In Memoriam - Grace

Captive Hatched January 2000 - November 30th, 2005

Grace was one of those "too good to be true" offers on the Internet, and she was, after all. She was sold to me as a suspected female adult, perfect, gorgeous, never bred, never vetted, and Captive Hatched. Upon arrival, she was only the gorgeous part for certain. She climbed, roaring, out of a shipping box that had holes punched through and a stick wedged in the center. She showed signs of both neglect and abuse, missing claws, and didn't have any food in her at all. It appeared that she had not had anything but potting soil to eat, for weeks. She was severely underweight for her length, partly due to the most serious intestinal parasite infestation I have ever seen in a chameleon. It took three rounds of meds to get her clean! She hated people, and displayed and hissed impressively at anyone who walked through the huge room she was free-ranged in. It took about six months to rehabilitate her and tame her. She tolerated women and children very well, but never got over her hatred for men. We couldn't figure out how she could tell the difference, supposedly having little or no sense of smell, but she did. 

I actually started thinking she was a he when I found mock-hemipenal bulges at her tailbase. Ferris knew better. They hit it off and were fairly inseparable for the remaining years of their lives. They were free-ranged together and had large outdoor basking cages. Over the years, most but not all of her lost claws grew back, annual nest-digging wore down her rostrum, and she had a mishap with a heat lamp that scarred her tail. She never was an overly friendly pet, not that I can blame her with her past, but she kept Ferris happy and that was all I asked. Grace laid several infertile clutches in her lifetime, but her 2004 clutch hatched successfully this year: 50 hatchlings, 46 of which are still alive now, at about 10 months of age. This is considered a great success rate for melleri. Grace, along with Ferris, made significant contributions to the current captive knowledge of the species. She really was too good to be true: a good mate for Ferris, healthy up until her last couple weeks of life, and a superb breeder and nester. When Ferris preceeded her in death, she showed the extreme aberrant activity that an animal behaviorist (ethologist) described as how animals mourn. She continued relentess searching behavior, even to the point of damaging her regrown claws and her face. She was looking for her former mate for a solid month after he died. That convinced me of how deeply bonded they were, even though "just" lizards.

Seeing how unhappy she was, and realizing that Spring would be even more difficult for her when she again became receptive, I tried in vain to locate a clean adult male for her. Failing that, I put her up for sale and interviewed people to find out if they already had a possible mate for her. She had since calmed back down to normal and looked beautiful again. Noah became her new owner, with hopes of breeding her next Spring. What a lucky girl, he gave her a greenhouse! She was spoiled and allowed to be herself.

About two months later, Noah reported that Grace's activity suddenly dropped and she was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the kidneys. The primary tumor was being fed directly by an artery and had grown very quickly, as a result. She was humanely put to sleep, as removal of all the cancer would be impossible and the artery complicated the issue. This is the first I'd heard of a cancer like this in chameleons, and I am awaiting further details from the veterinarian via Noah. More in depth on this cancer will be discussed on the Health page as it becomes available.