Blood on vent of young panther

Chameleon Info:

• Blue Bar Ambilobe Panther
• Male
• 4-5 Months old
• Owned for 1.5 months

Handling

• Only handled twice for entire time owned.
• Extremely shy

Feeding

• Currently only crickets until we can arrange for other feeders delivered.
• Recently began hand feeding with a mealworm treat (1 worm a day) a few days ago.
• 10-15 crickets once a day around mid-late morning.
• Using Repashy Bug Burger and a mixture of arugula, butternut squash, carrots, and apple for gutload.
• Cup feeding.

Supplements

• Daily- ExoTerra Calcium
• Once a week rotation of ReptoCal Calcium+D3 and Rep-Cal Herptivite

Watering

• Big Dripper that's refilled 1-2 times daily.
• Every two hours hand misting 2~ minutes with presure mister. Only witnessed drinking twice when he thought we weren't watching.

Fecal Description

• Light brown, soft but not watery.
• White urate with orange coating on end.
• Never tested for parasites.

History

• Purchased from Panther Company (Jupiter clutch).

Cage Type

• ReptiBreeze Open Air Screen Cage, Large, 18 x 18 x 36-Inches

Lighting

• UVB- Exo Terra Repti-Glo 5.0 Compact Fluorescent Tropical Terrarium Lamp, 26-Watt
• Basking- Philips 421438 53-watt PAR30S Dimmable EcoVantage Flood Light Light Bulb
• Lighting from 8am-8pm (or 9pm if he's being a rebel and not curling up in his 'bed')

Temperature

• Basking spot (8"below light) is at 85 with a gradient into 73 (ambient room temp).

Humidity

• Humidity without misting is at about 50% or more. Misting kicks it anywhere from 60-70 up to 100% depending on the day. Using a crappy dial hygrometer though, so accuracy is questionable.

Plants

• Large Schefflera Arbicola that fills up a majority of the cage. Fake vines winding around said plant for pathways to different elevations and hiding spots.

Placement

• Cage is located in living room (low traffic minus every other weekend or so).
• Closest airvent is about 25 ft away. Cage sits on 32" high table. He gets upset when my husband is near since he's about 6'2" and taller than the cage.

Location

• Fairfax VA.

Current Problem
Dry blood around the vent area. I don't think he's old enough for sperm plugs yet, and I suspect that it may be from the mealworms I've been using to coax him into hand feeding since he's so shy except when those are around. Vet appointment not likely until Monday since it's the Fourth of July. Poor guy is pretty angry that I took a wet swab to him to make sure it was blood.
Any input would be appreciated.

I would say maybe put him on a plant in the shower and let it spray the side of the shower so small droplets hit the plant and let him get a good soak and try to mositin it up if its blood.

I was considering trying to do the shower soaking, but he's so skittish that it's difficult. :/

Galaxy said:

I was considering trying to do the shower soaking, but he's so skittish that it's difficult. :/

Click to expand...

That's why you don't want it to spray him directly. Make sure it sprays the side of the shower and just fine small droplets hit him and the plant. Not to warm or cold. Good luck and keep us updated.

The problem is more getting him to the shower. I managed to get him in there, and he calmed down a bit once on the tree with the water going, but he stressed out at being moved from place to place.
But, the deed is done and now I've tucked him back into the cage with a sheet over it so he can chill.
We'll see how it goes from here.

This morning the dried blood was still present on his vent, but after his usual bathroom time it appeared to have fallen off. I managed to track down his dropping and it was much firmer than usual (though it seemed healthier than the soft light colored ones he'd been producing for the last while), but no blood was present. Perhaps it was just his digestive system getting back into the groove of things. Still keeping an eye on him and leaving out the mealworm treats. Should be getting some silkworms next week.
Poor guy seems pretty sore still. I feel ya lil' buddy.

usually not too big of a worry unless its happening often or it's a good amount of blood. Not sure the exact biological reason for this but chams sometimes have a small bloody discharge from the vent that doesn't have any adverse affects on them in my experience.

Camsofcali said:

usually not too big of a worry unless its happening often or it's a good amount of blood. Not sure the exact biological reason for this but chams sometimes have a small bloody discharge from the vent that doesn't have any adverse affects on them in my experience.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Reading this put my mind at ease. The next day after my last post he ended up shedding, so I'm wondering if it was partially due to that. It was a clean shed outside of one tiny piece stuck to his vent. He seems to be back to his usual beautiful, moody self now.
Though he's definitely not hand-feeding anymore after being given a bath. *SIGH* Have to build up the trust again. Talk about holding a grudge.

Nice to hear he is back to normal. They do have holding a grudge down to an art form. Rotten creatures we love.

Upon feeding some of my chams superworms, I would notice the same thing. Once, I recognized a pattern, I fixed it. I will only feed freshly molted superworms to my guys, and only one or two at a time. Never any more. The trick is, to keep enough superworms that you have access to freshly molted ones. Upon doing this, no more issues. They seemed to struggle passing the worms sometimes. Started a colony of orange heads not too long ago, so I suspect the superworms days are numbered.

So today I noticed blood on a few leaves in his current favorite corner. I checked him over like crazy and couldn't see anything the first time, then went back to mist him two hours later and noticed that there is blood on his vent again. :\
I don't think it's from food since he's been fed a majority of silkworms with a lesser amount of small gutloaded crickets.
I've also been noticing that he's showing the very early signs of getting ready to shed again... is this just some sort of chameleon man-period maybe?? o___O

Has he been tested for parasites?