Got my Panther Chameleon today!

Michael10

New Member
Went to a reptile expo and got a chameleon. He seems hungry and goes after the crickets and mealworms but misses. Is this normal?? :eek:
What can I do to make sure he is eating?
 
an Expo in Shepherdsville, KY. It's a male ~ 4 months old. Read up on all the basics, so it has screened cage, two lights, USB bulb and blue heating light. Live, plants and we have misted him twice. Just brought him home about 3 hrs ago. They said he was captive bred, panther, blue something.. I put about 5 meal worms in my hand and held it up and he immediately went after them but just kept missing, same with the crickets, he is actively going after them but hasn't managed to get one. I'm tempted to put him in a tupper ware box filled with insects and he should manage to get one then.:D
Does he just need time to settle? How do you post pics?
 
an Expo in Shepherdsville, KY. It's a male ~ 4 months old. Read up on all the basics, so it has screened cage, two lights, USB bulb and blue heating light. Live, plants and we have misted him twice. Just brought him home about 3 hrs ago. They said he was captive bred, panther, blue something.. I put about 5 meal worms in my hand and held it up and he immediately went after them but just kept missing, same with the crickets, he is actively going after them but hasn't managed to get one. I'm tempted to put him in a tupper ware box filled with insects and he should manage to get one then.:D
Does he just need time to settle? How do you post pics?

hit post reply and there is the little paper clip to the right of the smiley face by all the icons at the top. You can download pics from there. They are pretty good with their aim so it sounds like something is amiss. Could be an eye issue or possibly a tongue injury or some type of vitamin deficiency. Did they tell you if they supplemented him and did they tell you to buy supplements to continue with.?
 
They asked if we had calcium supplements and we do and he said only 2-3 times per month, which is consistent to what we've read. He looks skinny to me, but he was the only male at the expo and the booth was the only vendor selling chameleons. Everything we asked about him was consistent to what we have read on here for their care. Everytime I take my camera out he tries to hide, so I haven't got any good pics.
 
You supplement with calcium w/o d3 WAAAY more often than a few times a month.

Generally healthy chameleons do not miss more than every now and then. Consistent missing usually indicates a problem.
 
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Calcium without d3 should be used at just about EVERY feeding. Dust you feeders with that lightly. Calcium with d3 a couple of times a month and a multivitamin a couple of times a month also. What supplements do you currently have? Do you know about "gutloading your feeders"?
 
Yes, I know about gutloading, and the crickets have tons of veggies and fruit, but I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to feed so I put a handful of crickets in just when I got him home. We have Calcium supplement and herptivite, multivitamin supplement. How will that help if he can't get the meal? Give it time or what?
 
It depends on what is wrong with him. If it is a tongue injury, then it may take some time to heal and may get better on its own. Again, do you know if he was supplemented? We really don't know what is wrong with him, so it is hard to say that time will solve the problem.You are doing the right thing by dusting your feeders. So the calcium you have is with or without d3?. you need two as said before. I would put a bunch of feeders together in a shallow dish so they all congregate to one corner and then when he shoots his tongue he will be bound to get something. You can also try tongs and holding the insect in front of him. I imagine being new, he is probably afraid of you and it will take him time to settle in on that aspect, so that may not work. You are not going to be able to let the crickets run lose if he cannot catch them with his tongue. Mealworms are a poor feeder so you need to make sure that he gets something in him besides those. Order some silkworms. You can get them from Coastal Silkworms.com or Mulberry Farms.com
 
Just an update, I've been hand feeding my chameleon crickets, he eats about 5 -3x per day. Is this a good amount? He still doesn't seem very good about catching, but he has a tongue (other post about missing tongue scared me). I grab the cricket by the back leg and put it up to him and he does pretty good that way. How does he look? Fat enough?
 

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your cham looks pretty healthy to me and his legs do not look like they have any sign of MBD. Sometimes tongue issues are caused by MBD. It is possible that it could have a tongue injury of some sort or maybe is eyesight is off. I mean just by looking at the pic he looks good!
 
I'm new so take this for what it's worth but my 3 month old (no tongue issues) eats about 8-15 per-day depending on size and mood.

So 5 x 3 sounds normal compared to mine, maybe some pro's can shed more light for us. Glad your guy is doing well.
 
He ate 11 crickets in one feeding yesterday. :O Can anyone tell me from the picture I posted if indeed he is a HE?? Thanks
 
He ate a big black fly I caught in the window. :D


Another question: you talk of testing for parasites, can't you just worm them one per year just to be on the safe side? What do they use to worm, ivermectin??
 
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