cham deaths genetic???

[wonder_chunky]

alrighty...as most of you know i got a female werners chameleon back in december...and to my surprise she had 13 babies!!!...12 of which lived....i sold of all of the babies except one that i kept, one that my girlfriend kept, and one to my friend...when my friends (richard) chameleon was about 3-4 months old...it turned white for about 2-3 days (yet was still 100% active, and eating etc.)then within an hour or so it went from healthy...to dead...yet it ate and was well fed, drank and not dehydrated, had UVB all the time, calcium and vitamin supplements, a nice cage with proper ventallation.....all the stuff needed to keep a healthy chameleon....yet it suddenly died out of no where......

then...this week i noticed that my girlfriends (emily) chameleon turned white for a few days, then got lazy...and died...that chameleon also had all of the proper requirements (i know that because i was looking after it for her while she was away for 6 weeks) so both chameleons did the EXACT same thing and died outa no where the EXACT same way...just at different ages....the only other one of the babies that i know of is the one that i've kept (the one missing toes)...which is fine so far...but there are 9 other babies somewhere out there...this could have happened to them too....could the problem be genetic?...it must be....i checked the chameleons throat etc. to see if there was anything wrong in there but everything looked fine....so if anyone knows what might of happened please reply...im stumped...

thanks,

[Laurier]

hey,

accually its not genetic, when they turn white they die. My friends baby rhampholeons did the same thing. I still don't know why they turn white but what I do know is that when they turn white you can't save them. I say this because my friend had a baby that turned white than it gained a bit of color back than died a day later. well life sucks and you have to move on.

Laurier

[wonder_chunky]

not true dude...the remaining baby is white all the time...yet he isnt dead....and he's done it for all his life...i know that the turning white is i sign of death but i'm just trying to find out the cause of death....

but thanks,

[casacrow]

I had the same thing happen with some veilds a few months back. I am still puzzled as to what happened. They were properly taken care of and I have been keeping them for years. Mine also died a few days apart from each other.

[snakedude_03]

dude.. they turned white? like totally white?!??!

[reverendsterlin]

let a vet do an autopsy(sp?) that is the best approach and probably the only way to determine cause

[Laurier]

ryan,

man chameleons always turn white (like paper white) before they die. but i have seen jacksons neonates that are a creamy color , could u be mixing it up with that. go on kingsnake and find a guy who goes by Hardcore_reptiles he is extremely knowledgable and well he probably knows why they are dieing. But in a conclusion to my theory what i have seen is that less of the established chameleons have this problem as young chameleons with early deaths while the un established chameleons that have been in the hobby for years such as rhampholeons, werneri, carpets, and brookesia must have a large amount of early death related problems. oh well just a thing for you to think about. but get a hold of craig.

Laurier