Hi thank you for all your help in advance. My daughter has a ~1 year old panther chameleon who is not eating. When we first had him he ate very well but the last several months it has tapered off and now for the last 2 weeks has not wanted to eat at all. His energy level and color seem good, and he is drinking often. We did take him to the vet and basically the Doctor said he looks good and lets try to give him some flagyl (metronidazole) in case he has an infection in his mouth. Also said that maybe he has a bit more mucus in his mouth that normal but was not sure. So far the flagyl has not changed anything.
Of note we do take the chameleon into our back yard where we have several smaller fruit trees and do let him hang out in the trees under our watchful eyes for an hour or two a couple times a week. He seems to enjoy it and turns bright colors. I have not seen him ever eat the leaves but maybe he has licked the bark before?? Not sure. The trees are persimmon, peach, and cherry. I worry though don't think that this is the problem but I want to be thorough. Additionally I have recently covered the 3 sides of the cage with a shower curtain to try to increase the humidity and decrease drafts but that has been just a few days. I have also increased frequency of mistings. Lastly we have started to force feed him crickets to get some nutrition in but usually we can only get a medium size cricket or two in before he gets to upset.
Chameleon Info:
Species: Panther Chameleon, Male, ~1 year. We have had him since Xmas
Handling: My daughter will handle him about 1 time a day maybe 2. Mostly to take him out side. Somedays not at all.
Feeding: We mainly feed him crickets though also give him super worms. He has had silkworms and horned worms in the past but did not seem to like them that much.
Supplements: He was being given Miner-all with D3 twice a week but since read care sheets here we have not changed that to Repticalcium without D3 2 times a week and will give the Miner-all with D3 twice monthly. He also gets Herptivite Mutlivitamins 1 time a week He has been getting much less of these since he started to eat less and now not at all.
Watering: Mistking with distilled water. Currently have been trying to figure out how much to do. I had it at 60 second every 6 hours but recently increased it to 1 min every 4 hours. He does drink quite often when I see the mister go on.
Fecal: Not pooping much lately but which I have seen before it has been gelatinous and white on outside with dark firmer stool in middle.
Cage Info:
Cage Type: Screen cage 24x24x48. 2 days ago I put a shower curtain around 3 sides to help increase humidity and decrease drafts. It also was raised off the ground several days ago onto a table.
Lighting: UVB light is from a reptisun 5.0 bulb. Basking light is a Zoomed Daylight Blue 100w. I had a 150w bulb but recently changed to a 100w several days ago as I worry the other was creating to hot a basking spot. Basking spot is 39 inches from bottom of cage. Several branches in area for different level basking spots. I also have 2 other lights that are phillips bulbs that put out almost no heat but do give 6500k colors so the plants get appropriate light. Nightime I use a Zoomed Nightime 60w bulb. Temp at basking spot is 90F. Center of cage is 71-76F depending on misting. We have very hot summers so AC is on all time and set at 75F day and 73F night. Measured temp in center of cage is by digital therm. At top by simple zoomed temp gauge. He gets light about 12 hours a day but often by 5-6 pm he is already in middle of cage ready for sleep.
Humidity: This area has been difficult. Most of the time humidity has been to low in the high 30s to 40s unless pretty soon after misting. This is why I added the shower curtain and increased the misting schedule. Measured in back middle of cage digitally. Humidity varies greatly between misting's and something I am trying to monitor more closely.
Plants: I have 2 pathos plants, 2 ficus plants, an Areca Palm and one other plant that I can't remember the name of but I did check at the time that is was chameleon safe.
Placement: Cage is in a room off our main living room so it does get noise and traffic from our main living space. But not to much. Cage is about 30inches off the ground. We do have a ceiling fan we run frequently in main room which might create a small draft towards him?
Location: We are located in Chico, California. Very hot summers and fairly cold winters.
Thank you again for all your advice. It is greatly appreciated. We have tried to provide a good home for Leonardo (Leo) and I (we) take our pets very seriously and treat them like family. This has been a new experience for us and I know we have not quite got it right but are willing to make whatever changes we can to keep Leo healthy and happy as he deserves.
Sincerely,
Eric Ellis (and daughter Macy)
Of note we do take the chameleon into our back yard where we have several smaller fruit trees and do let him hang out in the trees under our watchful eyes for an hour or two a couple times a week. He seems to enjoy it and turns bright colors. I have not seen him ever eat the leaves but maybe he has licked the bark before?? Not sure. The trees are persimmon, peach, and cherry. I worry though don't think that this is the problem but I want to be thorough. Additionally I have recently covered the 3 sides of the cage with a shower curtain to try to increase the humidity and decrease drafts but that has been just a few days. I have also increased frequency of mistings. Lastly we have started to force feed him crickets to get some nutrition in but usually we can only get a medium size cricket or two in before he gets to upset.
Chameleon Info:
Species: Panther Chameleon, Male, ~1 year. We have had him since Xmas
Handling: My daughter will handle him about 1 time a day maybe 2. Mostly to take him out side. Somedays not at all.
Feeding: We mainly feed him crickets though also give him super worms. He has had silkworms and horned worms in the past but did not seem to like them that much.
Supplements: He was being given Miner-all with D3 twice a week but since read care sheets here we have not changed that to Repticalcium without D3 2 times a week and will give the Miner-all with D3 twice monthly. He also gets Herptivite Mutlivitamins 1 time a week He has been getting much less of these since he started to eat less and now not at all.
Watering: Mistking with distilled water. Currently have been trying to figure out how much to do. I had it at 60 second every 6 hours but recently increased it to 1 min every 4 hours. He does drink quite often when I see the mister go on.
Fecal: Not pooping much lately but which I have seen before it has been gelatinous and white on outside with dark firmer stool in middle.
Cage Info:
Cage Type: Screen cage 24x24x48. 2 days ago I put a shower curtain around 3 sides to help increase humidity and decrease drafts. It also was raised off the ground several days ago onto a table.
Lighting: UVB light is from a reptisun 5.0 bulb. Basking light is a Zoomed Daylight Blue 100w. I had a 150w bulb but recently changed to a 100w several days ago as I worry the other was creating to hot a basking spot. Basking spot is 39 inches from bottom of cage. Several branches in area for different level basking spots. I also have 2 other lights that are phillips bulbs that put out almost no heat but do give 6500k colors so the plants get appropriate light. Nightime I use a Zoomed Nightime 60w bulb. Temp at basking spot is 90F. Center of cage is 71-76F depending on misting. We have very hot summers so AC is on all time and set at 75F day and 73F night. Measured temp in center of cage is by digital therm. At top by simple zoomed temp gauge. He gets light about 12 hours a day but often by 5-6 pm he is already in middle of cage ready for sleep.
Humidity: This area has been difficult. Most of the time humidity has been to low in the high 30s to 40s unless pretty soon after misting. This is why I added the shower curtain and increased the misting schedule. Measured in back middle of cage digitally. Humidity varies greatly between misting's and something I am trying to monitor more closely.
Plants: I have 2 pathos plants, 2 ficus plants, an Areca Palm and one other plant that I can't remember the name of but I did check at the time that is was chameleon safe.
Placement: Cage is in a room off our main living room so it does get noise and traffic from our main living space. But not to much. Cage is about 30inches off the ground. We do have a ceiling fan we run frequently in main room which might create a small draft towards him?
Location: We are located in Chico, California. Very hot summers and fairly cold winters.
Thank you again for all your advice. It is greatly appreciated. We have tried to provide a good home for Leonardo (Leo) and I (we) take our pets very seriously and treat them like family. This has been a new experience for us and I know we have not quite got it right but are willing to make whatever changes we can to keep Leo healthy and happy as he deserves.
Sincerely,
Eric Ellis (and daughter Macy)
