Loss of appetite?

[KatCham]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Panther chameleon nosey be x bb ambilobe, male, 9 months old. Had him since February (6 months)
Handling - Never. Have a couple of times to put him outside or do a major clean out, but I've more or less accepted he's one of those chams who would just rather not!!! LOL!!! Seriously tho, if it stresses him out I'm not going to force it!! Hisses and everythin if my hand gets too close.
Feeding - Butterworms, morios,locusts(staple), silkworms? 5 morios/butterworms/silkworms or 10 locusts? Fed on a morning an hour after lights on? Butters-nothing. Morios, carrot every now and again. Silks-mulberry chow. Locusts, Carrot, greens, bug gel, bug grub.
Supplements - Chameleon Dust Vitamin and Calcium with D3 X little bit 2 PER WEEK as per advice from reputable chameleon breeder. Cricket Dust Calcium with no D3 every feed, unless silks or butters as already high in calcium.
Watering - Little dripper set at 1 drip every 2 secs. Also mist x 3 per day till everything dripping.
Fecal Description - Dark brown hard rat poo type shape with white bit at the end. not tested for parasites?
History - Can't really think of anything, other than whenever I go in the room, he is still very wary and hides. always has been like that. hates me in dark clothes!! less wary with light colours!?!?!?
Oh. He burnt himself when younger. My fault as bulb holder in contact with mesh. He just seems to have a little permanent dark patch left on his belly. Skin comes off fine over scar when shedding. Doesn't seem to bother him.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze mesh enclosure 46 x 46 x 92cm
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0 UV tube. 60W Bulb for basking. UV on 8 till 9. Basking light 9 till 8.
Temperature - Low temp about 19C. Basking spot 27.5C - 28.5C depending on time of day (cooler when misting) measure with 2 probe digital thermometer. Night time about 15-17C
Humidity - 65-75% depending on time of day.'Dial' humidity gauge.
Plants - Fake foliage aroung top. Ficus and Hibiscus live plants.
Placement - Spare room, minimal traffic, just me when I go in to feed/mist really. Cage on wooden desk so top is about 6ft plus from floor.
Location - Houghton le Spring UK

Issue

He doesn't seem that 'eager' to eat. He used to go mad when he was a baby. Sometimes I find the odd locust in his bowl but I think he only eats them when they leave the bowl. If they don't he doesn't bother. I didn't think he would eat any of the worms out of the bowl. Won't eat morios unless I forcep feed, but even then he only does it when it suits him. Then he just holds it in his mouth rather than eagerly chowing down like i've seen other chams do. But, I put a couple of butters in the bowl the other day and they weren't there when I came back a couple of hours later. He must have eaten them out of there that time. Otherwise he'll only seem to entertain them if they are on a vine or forcep fed.

He's gone a couple of days with locusts left over, then other days I can't see a single one so i assume he's eaten them all.
Am I overfeeding? After reading guidelines on other posts I'm worried that he should be eating about 10 locusts every day as he's only 9 months old. I normally only put 5 worms in as they are bigger but he rarely eats all of them.

Any ideas?

I'm hoping to get up to date pics of him 2mrw.

 

[ataraxia]

Chameleon Info:
Feeding - Butterworms, morios,locusts(staple), silkworms? 5 morios/butterworms/silkworms or 10 locusts? Fed on a morning an hour after lights on? Butters-nothing. Morios, carrot every now and again. Silks-mulberry chow. Locusts, Carrot, greens, bug gel, bug grub. Please explain a little better how many of which you feed a day. Are you using morios as a staple?
Supplements - Chameleon Dust Vitamin and Calcium with D3 X little bit 2 PER WEEK as per advice from reputable chameleon breeder. Cricket Dust Calcium with no D3 every feed, unless silks or butters as already high in calcium.what kind of supplements are you using?

Temperature - Low temp about 19C. Basking spot 27.5C - 28.5C depending on time of day (cooler when misting) measure with 2 probe digital up his basking temp to 90* thermometer. Night time about 15-17C

Issue

He doesn't seem that 'eager' to eat. He used to go mad when he was a baby. Sometimes I find the odd locust in his bowl but I think he only eats them when they leave the bowl. If they don't he doesn't bother. I didn't think he would eat any of the worms out of the bowl. Won't eat morios unless I forcep feed, but even then he only does it when it suits him. Then he just holds it in his mouth rather than eagerly chowing down like i've seen other chams do. But, I put a couple of butters in the bowl the other day and they weren't there when I came back a couple of hours later. He must have eaten them out of there that time. Otherwise he'll only seem to entertain them if they are on a vine or forcep fed.

He's gone a couple of days with locusts left over, then other days I can't see a single one so i assume he's eaten them all.
Am I overfeeding? After reading guidelines on other posts I'm worried that he should be eating about 10 locusts every day as he's only 9 months old. I normally only put 5 worms in as they are bigger but he rarely eats all of them.

Any ideas?

I'm hoping to get up to date pics of him 2mrw.

i honestly get confused reading your feeding schedule. the underline statement suggest you are current only offering morios? In the upper half of the paragraph you state he is eating the bugs once they leave the cup?

1. What are you feeding him on a daily basis?
2. How much are you feeding him on a daily basis?
3. How much is he eating of each feeder on a daily basis?


you might also want to check out sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading.

 

[Elizadolots]

They do get their "adult" appetites at some point. It might just be that he's not growing as much as he was so doesn't need to scarf food with the enthusiasm he once did.

 

[KatCham]

i honestly get confused reading your feeding schedule. the underline statement suggest you are current only offering morios? In the upper half of the paragraph you state he is eating the bugs once they leave the cup?

1. What are you feeding him on a daily basis?
2. How much are you feeding him on a daily basis?
3. How much is he eating of each feeder on a daily basis?


you might also want to check out sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading.

Apologies for the confusion.

Gutloaded locusts are his staple, which I feed 10 of.
On the odd day, Instead of the locusts he gets worms of some kind. Butters OR morios OR silkworms. If it is a 'worm day' I put 5 in the feeder cup.

Some days he eats all locusts, some days he doesn't.
Worms - he eats up to 4 but only from forceps usually. With the exception of a couple of days ago when he must have eaten 2 butters from the feeder bowl as they weren't in there when i went back to look. That's why I'm confused!!! He's not off his food completely he just isn't as interested as he used to be.

Supplements I use

T Rex Chameleon Dust Multi Vitamin Calcium with D3 twice a week (advised by reputable panther breeder, best to do it a little twice a week rather than more quantity of multi vit once a week - he also advised not to use Nutrobal with panthers as in his past experience it made their neck swell)

Every feeding he gets Komodo Cricket Dust 99% Calcium with no D3 (except for the days when he gets the multi vitamin) Butter worms and silworms are already high in calcium as you know so these are not dusted.

Today I put 10 locusts in his feeder cup. Went home at lunch time. Some are in the bowl and some are out the bowl. So he mustn't be interested in eating them.

I will up basking temp to 90, thankyou for the advice.

 

[jannb]

Please post some pictures. Often as they get older they will not eat as much. If they are not skinny I start feeding every other day around 6 to 9 months. I would also highly recommed a fecal to make sure he doen't have parasites. If you don't get regular fecals then you never know what they've got.

 

[KatCham]

Please post some pictures. Often as they get older they will not eat as much. If they are not skinny I start feeding every other day around 6 to 9 months. I would also highly recommed a fecal to make sure he doen't have parasites. If you don't get regular fecals then you never know what they've got.

Thanks Jann. Pics below. Sometimes he looks skinny when walking around. Sometimes he plumps himself up so much he looks fat!!! LOL He looks quite plump in these pics, but he's all curled up on his vine. Don't know if you can tell with your experience if he is under/overweight?? Have also included pics of his 'heart' scar from burn when he was younger. (The red is colour pigment on scales, not blood!!!) Middle part is dark with a grey area in the middle. Like I said earlier, doesnt seem to bother him and skin sheds from over it fine)

To have a fecal done, he doesn't need to go to the vets does he? Don't want to stress him out unnecassarily. Do I just collect a poop sample and take it to the vet?

Let me know what you think of him (if I need to start reducing feeding etc)

I have increased basking temp to 90F as per earlier advice.

Here's the pics:

Simba curled up in his pad

Body shots (showing his 'heart' scar)

Size of him in relation to my hand(held about 3 inches in front of him)

Such a handsome boy!!

Just love his colours!!

 

[KatCham]

Also, on the feeders.

2 locusts left (that I can see) One on a leaf at the top of the enclosure, one still in feeder cup) TYPICAL!! I report what I think is a problem, then he starts eatin again!!!!

Was worth it anyway for the advice, so please keep it coming.

 

[KatCham]

Thought I'd take a couple more pics when I went to mist Simba this afternoon:

Lovin that mist!!

He blows me away with his colours!

Cheeky!

Then he decided that was enough pics:

He looks healthy to me, must just be full of grub

 

[Olimpia]

He's so handsome!
His head pads look good (as long as they're flat and not caving in), then he's at a good weight. People (like me) like to see them a little more inflated but my vet doesn't necessarily think that's a healthy weight either! Flat is at least lean but healthy. You can't see his cheeks or arm bones so he's at a good weight. I think it might be time to cut down his food intake a little and get him on his adult food regimen. He'll probably eat better on the days he does get fed, instead of just eating for the sake of eating.

 

[KatCham]

He's so handsome!
His head pads look good (as long as they're flat and not caving in), then he's at a good weight. People (like me) like to see them a little more inflated but my vet doesn't necessarily think that's a healthy weight either! Flat is at least lean but healthy. You can't see his cheeks or arm bones so he's at a good weight. I think it might be time to cut down his food intake a little and get him on his adult food regimen. He'll probably eat better on the days he does get fed, instead of just eating for the sake of eating.

Thanks for the advice hun!! I have been considering cutting his food down and just feed him every other day.
Jann said a similar thing too about starting with their adult feeding schedule at around 9 months if they are healthy.

I will start that next week. Have increased basking temp to 88 too now he's getting bigger