BB Panther, eyes and not eating… Reptaid, vet or ???

[David]

My male panther of about a year old is not eating, seems to be partially blind and is a little undersized from his twin brother. Now his brother has grown up in the exact same conditions and is fine and healthy. And I have two other Ambilobe BB Panthers (a male and female) also that are fine and healthy. This one with the problem has been handicapped since he was maybe 4 months since when I received him, and slowly has become worse.

But when he can see his aim seems way off, but he hasn’t eaten anything for nearly a week and seems to get skinnier. When he was going for food and his tongue shoots high always over the food. Seems that the only way I can feed him is when he can see out of his one eye (it’s most often closed), then I hand feed him when he opens his mouth. I gut load his food, use Miner-Al dust on the crickets and alternately dust weekly with vitamins and mist their folliage a few times a day.

I recently bought some Reptaid in hopes that it might help cure his ills… how do I give it to him when he’s not feeding or opening his mouth??? I once tried to open his mouth but I would rather not kill him with that stressful event again in the future.

Here’s the info from the Chameleon Health Questionaire and my answers:

• Problem - Again, is not eating, seems to be partially blind and is a little undersized from his twin brother. And when he is, his aim seems way off. I watch him go for food and his tongue shoots high always over the food. He’s undersized for his age, or at least in comparison to his bro.
• Chameleon Description – He’s a Ambilobe Blue Bar, male, +/-8 mos. old, have been caring for it for about 4.5 months since I bought it from a local seller who advertised him for sale on this for sale board.
• Handling - A few times a week and he’s fine with it, but like most chams, would prefer to be hanging out on a branch.
• Feeding - Crickets and superworms, usually a couple or few of one and/or the other available daily. Gut loading is greens, carrots and oranges, plus Zukers with the crickets.
• Supplements - I dust Miner-Al on the crickets and alternately dust weekly with Reptivite.
• Watering - I mist 2 – 3 times daily with filtered drinking water (tap), and he usually drinks from the leaves IF he can see.
• Fecal Description – Generally dark brown fecies with a touch of white on one end.
• History – He’s been eating this way since I received him.
• Cage Type - Standard commercial make screen cage of about 28”w x 14”d x 24”h.
• Lighting - Fixture one is Reptisun 18” UVB 5.0, and fixture two is warm lamp 60w incandesant. Lights are on from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm, or they are in their cage outdoors for the day if I am home and the weather is good, as it often is here in the OC.
• Temperature - Temps are generally room temp (68 – 72f) and warmer under the bulb itself.
• Humidity - Created by daily misting and watering of plant.
• Plants - Schefflera abroricola, 6” pot.
• Placement - Cage is located on a counter at 3’ height in my home office, no traffic and calm. No proximity to AC and not too close to floor vents.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? SoCal, in the OC.
• See attached pics also taken a week or so ago. Here his eye was somewhat open.

I dunno... maybe this one's the runt and born with problems, and there's nothing I can do for him??? But I hold out hope for him to become healthy and live a normal existence...

Thank you in advance for your time and input!

 

[Olimpia]

There's nothing off in your husbandry that would be "AHA, that's the problem right there!" I'm not sure what would cause that array of symptoms. Seems to me that a vet would probably be the best option for you. They will be able to check for infections or parasites (you'll need to provide a fecal sample) and rule out (or in) anything medical that could be causing this.

I think that you are in the area of Dr. Greek? I have the faint idea that he's in your general area, but I might be wrong. He's an excellent chameleon vet you could go see, he'll certainly be able to figure out what it wrong.

He looks beautiful, by the way. Lovely colors. He doesn't look like the runt! I have a panther that looked about 3 months old way into 8-9 months of age. Tiny little thing. Yours looks great for his age.

 

[David]

Thanks. Yes, he's a handsome guy, but he needs to see better then he will eat. Its probably a fix, but vet visits are $$$...

So who's this Dr Greek? Does anyone here have any experience w/ him or other local vets?

 

[CoLoRcHaNgEr13]

Thanks. Yes, he's a handsome guy, but he needs to see better then he will eat. Its probably a fix, but vet visits are $$$...

So who's this Dr Greek? Does anyone here have any experience w/ him or other local vets?

Dr. Greek is located in Yorba Linda and has lots of experience with Chameleons. He is highly recommended.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

David
Of course without a fecal exam it is impossible to tell if the guy has parasites or what his problem might be. But you can treat safely with Reptaid and very often it will help solve the problem and get the chameleon back on a healthy track.

We can appreciate the difficulty in getting a chameleon to open the mouth to accept the reptaid. But please understand that we have treated many many chameleons as well as geckos and lots of other species of reptiles with Reptaid and there are tricks and techniques for all of them.

For a chameleon who will not gape at us for any reason, here is what we do. I hold the chameleon in my left hand and if he is a struggler, i will hold him in a towel with his head protruding but his legs and tail safely in the towel. Then rub a small rubber spatula like you would use in the kitchen, between his lips until he either opens his mouth to bite the spatula or you get it between his teeth. Then quickly squeeze the plastic syringe (without the needle) between his teeth on the other side and squirt in the Reptaid.

Sometimes we will treat chameleons or other species during the night by waking them up and treating them real quick while they are sleepy and docile. This works very well at times.

I realize that you dont want to stress the animal but you know, if he is sick then he is already stressed. If you treat him quickly and methodically, it really doesn't stress him that much. If you have to inject him with a needle to administer a drug like Baytril, now that is very very stressful, and painful, and leaves injuries everywhere the needle penetrates his skin. Reptaid does nothing like that. And in a few days he may just be feeling a lot better so the little bit of stress is worthwhile when you consider the end results - a healthy and happy animal.