Drop in appetite

Ongo

Member
Hi all,

I have a male 6mo old vohemar panther cham. He has been growing like a weed for the last 6mo but the last week or two his growth has practically stopped. He is still eating, though much less, and the rate he is putting on weight at has slowed significantly. He has also been caught exploring right down to the cage floor a few times over the last few days. He has recently hit puberty and started leaving sperm plugs and flashing(!) over the last few weeks too !

Here are some pictures -

As you can see his enclosure is mostly wood, with a mesh roof and mesh side panels, and a glass front panel. It's 5 feet high by 3 wide and 3 deep. He has a t8 5% UVB tube lamp, a 100w dimmer thermostat controlled basking lamp (29c at it's hottest spot). The ambient cage temp is around 20c most days.

He is misted with an auto mister. Even though his poops are smaller and less frequent this week he is still well hydrated with white urates. Supplements - calcium without d3 every day bar sat, where I alternating multivitamin and calcium with d3. He eats crick gutloading with sweet potato, apple and carrot mostly. Occasionally hoppers and supers too.

My theory is that he is maybe seeing his reflection in the glass door? And it has started intimidating him? But I haven't seen him fire up to it at all, or hide any more. Just eat less and explore more. Any other theories?

Any questions or info reqd then please ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Thanks on advance for your help!
 
Welcome to the forum! Beautiful guy you have there! As they mature they eat less and their growth slows. Calcium everyday and with d3 and multi vitamin twice a month.
 
Welcome to the forum! Beautiful guy you have there! As they mature they eat less and their growth slows. Calcium everyday and with d3 and multi vitamin twice a month.
Thanks :) yeah I've seen that, but this seemed like something a little more than that since he is still only weighing 80g..what do you think about the reflection theory? Worthwhile me changing the front to screen as well?
 
The more ventilation the better imo. I see my guy looking up towards his lighting with the polished reflectors and say the same thing (I have a six bulb T5 setup for lighting). I have not seen him display any behavior or color change when doing so.
 
I would not think 80 grams for 6 months is bad. Considering ours hit roughly the same sizes at maturity. I have a male veiled who is 7 months and just hit 96grams. He has hit cycles the last two months where he will eat anything in site and then curb back on his on.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong on this.
 
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