Male Panther acting strange need advice

[Kritter]

Ok so I will start out with info about him. He is a 1yr old male Panther he eats a variety of crickets, wax worms, silk worms, and hornworms. I have been using zoo med calcium powder lately as I have ran out of rapashy. He has a large cage with a water misting system live plants, vines, lighting both uvb/basking light and drinks both from the misting as well as from a dripper which I use by hand. Recently he acted very strange after watering him he puffed up and threw up all his water which I thought maybe he just choked and had a little episode as he kind of seemed to panic going to the top of his cage and reaching for the top like he really wanted to escape. I took him out to watch him turn really bright colors as he puffed up but he was also making what sounded to be a coughing more so than a hissing sound and didn't really seem to be breathing much. Needless to say I chalked this up as a choking episode with the whole water incident until today which has been about a week later he started to open his mouth and doing the puffing up and acting strange thing again. Now thinking about parasites I haven't seen his stool lately as the wife had cleaned the cage for me while I was out of town but about 2 or 3 weeks ago I fed him a cicada if that is how you spell it.... Just wanted to see how he would react towards it but before I could pull my arm back he snatched it right up. With that said have I probably answered my own question here with the probability being a parasite? I know there are many variables here and I need to see his poop but I really think something is wrong with him as I haven't seen this behavior from him before but at the same time I am new to raising a chameleon from just being a couple months old. This isn't him just getting fired up I don't believe as I have seen him do that before as I have a female and have showed him his reflection etc.. Please let me know what you think and what actions you would take from this point on. I know my chameleon pretty well and just seem to know there is something wrong just want to take care of him anyway I can before it potentially becomes serious. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Carlton]

Ok so I will start out with info about him. He is a 1yr old male Panther he eats a variety of crickets, wax worms, silk worms, and hornworms. I have been using zoo med calcium powder lately as I have ran out of rapashy. He has a large cage with a water misting system live plants, vines, lighting both uvb/basking light and drinks both from the misting as well as from a dripper which I use by hand. Recently he acted very strange after watering him he puffed up and threw up all his water which I thought maybe he just choked and had a little episode as he kind of seemed to panic going to the top of his cage and reaching for the top like he really wanted to escape. I took him out to watch him turn really bright colors as he puffed up but he was also making what sounded to be a coughing more so than a hissing sound and didn't really seem to be breathing much. Needless to say I chalked this up as a choking episode with the whole water incident until today which has been about a week later he started to open his mouth and doing the puffing up and acting strange thing again. Now thinking about parasites I haven't seen his stool lately as the wife had cleaned the cage for me while I was out of town but about 2 or 3 weeks ago I fed him a cicada if that is how you spell it.... Just wanted to see how he would react towards it but before I could pull my arm back he snatched it right up. With that said have I probably answered my own question here with the probability being a parasite? I know there are many variables here and I need to see his poop but I really think something is wrong with him as I haven't seen this behavior from him before but at the same time I am new to raising a chameleon from just being a couple months old. This isn't him just getting fired up I don't believe as I have seen him do that before as I have a female and have showed him his reflection etc.. Please let me know what you think and what actions you would take from this point on. I know my chameleon pretty well and just seem to know there is something wrong just want to take care of him anyway I can before it potentially becomes serious. Thanks in advance for your help!

First, I very much doubt a parasite has caused his coughing episodes. You can easily check his parasite load by taking a fresh fecal sample to a local vet. Remember, most chams will have some parasites as they get them from their feeders. You won't necessarily have to get rid of them all and probably can't. They become a problem if the population is very high and your cham has other health problems. Do the check to ease your mind.

About the choking episode...chams have relatively small stomachs for their size, and no sphincter between the stomach and the esophagus. If they overfill their stomach it can back up into their throat resulting in a cough or gag to expel the water. I've had an occasional cham do this too, and the arm waving and bright colors happened too (its bound to be upsetting and stressful). If these are isolated events and he's still acting normally (eating, moving around, basking as he normally would) he is probably OK. If he stops eating or drinking, sits dark and quiet under the basking light for long periods, sits with his head pointed straight up gulping over and over, that might indicate a respiratory infection.

One thing you might do is check for signs of dehydration. If he's desperately thirsty and drinking a lot more than usual he might be more prone to overdoing it. Does he drool a lot of clear saliva while he's drinking? That is one telltale sign he's unusually thirsty.

 

[Kritter]

He is drinking however now he has 1 eye shut for some reason occasionally opens it but has seem to not be interested in eating. Think I am going to have to take him to the vet just worried that now because he has stopped eating that I am not going to be able to get a fecal sample.

 

[bobcochran]

Get him to open his mouth while you're handling him, look down his throat to check for bubbles or excessive mucus- sounds like maybe upper respiratory problem. Definitely vet check time.
Parasites wouldn't be debilitating that quickly on an otherwise healthy chameleon.

 

[Kritter]

There is a lot of mucus. Going to take him in thanks for the help. Why does he keep one eye shut? How do you treat a chameleon for that after they have stopped eating? Guess maybe those should be ?'s for the vet. Thanks for the help really appreciate it.

 

[Kritter]

Took him in they de wormed him, soaked him in water and kept him in the incubator for 12 hours. Sent him home with a antibiotic for his eye which he still seems to have closed he still eats but not tearing them up like he usually does. I am wondering if they misdiagnosed him or if I just need to be patient. They seem to ignore my claims of him possibly having a respiratory infection but I guess I will see if he gets better. If he doesn't is there a medicine (antibiotic) that I can ask for to take care of this? I feel that if they have misdiagnosed him and it turns out that that's what it is I shouldn't have to pay another $100 just for the visit alone. I asked why they would go straight to the de worming medicine and the doctor said because that was the most common problem... Feel free to tell me your opinions even if you don't agree with my opinions lol! Just wish I could get him back to being healthy hate seeing a pet not feeling good and feeling helpless.

 

[Kritter]

So ended up getting him on a antibiotic to treat the URI he had but unfortunately it was too late we made him as comfortable as we possibly could and thought he was starting to make a comeback just to end up having him go. Was really frustrated with our experience with vets that were suppose to be experienced with chameleons and other reptiles. They seemed to do all the things that I read to not be what you wanted to do when trying to treat a chameleon. After $800 and a lot of time we did literally everything we could do. Now we are stuck trying to figure out do we take some time and purchase another? We loved our little friend however just worried that if another one gets sick we haven't found a vet that I feel knows how to best treat one. I got more information from this site in 2 days than a team of vets had at a 24 hr Animal ER that says they are experienced in the herp field. Thanks to the people that helped us with whatever answers you could provide.