New to the site :)

Hello! I recently acquired a very emaciated panther chameleon and am in the process of getting him healthy again. I am defiantly not new to reptiles, but I have never had to deal with a neglected chameleon before lol I have had him for about 2 weeks and he is 2 years old.

Beleive it or not, he was actually bright red, orange, green, and blue at one point in his life. I have seen pictures of him when he was younger. Some blue is starting to come back. He is very pale still and his "fat reserves" on his head are still sunken in. What is the best way of fattening them up?

When I first got him


2 week later (today)

Welcome to the forums and a big thank you for saving this adorable chameleon!

It was a pleasure reading your thread and looking at the vast improvement that he has made in the two weeks in your care.

Can you post some more info on your current care so we can advise if there are any areas where improvement is possible? Here is the form

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

I feed him dubia roaches. I have one small colony that I feed from and are gutloaded with fresh fruits and veggies. I am doing kale, carrots, bee pollen, and apples at the moment. I dust all the roaches with Repashy calcium/vitamin. I have super pig too, but haven't used it. I have been giving him the big fat females, and he will eat 3+ per day.
Until I get the auto misters working I am spraying him a few times daily (he drinks straight from the water bottle lol)and also have a dripper on him.
In the morning he goes outside and gets natural sunlight until about 4pm. Then he is brought inside for the night.

AmberNichole said:

I feed him dubia roaches. I have one small colony that I feed from and are gutloaded with fresh fruits and veggies. I am doing kale, carrots, bee pollen, and apples at the moment. I dust all the roaches with Repashy calcium/vitamin. I have super pig too, but haven't used it. I have been giving him the big fat females, and he will eat 3+ per day.
Until I get the auto misters working I am spraying him a few times daily (he drinks straight from the water bottle lol)and also have a dripper on him.
In the morning he goes outside and gets natural sunlight until about 4pm. Then he is brought inside for the night.

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All that sounds perfect! Keep up the great work

I have 4 chameleons and none of them will mess with an adult Dubia, so you have a little stud on your hands!

I love when they drink from a spray bottle... it cracks me up!

He is coming along very nicely!
I would add some variety to his diet, such as silkworms, hornworms, crickets, superworms.
I think that slowly fattening him up is the healthiest way to do it.


Some sources:
http://www.coastalsilkworms.com/

http://www.mulberryfarms.com/

Glad to see he has gotten to a caring owner.

Is it normal for them to lose their colors like that? I wonder if he will ever be as bright and colorful as he was before. He is a blue bar Ambilobe.

This was him a year or so ago.

He already looks so much better and that was just 2 weeks of TLC. Try using that repashy super pig. I use that on my Cham and have seen amazing results. Not sure if it's him getting older or the supplements, but since he's been on it, we've seen some crazy colors

You're doing a great job! He already looks so much better while in your care Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

AmberNichole said:

Is it normal for them to lose their colors like that? I wonder if he will ever be as bright and colorful as he was before. He is a blue bar Ambilobe.

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I am not an expert on rescued chams though some folks on the forum are.
Here is a thread about a cham who was in very poor health and he was very dull colored, too:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/rescued-chameleon-105215/

He is now much more colorful, as you will see if you go through the thread.

get him the vits...but you know that but some fatty worms would supply the best neutrition ..but don't feed just them...the recovery should be gradual ... the fat reserves will come back lots of water lots of good water..from the looks of it your doing a great job...and lastly...WELCOME !!

I have been giving him some superwoms once and awhile now now (because they are available locally). I am thinking about ordering some hornwoms, waxworms, or silk worms, but I am not sure which would be best....any suggestions?

Silks are prob the best. Horns are good too, but they grown really fast and get huge in a week. If they are not being eaten by a army of hungry chams they go to waste.

he can eat the equilivent of 100 crickets in a day, shouldn't be a problem lol I have gotten hornworms in the past. Even when they turn into moths he will eat them. I might try silkworms though, but it seems like he will eat $10 worth in a few minutes lol

Try some of toms dynofuel,sprinkle a little on a moist chunk of veggies and feed it to some crickets before you go to bed then feed the crickets to your chameleon in the morning .A well suplimented diet with a variety of veggies high in vit A the key to good health..I have seen chameleons go threw this before.keep up the good work! It will pay off in no time.Just wait till his next shed.

AmberNichole said:

he can eat the equilivent of 100 crickets in a day, shouldn't be a problem lol I have gotten hornworms in the past. Even when they turn into moths he will eat them. I might try silkworms though, but it seems like he will eat $10 worth in a few minutes lol

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what do you mean the equivalent of 100 crickets a day!? Also, the pic you posted where he is all colorful looks like a sleeping picture. That is when they show some of their brightest and best pictures. Have you checked out his colors when he is sleeping? And yes, they do sometimes just go dull in coloration. We have had members on here where their chameleons totally change over time and have gone dull.

If I let him, he would eat at least 6+ fat, adult, pregnant female dubia roaches (each one probably equivalent to 20 crickets). He would probably eat himself to death if I let him lol. I gut load them with tons of stuff including bee pollen and dust them with a mixture of Repashy's calcium plus, super pig, and super vite.
I am not sure with the colorful picture, because he was not in my care then. That is a photo I was given. He does not get anymore colorful at night. He actually gets more bleached/pale in color.

Welcome to CF!

That's good. Congrats on saving him.
Chams are awesome.

he looks so much better! lol keep up the good work! xx

Moved him into a 5' tall cage today. Seems to be getting a little more color...sort of lol. Maybe it is just wishful thinking lol