baby panther help

[chamfan87]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Panther(not sure what breed), not sure of the sex, not sure the age its about 3-4" long though so i'm gonna guess maybe month or two? and its only been like a day that I've had the cham.(vendor I bought it from only told me it was a panther not the sex or breed)

Handling - just putting it in the cage and when I checked it out at the reptile show.

Feeding - crickets so far and i'm gonna say it ate about maybe 10 so far.

Supplements - didn't start a schedule yet since I've only had the cham for a day, but i did dust the first crickets with some repti cal without d3.

Watering - I use a drip system and misted the cage about 3 times a day and haven't seen it drink just water that had dripped onto its head.

Fecal Description - only seen two little pieces but looks normal. and have not gotten it tested( not sure if there is even a place that specializes in reptiles around me.

History - nothing that I know of since I've only had the cham for a day.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - cage is all screen its a 16x18x28

Lighting - reptisun and exoterra, 5.0 uvb linear bulb and a regular basking bulb? started doing from the time I get up at 8am to about 8pm?

Temperature - ambient temp is around 75 basking spot is 80-85 and I use flukers thermometer?
Humidity - they are around 70% using misting and have a live plant in the cage and I use a flukers humidity gauge?
Plants - yes a ficus.
Placement - against the wall in my room the only thing in my room is AC, but doesn't really seem to affect the cage temps since I have a piece of plastic covering the side that it is on. top of the cage is almost 6' off the ground.

Location - I'm located in pennsylvania.

Current Problem - not sure if this is a normal thing for babies had a baby veild before but can't remember if it ever did this to far back to remember. anyway every now and then during the day where ever the cham is it either is sleeping/napping or is just closing its eyes. the cham eats crickets I put in haven't seen it drink yet but i'm sure it has and other than it sleeps during the day it looks fine. so i'm not sure whats causing that and i've searched on here , but can't seem to find an answer unless I just haven't looked hard enough.

 

[carol5208]

Something is not right if your cham is sleeping during the day. You say you are using a Reptisun AND an Exoterra 5.0 UVB? So you are using two? It may be too strong and causing irritation to your chameleon's eyes. You should just be using the Reptisun 5.0 tube. your temps seem ok if your gauge is correct. What is the wattage of your basking bulb? Asking this incase you are using a high wattage bulb and maybe your temp gauge is not reading correctly. Are you using analog or digital? What I am trying to say if you are using like a 100 watt and your temps are registering 85, then maybe your gauge is off.

 

[chamfan87]

sorry the 5.0 uvb linear tube is the reptisun(the tube is also about a year old not sure if they lose anything after awhile or if they last till they burn out) and the exo is the basking bulb which is 60w(which is new had a 100w but didn't use it at all in fear it was to much for the little cham). and the gauge is a analog one which seems to be working ok but you never know.

 

[camimom]

sorry the 5.0 uvb linear tube is the reptisun(the tube is also about a year old not sure if they lose anything after awhile or if they last till they burn out) and the exo is the basking bulb which is 60w(which is new had a 100w but didn't use it at all in fear it was to much for the little cham). and the gauge is a analog one which seems to be working ok but you never know.

Yes, uvb bulbs go bad somewhere qaround 6 momths to a year. replace and see how tht works. also, how close is it to your chams basking spot.

 

[chamfan87]

ok ill give that a try see if that changes anything. any other advice in the mean time is greatly appreciated. and how close is what to the basking spot? the basking bulb or the uvb tube? I have the basking lamp raised about 8".

 

[camimom]

ok ill give that a try see if that changes anything. any other advice in the mean time is greatly appreciated. and how close is what to the basking spot? the basking bulb or the uvb tube? I have the basking lamp raised about 8".

The uvb bulb. if its too close it can hurt their eyes.

 

[reptoman]

How heavy was the dusting of your crickets? I have noticed that over supplementing especially babies will have an adverse affect. In fact, it is a quicker reaction than under supplementing. Make sure the crickets are "lightly dusted" meaing barely a hint of the white stuff on the crickets. Do not cake it on like you are making fried chicken. Sleeping during the day can mean a lot of things but the fact that the vendor had no info on sex or locale tells me that they were not too into the care of the neonates. Panthers can be sexed very easily most times the day they hatch. The care given in the first couple of weeks is critical so hopefully you can turn it around and get him healthy. His droppings will be a good clue as to how much he has had to drink by the color of the urate. If there is any orange at all in the poop of a panther than young he is not getting enough to drink either by misting or properly gutloaded feeders. Make sure the crickets you are using are eating a wet gutload just prior to feeding and that should help a lot. Baby hornworms and silkworms are a great hydrator as well. Hope this helps.

 

[chamfan87]

The uvb bulb. if its too close it can hurt their eyes.

the uvb bulb is about 2-1/2" raised from the top of the cage.

 

[chamfan87]

How heavy was the dusting of your crickets? I have noticed that over supplementing especially babies will have an adverse affect. In fact, it is a quicker reaction than under supplementing. Make sure the crickets are "lightly dusted" meaing barely a hint of the white stuff on the crickets. Do not cake it on like you are making fried chicken. Sleeping during the day can mean a lot of things but the fact that the vendor had no info on sex or locale tells me that they were not too into the care of the neonates. Panthers can be sexed very easily most times the day they hatch. The care given in the first couple of weeks is critical so hopefully you can turn it around and get him healthy. His droppings will be a good clue as to how much he has had to drink by the color of the urate. If there is any orange at all in the poop of a panther than young he is not getting enough to drink either by misting or properly gutloaded feeders. Make sure the crickets you are using are eating a wet gutload just prior to feeding and that should help a lot. Baby hornworms and silkworms are a great hydrator as well. Hope this helps.

I only dusted the crickets lightly, but I'm not sure how they did it before I bought the cham for all I know they didn't dust them lightly. the cham looks like it was taken care of along with the older one they had which is why I don't know why he would be closing its eyes/sleeping/napping or w/e it is its doing during the day.

will attempt to get some good pics of him tomorrow either in the morning when I get up or after I get home from work. Ill also get pics of his enclosure if this helps.

 

[chamfan87]

so I fear there might be something really wrong here and that its not just the lights. I got up this morning and turned the lights on in the cage and put crickets in along with turning the dripper on and misting and I notice that he still has his eyes closed like he is sleeping . so now i'm not sure what the problem is I also have contacted the vendor since they did give me a warranty with the animal, but I fear this little guy might not make it if he does not wake up and eat or drink something.

 

[LegacysMommy]

So here's what's happened today.

Anth (chamfan) got up, got her set up all lit up and put crickets in her cage. Her crickets were lightly sprinkled (like sparingly sprinkled) with the calcium without D-3 today. She hadn't woken up since he left. Around 11:00 she FINALLY opened her eyes, but it was only for about 11 minutes, and then she went back to sleep. She went to eat one cricket and when it fell and she couldn't get it, she kind of gave up. I attempted to give her another, and she would just turn away from it. I went out, and I came back about 2 hours later. She was still asleep and hadn't moved a centimeter from the spot she was before I left. I sprayed her cage down to get some moisture in there and made sure she was able to drink if she wanted to, and a droplet landed on her mouth; however, she didn't budge. Not even a little. She didn't open her mouth. The only thing that happened was she tipped over a little, and now she's just laying there like that, eyes closed and everything. She turned light when I sprayed, but then went right back to being dark. This is all she has been doing since we got her home. She ate a little, but now there's nothing. No movement, no activity, it's like she's giving up on living.

I also tried contacting the place we purchased her from. It goes right to a voice messaging system every time. Also, if you go to their website you can't even click on the "sick chameleon" link. This is so frustrating!

 

[okiroo]

when did you get her?

 

[chamfan87]

got her on saturday from the reptile show.

 

[camimom]

the uvb bulb is about 2-1/2" raised from the top of the cage.

This may be too close. try moving it up a few inches and see how he does after a few days.

 

[camimom]

so I fear there might be something really wrong here and that its not just the lights. I got up this morning and turned the lights on in the cage and put crickets in along with turning the dripper on and misting and I notice that he still has his eyes closed like he is sleeping . so now i'm not sure what the problem is I also have contacted the vendor since they did give me a warranty with the animal, but I fear this little guy might not make it if he does not wake up and eat or drink something.

What time did you turn your lights on? eveyr once in a while my guy will still be asleep when its 8 am and its time for lights on. ive seen him sleep till 9 am once, and his lights had been on for an hour and a half.

 

[chamfan87]

it was around 8 that I turned the lights on(when I usually get up for work and I turn them off around 8 at night), but he didn't actually wake up till like 11 I believe and it was only for a little then went right back to sleep. I bought a new bulb since the other one was around a year old and someone said it might be bad, but I can try and raise it up more i'll have to make something first, but even with the light off he doesn't wake up and I know he is still alive because you can touch the branch he is on and it will move and puff its self up or if he gets over-spray on him from misting.

I have contacted the vendor I got him from, but have not heard anything back yet there is another reptile show on the 27th that they are supposed to be at and I am planning on going so if I don't hear anything from them by then they are going to hear something from me at the show.

 

[reptoman]

If you can post pics of the cham and enclosure it would help. How did the baby look when you picked him/her up at the show? If it was alert and active then, you might have something with your setup that is causing the baby to stress. An AC vent across the room pushing cold air through the cage would do that. Is the Flukers thermometer a digital or analog? You should have a digital thermometer with a probe for accurate readings. Make sure the cham is not too cold. It is natural for a cham to not eat for a few days after being moved to a new enclosure but this does sound a little out of the ordinary.

 

[chamfan87]

ill post some pics when I get home from work today. at the show I couldn't really see the baby when it was in the cage cause it was under some leaves I actually didn't even know there was a baby in the cage at first till the guy said he had a baby left. when he took him out he seemed fine he was alert looking at us and everything around the room he looked good which is why I bought him cause I didn't see a problem. then on the ride home he was falling asleep in the container, but would wake up every now and then. got him home and put him in the cage(a/c was not on at this time so it was fairly warm in my room) I put some crickets in the cage with him cause the guy said he didn't feed them yet today(the day I got him) and when I did that he started eating right away then climbed up to the top alittle and fell asleep for pretty much the rest of the day. so far since i've had him all i have seen him do is sleep.

when he is up(which isnt long maybe acouple min) he does eat so eating is not the problem its the fact that he sleeps all the time that he is not eating cause when he is awake he only eats like 1 or 2 crickets and thats it. and I have yet to see him drink because again all he does is sleep and nothing wakes him up he just randomly wakes up.

the temp gauge is an analog one.

but I will get pics of him and his enclosure when I get out of work later.

*edit*
actually I forgot i had this pic of the cage on my phone. the light is up higher than that now that was before I raised it up. I just modded a screen cage to make it smaller since the cage that I made was way to big for the little guy for right now. it has a ficus along with some sticks for horizontal climbing and some at different angles going through the cage. also lights aren't on cause I was in the middle of raising the uvb light.

 

[chamfan87]

ok picked up a digital thermometer with a probe. I have it hanging in like the middle of the cage in between the basking spot and the bottom of the cage temp reads a 79.3 the analog reads alittle below 80 so it might be the same. I put it in the basking spot which read 81.8. when I got home though he was awake, but really really dark I left the air off in my room and had it on a low fan so it wasn't like boiling hot in here since I live in the attic this is like the second time I actually seen him awake and moving since I got him.


here are some pics alittle blurry since its from my phone ill have to wait for my girlfriend to get home to use her camera since idk where her cord for the computer is.

but here is rango. he was alittle darker than that when I walked in the room but lightened up alittle to that color. I misted the cage really good because it looks like he is dehydrated from sleeping so much and looks alittle skinny but I gave him some more crickets that he started eating.

eating a cricket that I put on the top of the cage.

 

[chamfan87]

*update*

so far he/she is still awake and very alert he/she has eaten a couple crickets and I tried little wax worms and he/she has eaten about 3 or 4 hoping they help he/she out since she hasn't eaten a whole lot since I had him/her.

hopefully he/she continues to stay awake and returns back to normal sleeping behavior and also continues to eat and hopefully drink(haven't seen that yet)


but any suggestions will still be taken just in case it starts to happen again.

*edit 7:21pm*

he is now back to sleeping he was awake for a lot longer than he has been since I've had him.