3 yr old male panther, been in my care since he was 2 months old
He loves to come out daily. Wants to walk onto my hand. I let him walk around a bit, he has sticks he can climb up at the window to look outside. In summer, he goes out and climbs on tree and trellis. Limit out of cage time to 30 minutes.
He is eating silkworms, sometimes hornworms, some crickets, some super worms, and also butterworms. Phoenix worms when I can get them. Was eating well until recently.
I was supplementing by feeding the crickets "calciumplus" that I got from the vet. But since he doesn't eat crickets much any more, I also dust his worms about once a week with calcium (repti calcium from Zoo Med)and vitamins. But I have looked up the vitamin package, and apparently it isn't that great. No vitamin A. I have now ordered a vitamin A supplement through Ripashy.
The calciumplus diet isn't nearly enough. Not only do you need to gutload his feeders, he also needs powdered supplements. Dust his food daily with calcium that has no D3 in it. I use rep-cal. Once every two weeks, you will dust with a multivitamin. For that one, I use Reptolife. Also once every two weeks, you'll want to dust with calcium powder that DOES have D3 in it. I really think that the issue is a calcium deficiency. Grip weakness and tongue troubles are both symptoms, and are both early symptoms as well.
He has dripping water (filtered) twice daily for 30 minutes. He doesn't drink daily, but when he does, he loves it, sitting under it and lapping away.
leave the dripping water on all day, especially since it is getting hot out. He should have water available all day. Also, many people mist their chameleons as a way of watering them. They will lick water off of leaves and branches, which is what they do in the wild.
His poops are large, half dark and half light. He is eating less now and hasn't pooped in a couple of days. The light part should be stark white. If it's yellow or orange, it means he is dehydrated.
At the advice of the Vet who everyone swears by here in Portland area (Dr. Burgess, who also consults with the Portland Zoo), I switched the cage from wire mesh to terrarium about 9 months ago. According to vet, just the enclosure itself would provide enough humidity. But I have recently noticed that when the heat lamp is on, the humidity plummets. Since it is summer, I am using the heat lamp only two 3 hour intervals a day.
The enclosure is large and tall, about 3 feet or more tall, with a screened top.
Mesh is so much better in my opinion. Temperature control is easier, there's airflow which is very important. To resolve the humidity issue, you can use a smaller wattage heat bulb, 100 is probably too much, especially in a glass cage. He needs to have the temperature gradient all day so he can thermoregulate, and keep his body temperature the way he wants it. So his light needs to be on for 12 hours a day. You should also mist his enclose at least 2x a day. That will help with the humidity. They don't need constant high humidity. Usually what happens is when you mist, there will be spikes in the humidity, and it will slowly drop down throughout the day. There should always be time for the enclosure to dry out before you mist again.
I have a heat lamp, from Zoo med, 100 watt. I have the UVB lights, two of them. One is 5.0 Reptisun, the other an 18 inch 25 UBV bulb "all things living" brand. The long one spans across the top front. The short one shares the top back along with the heat lamp, which I am now limiting. The UVB lights are one for about 14 hours a day. Leave lights on for 12 hours a day. You only need the Reptisun 5.0, I haven't heard of the other one, but it isnt necessary. When's the last time you switched out the Reptisun? After six months, they stop giving off UVB even if the light still works, and UVB is very important for chameleons to be able to absorb/metabolize calcium. The heat lamp you have is probably too hot. You can use a smaller one. I use a 50 watt one in my screen cage.
The temp ranges from close to 85 on top when the heat lamp is on with lower temp in mid 70's towards bottom of cage. When heat is off, it's still in the mid 70's throughout. He likes being near the top, even with the higher temps, but tends not to "bask" under the heat lamp when it is on.
Because I like my house warm, there is no heat at night, but the temp is in low 70's.
You don't want the whole top of the cage to be 85, just the area under the basking lamp. The top area of the cage should be mid 70's and the bottom areas can drop to the high sixties/low seventies. He is probably too hot.
Again, I suspect the humidity is the issue, which I am trying to resolve by limiting the heat lamp. Not sure how to address this when it is winter....Humidity is not the issue, I am 99% sure of it. You dont need to limit the heat, just add in the misting a mentioned and lower the wattage of the bulb.
He has a live Sheffelera plant, it is large and takes up most of the cage. When I clean the cage, I rotate out and put a different Sheffelera in. The twice daily dripping water waters the plant and I drain out the basin beneath the plant when needed.
The cage sits in front of a window that gets some direct sunlight, but I close the shades when it is in the nineties so as not to overheat him.I would move it away from the window so that you can regulate the temperatures more easily and the sunlight isn't doing anything besides creating excess heat, since glass filters the UV rays out of the sun.
I live in Vancouver, Washington.
The problem is progressing grip weakness. I think his tongue is now starting to be affected...... I really think your chameleon is showing early signs of MBD, or a calcium deficiency. Fix his supplementation and the heating issues and I think you will see improvement fairly quickly.
