dish which she would drink from and we also misted the cage multiple times daily. As far as behaviour, when we first got her she was active but towards the end of things around last 5 days she would always have her eyes closed and wasn't nearly as active. She ate on a daily basis but missed 2 days food within those last five days. She was offered crickets dusted with calcium and vitamins and the occasional mealworm. Then on her final day she was looking good i checked on her and then an hour later i found her hanging upside down in her water dish dead. When i picked her up some blood was in the dish which ran out of her mouth. Does anyone know what could have happened. The owners are ordering a new one and i want to make sure this one lives a happy healthy life.

[Diamond Serpents]

Well, I never had a chameleon my self but my grandfather had a Jackson that he ended up killing 15 years ago because he kept it in glass and it got stressed. So maybe that's a factor I know you had a mesh on the way though. But saying you seen blood made me think something else happened. Have you checked any of the cage decoration to see if there was blood on it? I'm taking a stab in the dark but I think something cut or jabbed her and she died from it.

Check that and let me know, and I'm sorry for the loss of the lil guy.

[pastel0711]

When i disinfected the cage after removing her i noticed nothing out of place in the rest of the cage like blood. It was a small amount of blood in the water dish but it was still there which worries me.I just want to make sure we don't repeat mistakes for the next one.I also inspected her when she died and couldn't find any cuts or punctures/

[Diamond Serpents]

I'm hoping some one who is knowledgable on chameleons can get with you in this. Sorry I couldn't help more, I'll be watching this thread.

[Sita]

The exotics vet I work for tells everyone with a healthy chameleon (that they've had for a long time) that if they could take care of this chameleon, they could take care of any reptile. Chams are extremely difficult to care for properly, and babies are that much more difficult.

The one thing that stands out to me, based on the info he tells people, is that the cage did not have enough ventilation. Since you had a mesh one on order, you were probably aware that they need a lot of air circulation. Stagnant air, coupled with the multiple times a day mistings, could have done something to her. She could have also been stressed from the reflections in the front glass of the cage. I doubt the blood was from an injury, probably more something to do with her dying or could have possibly come from her lungs if she had a nasty respiratory infection.

90 degrees seems a bit low for the hot spot; generally the gradient should be 72 minimum cool side to 95 maximum on the warm.

Also, FYI, when she started keeping her eyes closed, it was probably already too late. I noticed that the reptiles that come in that are keeping their eyes closed never make it, even if we hospitalize them, unless it was ONLY an eye infection.

[MrLang]

I think moving to an open air cage is a great start. I would also keep the Cham in a somewhat low traffic area. This is only based on research, not experience.

GL

[pastel0711]

She was kept on the top shelf so that people would not bug her too much as i know they can stress easily.90F was where she often stays however if she went right to the top of the sick by the screen she could get 95-97F. I hope it was just a cage type thing as that will be better for next time being more ventalated. I as well as my coworkers want to ensure we provide best possible care for all of our animals. Is there anything else we should change for the next one? thanks everyone for the replies.