panther keeps falling !!!!

hey guys i have a 6 month or so old panther and he keeps falling today it started around 5 when i got home but hes fell like 4 times today and he seems ok and hes eating fine and drinking well. his color is good and all.
hes in a screen cage 24x24x36 plenty of fake and real pothos mister system and reptisun 5.0 and 2 75 watt basking bulbs.

sny help would be great

jeremy

Jeremy l said:

hey guys i have a 6 month or so old panther and he keeps falling today it started around 5 when i got home but hes fell like 4 times today and he seems ok and hes eating fine and drinking well. his color is good and all.
hes in a screen cage 24x24x36 plenty of fake and real pothos mister system and reptisun 5.0 and 2 75 watt basking bulbs.

sny help would be great

jeremy

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Hello,
Please answer these Q to help us better:
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By giving this info in your post, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to include all this info, but the more you do include the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile vet who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnostic of your chameleon's health.

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using? What is the size?
* Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? How long do you keep the lights on during the day?
* Temperature - What temperature range have you created? Basking spot temp? What is the temperature at night?
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
* Location - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon.
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What kind of schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
* Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use?
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
* Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.


Pictures can really help as well.

his cage is a 24x24x36 all screen from flchams, reptisun 5.0 long w/ 2 75w basking bulbs in different spots. temprature is around 83 day 75 night humidity is about 60 up to 90 % after automatic misting goes off. lights come on at 7 and are off at 9. cham is an ambalobie panther cham 5 to 6 months old. food is gut loaded crickets. folage is combo of live pothos and fake ivy with sticks and flukers branches. crickets are dusted with flukers calcium suppliment. poo looks rather normal, see no problems. location of cage is in corner of room not high traffic. no previous problems noted.

current problem is he has fallen 4 times in the past 2 hrs he never falls in his cage that i have ever noticed. his eyes look great his body looks great. hes eating like a garbage disposal and seems to be drinking well.

Are you dusting his crickets with calcium?

yes, flukers

Sorry, when rereading I see that you are using calcium. I was thing it might be the start of bone problems due to the lack of calcium.

What are the gradient temps in his enclosure? The basking temp, the mid-cage temp, the bottom-cage temp? Two 75w bulbs may be a bit much for an ambilobe panther cham. They bask at about 85 degrees, with ambient temps being much lower.

Our first trip to the vet, a few years ago, stemmed from our male veiled cham suddenly wandering about and falling frequently. The vet said he looked strong and healthy, and was (due to his age- a little older than yours)- likely coming into his breeding hormones and was restlessly looking for a mate. Don't know if that applies to your situation.

One thing you should probably due is test his grip strength. You can do this by either placing him in a situation, inside his cage, where he is "forced" to climb vertically. Watch his grip and his speed. See if he appears strong, with confident reflexes. Or take him out of the cage and have him grip your fingers with his front legs, and then lift up to see how well he holds on. If he is "losing his grip" (no joke intended) then you do have a problem.

can you post a pic of him, especially his legs, spine, and tail.

well hes currently walking all over the top of the cage so i think his grip is good. i would post pics but i keep getting an error message do the pics have to be a certian size

you can try uploading it to a flicker website and insert the image to this thread

sorry it took so long here they are

How much does he eat each day?

alot acutally i have never really counted how much he eats but he is a cricket disposal

Jeremy l said:

alot acutally i have never really counted how much he eats but he is a cricket disposal

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OK, so he's not going hungry and trying to get out of his enclosure to get more food. He does look excellent in his photos. Maybe Dodolah will have some ideas.

He shouldn't be all over the top and sides of the cage like that. He is likely falling because he is getting into precarious positions trying to escape from that cage. If I were you, I'd put in several dead branches that are long enough to reach practically from one bottom corner to the opposite top corner. Then add a 34 inch tall Ficus or Schefflera. Give him something tree like, with branches that are strong enough to hold his weight, that reaches to the top or very near the top of the cage. I bet then you'll have a comfy cham that won't be trying all those acrobatics. Plus, even if he still climbs the roof for a little while longer he'll be much closer to a tree to catch himself or at least break the fall somewhat.

he crawls all over, heres his home.

well actually thats an older pic about 2 weeks old his cage has changed, i put a drain in the bottom and a new stand. i put a few more branches in it and he still crawls all over. mostly he crawls on the roof and sides to go eat the crickets because they tend to migrate to the top of the cage.

try to put the heat lamp higher (close to the top corner of the cage).

If that is indeed his recent pictures, I agree with Gesang that he looked fine.
Like Kent said, this is probably more of a case that he's not feeling too happy inside of his cage. If he keep doing that acrobatic maneuver plus he's getting heavier each day, he's bound to fall.

Could it be that the heat lamp on the side is making the temp of the cage uniformly hot and the only way for him to escape the heat is by going to the top?

Correct me if i am wrong, but you have 2 heat lamps?
what is the hottest temp of the enclosure (nearby the heat source)?

The branches that will support his weight look like they only go about 2/3 the height of the cage? Again, he shouldn't be climbing the walls and ceiling. Not only will they continue to fall but they will start losing toenails which makes life rough on them later on. If it's to get to the crickets then there should be higher branches to facilitate getting to them. Maybe you could rig something up temporarily to make the plant higher?

the lightind has changed i do have two lights one low and one high ( now ) temp at the top is around 85 and in the direct ight it is 92 crnter of cage is in mid 80's and bottom is a little cooler than the top, by about 10 degrees