5 months old Panther reduced eating, lower part of Cage dark color.

J

Jrodriguez

New Member
My male panther chameleon have been eating less lately and I sometimes catch him in lower side of the cage (not the bottom) and dark colored (not all day). Today he just ate 3 superworms. He was eating about 12 - 15 crickets a day plus a superworm. He reduced eating a couple of days before his last shed. He is shedding exactly every two weeks.
  • Your Chameleon - 5 - 6 months old male Panther, has been with me for 6 weeks.
  • Handling - Daily (couple times a day) to take him to his outside tree when the sun comes out. He walks out of his cage a lot lately. I tend to let the door of his cage open when I am in the room.
  • Feeding - Mostly crickets and superworms. Was eating about 15 crickets and 1 superworm a day. I feed his superworm first thing in the morning (6 am) and then free range half the crickets and the other half on a plate near the top. I make my own gutload (both wet and dry portions) with ingredients recommended in this forum. He does not seem to like dubias and I don't have too many options available. I can only get dubias, superworms, crickets and mealworms.
  • Supplements - I am dusting all crickets/superworms daily with calcium without D3 and every two weeks I supplement with herptivite (multivitamins) and calcium with D3.
  • Watering - I mist the cage every 2 hours for about 8 - 10 secs with the monsoone RS400 with 3 nozzles. I see him drinking normally.
  • Fecal Description - Have never tested for parasites. droppings seem normal (dark colored solid with white urate.
  • History - He was about to shed (2 days prior) when he started eating less and now I see him in lower part of the cage for a couple of hours a day and daek colored. In the last 4 days I have taken out two sperm plugs. First one was a full one and the second one (the day after) was a lot less and was still very humid. Today I think I saw him leave some sperm (I think) on his Basking branch. Also, I have lately seen him take his hemipenes out in the open (that shit is nasty). See one of the pictures attached.
  • 20161124_083807.jpg
  • Cage/lighting/temps - zoomed repti breeze 16x16x30 chameleon kit. Basking at around 85 -90 f and rest of the cage at around 78 - 80f. Humidity is 70 - 80%.

These pictures were taken today. I did not however take a picture of him wheb he was dark colored today.
20161125_180513.png 20161125_180432.png
20161125_092302.jpg
Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Try reducing the superworm feed,since he is flashing his manhood,the hard shell is causing him straining n not wanting to eat more,he is at that age to become a stud cham with the sperm plugs n they do eat less prior to shed
 
alphakenc said:
Try reducing the superworm feed,since he is flashing his manhood,the hard shell is causing him straining n not wanting to eat more,he is at that age to become a stud cham with the sperm plugs n they do eat less prior to shed
Click to expand...
Will try it. He seems to really like superworms above crickets. I will try to feed him just crikets today. Thanks!
 
If you mist every other hour with three nozzles you can usually get away with just a minute.
 
Hi, guys, he is still eating too little. Can you tell me if he looks too skinny? I added a picture of him in his Basking spot.
IMG-20161208-WA0001.jpg
I am really worried for him. I have added butterworms, hornworms, lobster roaches and dubias into his diet. But he just eats one of whatever I put in front of him when I wake up, once he eats one of the above, he does not eat anything else for the entire day. is this normal?
 
Could he have some sort of infection going on in his manhood parts? I don't know much about panthers, but that tail looks kind of big to me. Like possibly swollen. I have never heard of a cham leaving sperm around the cage, just because. Especially with no female around. Just doesn't seem right to me.
 
His tail looks normal to me and the sperm plug thing is totally normal for panther males especially at his age. Did you try getting a fecal done on him? I highly recommend it now. It definitely sounds like something is going on that is medical. He doesn't look horribly thin, but he definitely isn't the correct weight. I would take him to a vet.
 
Angelwolf said:
Could he have some sort of infection going on in his manhood parts? I don't know much about panthers, but that tail looks kind of big to me. Like possibly swollen. I have never heard of a cham leaving sperm around the cage, just because. Especially with no female around. Just doesn't seem right to me.
Click to expand...
Thanks. He's had his base of tail like that for a while don't know he is just big in there. I do see him like moving his hemipenes around there a lot, assumed that was the cause for the sperm. Can a panther owner confirm if this sperm behavior is common?
 
If he's moving it around a lot, I would think it's probably uncomfortable, or possibly painful. But, as I said, I don't have Panthers. Maybe someone else can help.
 
If u concern about his weight,why not invest on a food scale and create a weight log,this way u will know for sure he is gaining his weight or not,fecal float test twice a year will insure the parasite question,regarding the sperm plug,it usually appear when the cham is pooping in the same time,and all this leads to bring out the gutloading ur feeders with lots fresh vegetables like collard grren,mustard green,dandelion,the vegetables that contains lots calcium within,diet n good bug cares on the gutloading is the key to healthy life on ur beautiful chameleon for sure!!
 
In my opinion healthy Panther males leave lots of sperm plugs when at the prime of their breeding lives when pooping. My male does it every so often still now and he's about 4 now. I would say he does do it relatively less than most males, but in my opinion he would not make a good breeder because he does not fire or show much territorial behavior at all when showed a mirror or anything. I would say your male would be a good breeder if he was healthy because of the amount of sperm he produces on a regular basis. However this means nothing of his personality, bloodline, locale, etc etc. I think he has lost a few grams considering his other pics, but I don't know how much. Has he shed recently? Is he due for a shed? He may just be going through a huge amount of growth at the moment so it's hard for him to catch up with lots of sheds? However I still strongly recommend doing a fecal just in case... Oh and can you tell me the size of his cage? It may seem like it wouldn't affect this, but it can greatly.
 
Andee said:
In my opinion healthy Panther males leave lots of sperm plugs when at the prime of their breeding lives when pooping. My male does it every so often still now and he's about 4 now. I would say he does do it relatively less than most males, but in my opinion he would not make a good breeder because he does not fire or show much territorial behavior at all when showed a mirror or anything. I would say your male would be a good breeder if he was healthy because of the amount of sperm he produces on a regular basis. However this means nothing of his personality, bloodline, locale, etc etc. I think he has lost a few grams considering his other pics, but I don't know how much. Has he shed recently? Is he due for a shed? He may just be going through a huge amount of growth at the moment so it's hard for him to catch up with lots of sheds? However I still strongly recommend doing a fecal just in case... Oh and can you tell me the size of his cage? It may seem like it wouldn't affect this, but it can greatly.
Click to expand...
He is supposed to shed any day now (last shed was 2 weeks ago). But has loss of appetite since 2 days before the last shed until now. That why I am worried. He wants to be out every second he is in the cage. The cage is the reptibreeze which I think is 18"x18"x36". When I am free, I take him to his outside tree to enjoy the sun, but now he just want to get down of his tree and wants to go to a real tree he can see outside of my house every second he is in that tree. Right now I am working my ass off to finish his adult cage which is 3'x3'x4'. I already build it and am in the decoration phase. I will try and get a fecal test, does he have to go to the vet for the fecal? Vet is kinda far and the traffic is bad. Dont want to stress him out without a good reason.
 
Andee said:
In my opinion healthy Panther males leave lots of sperm plugs when at the prime of their breeding lives when pooping. My male does it every so often still now and he's about 4 now. I would say he does do it relatively less than most males, but in my opinion he would not make a good breeder because he does not fire or show much territorial behavior at all when showed a mirror or anything. I would say your male would be a good breeder if he was healthy because of the amount of sperm he produces on a regular basis. However this means nothing of his personality, bloodline, locale, etc etc. I think he has lost a few grams considering his other pics, but I don't know how much. Has he shed recently? Is he due for a shed? He may just be going through a huge amount of growth at the moment so it's hard for him to catch up with lots of sheds? However I still strongly recommend doing a fecal just in case... Oh and can you tell me the size of his cage? It may seem like it wouldn't affect this, but it can greatly.
Click to expand...
Also, he is leaving sperm plugs a lot but not when he is pooping. He is just kinda walking around with half a sperm plug out and he havent poop or is not about to poop. He is pooping normally, every day.
 
You need to remove the sperm plug, get it soft and pliable and help him slip it out. Sometimes it's doesn't come out easy. It seems like he might just need that upgrade. And no he doesn't need to with you to the vet for a fecal.
 
Andee said:
You need to remove the sperm plug, get it soft and pliable and help him slip it out. Sometimes it's doesn't come out easy. It seems like he might just need that upgrade. And no he doesn't need to with you to the vet for a fecal.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will try to get the fecal test done ASAP. He seems to be handling the sperm plugs well on his own.
 
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