Help a brother

[metteycolin]

So I have decided to open another thread about my concern for my female panther, to try to get some more feedback .

Your Chameleon - Female, Nosy be ~ 11mo, had her for 8mo
Handling - maybe once every 2 weeks
Feeding - staple diet are gutloaded crickets, occassionally some mealworms, prob about 6-8 crickets every other day around 9am. For gutloading i use mustard green, collard greens, apples bananas, apples, carrots all in a mix.
Supplements - Every feeding I use a calcium powder, no d3, and about 2 a mo i use a multi with d3.?
Watering - Have a mist king that goes off throughout the day at 30-120 secs. I do see them drink.
Fecal Description - Usually Dark brown with whitish urate, somtimes can have glossy film over it. (one time I have seen feces was very runny in past week)
History -
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, large 36X18X18
Lighting - reptisun, 5.0 uvb, tube lights are on from 6:30am-530pm
Temperature - cage at bottom ~67 basking ~ 87F. lowest 62f
Humidity - humidity ~ 45-55%, have cool mist humidifier and mist king
Plants - I use a golden pathos, and umbrella tree
Placement - top of cage is ~6.5 ft off ground

Current Problem: She has not eaten or pooped in about 2 week now, very stationary (does not move around cage often (not restless), has not had staple pooping regimes only have seen 2 in last week( and they were running consistency. she is very plump, and displays very dark coloration and occasionally, pink orange colors (receptive colors). The fact that she is not eating or pooping and being really chubby gets me thinking she is about ready to lay, but her physical mannerisms just dont add up ( not roaming the cage for place to lay (restlessness).... So I am very perplex. She has never been mated so this clutch (if there is one?) will be infertile.. PLEASE help me out and send me your feedback.

 

[metteycolin]

So i guess no one has any feedback huh.

 

[Hakai]

Well I really have no idea what that could be but I felt I should say something since no1 else has. The only thing that comes to mind for me is pregnancy. You said that she is plump and said something about laying. Have you tried putting her in a laying bin?

 

[metteycolin]

yea tell me about it!! and yea I have put her in a laying bin, and also have a large pot in there just in case..thanks for the feedback tho

 

[squeekz1992]

Maybe she is growing eggs, so not ready to lay yet but far enough along to be grumpy and not hungry?

 

[metteycolin]

I really hope that is the case :/, danke

 

[KiloTheChameleon]

Lovly Chameleon owner,

Is there any soil she could get into? Is there anything better we can use than potting soil? Maybe sand? I'm not sure. I've herd bad things about soil!

I'd say offer food in the cage, meal worms moving at the bottom in sight, crickets roaming around, maybe she will gain interest.

Maybe give her privacy, but a showing of concern with the food.

I'm sure someone will answer, I just want you to know to wait a lil bit By tomorrow all the experts will have been here

 

[ataraxia]

1. If you believe your female has a clutch brewing. Patience young grasshopper, patience. Make sure she has a suitable laying bin left in the cage from here on out. Keep sand moist to the point you can dig tunnels. Some females will go off of food before they lay not typically weeks before the lay but each animal is different. is she staying mid cage yet or visiting the bottom of the cage at all?

2. Consistent runny stool worry me. If it were just one i wouldnt worry about it but one after another for a period of two week. Definitely take a stool sample in for analysis.

 

[metteycolin]

She has really only had about 2 bowel movements in the past two weeks, and only one was running. As for her cage, I have a oversized flower pot with a mixture of potting soil and sand 11x11x8" with a umbrella tree taking about 1/3 of the space. I have her covered and I go to school full time, so I haven't been reallly observing her behavior to closely, but all the times I have she is very sluggish and sits up on the top of the canopy.

 

[Alexl]

Sound like a typical problem with an overfed female and infertile eggs. Eigentlich könnten wir auch einfach hier auf Deutsch weiter reden, wenn du dich hier gut eingelesen hast, das würde die Sache vereinfachen.

Problems about your mentioned keeping conditions:
- Feeding is too much for a young female and you should offer a wider variety of feeders. Mealworms shouldn't be part of her diet, they're really fatty little protein bombs. See this list of feeders.
- Which powder with D3? Unfortunately, there are lots of useless supplements over here.
- Any fecals done yet?
- Reptisun ever measured with a Solarmeter 6.5? We got quite a lot problems in Germany with unsufficient UVB in such brands.
- Cool mist humidifier = Nebler in german? If yes, please read this and this article carefully.
- Only these two plants inside her cage? Can we get a picture?
- Her laying bin is quite small and maybe she just doesn't like to lay exactly there. Is 11 inches the height of the soil? Is it humid or dry?

And last: You're lucky to live in Munich, so you got a lot of very good reptile vets nearby (click, click, click, click, click - all well-known, long experienced specialists in reptiles or let's say Fachtierärzte in german). Could it be you missed her looking for a laying place? Sounds very much like a young, eggbound female to me (age, behaviour, problems in cage setup). Good time for a vet visit to check her up, better be safe than sorry.