EChip
New Member
Hello,
I have an 18 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon and recently I've noticed a few things.
The biggest is with his bowel movements. He only seems able to go once every three weeks! And I can only get him to go when he is in the shower for a bit. I've tried putting him in the shower a week after he's gone, but he refuses to go. Even tried two weeks after but still nothing. It's not until three weeks that he will go. This started gradually, as a juvenile he went every couple of days, then every week, then every two weeks and now to this. I went to the guy I brought him from and he said the same thing as me, that he sounds a little dehydrated and recommended spraying his enclosure an hour before the lights go off as apparently they are more likely to drink at that time. (I spray his e nclosure about 5 times a day, he also a dripper on during the day. Have been wondering whether to get a humidifier for the room). I have been doing that, and yet the problem persists. The poops come out normal looking, although very large (as expected) and there are sometimes two instead of one.
The second problem is with his feeding. I am simply unsure if I am giving him the right amount and have been giving completely different advice. I currently have him on a diet of 6 4th instar crickets (fairly big but not too big so he can choke on them) every other day with a few waxworks a few times a week as a treat. I've had some people tell me that that is the right amount, but I've had others tell me he needs more like 6-8 daily or 12 every other day, so I'm not quite sure what to go for here. I dust them with a calcium (no D3) supplement every other feeding and use a multivitamin supplement every two weeks.
The last problem is his colouring. He also used to be a "duller" colour when he was chilling (just different shades of green) but when he got flared up he would go into greens, reds and blues. Now when he flares up his colours just aren't there. They're more like paler colours of green camo. His chin used to go bright red when he flares up but now it is more of a yellow green colour when he flares up. He's steadily been changing colour over the winter, which is why I didn't worry as I've heard people say chams go through colour changes during the winter. I didn't notice it last winter as he was still a baby then and didn't really have much of a colour scheme at that point. But know I've noticed the change and am now getting worried its more than that. It seems to have started when he last shed. He did a full body shed and his colours were mostly there but they did seem a littler duller. At the same time, I replaced his lamp (yearly replace) and got the exact same lamp as before (an arcadia D3 uv basking lamp 100w). He is still as active as before, mostly roaming around the middle and bottom of his cage, chilling for a bit, then going to the top branch to bask before repeating.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Pics attached (Before Shed (August and September 2017), Shedding(November 2017), Then After Shed (January 2018))
I have an 18 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon and recently I've noticed a few things.
The biggest is with his bowel movements. He only seems able to go once every three weeks! And I can only get him to go when he is in the shower for a bit. I've tried putting him in the shower a week after he's gone, but he refuses to go. Even tried two weeks after but still nothing. It's not until three weeks that he will go. This started gradually, as a juvenile he went every couple of days, then every week, then every two weeks and now to this. I went to the guy I brought him from and he said the same thing as me, that he sounds a little dehydrated and recommended spraying his enclosure an hour before the lights go off as apparently they are more likely to drink at that time. (I spray his e nclosure about 5 times a day, he also a dripper on during the day. Have been wondering whether to get a humidifier for the room). I have been doing that, and yet the problem persists. The poops come out normal looking, although very large (as expected) and there are sometimes two instead of one.
The second problem is with his feeding. I am simply unsure if I am giving him the right amount and have been giving completely different advice. I currently have him on a diet of 6 4th instar crickets (fairly big but not too big so he can choke on them) every other day with a few waxworks a few times a week as a treat. I've had some people tell me that that is the right amount, but I've had others tell me he needs more like 6-8 daily or 12 every other day, so I'm not quite sure what to go for here. I dust them with a calcium (no D3) supplement every other feeding and use a multivitamin supplement every two weeks.
The last problem is his colouring. He also used to be a "duller" colour when he was chilling (just different shades of green) but when he got flared up he would go into greens, reds and blues. Now when he flares up his colours just aren't there. They're more like paler colours of green camo. His chin used to go bright red when he flares up but now it is more of a yellow green colour when he flares up. He's steadily been changing colour over the winter, which is why I didn't worry as I've heard people say chams go through colour changes during the winter. I didn't notice it last winter as he was still a baby then and didn't really have much of a colour scheme at that point. But know I've noticed the change and am now getting worried its more than that. It seems to have started when he last shed. He did a full body shed and his colours were mostly there but they did seem a littler duller. At the same time, I replaced his lamp (yearly replace) and got the exact same lamp as before (an arcadia D3 uv basking lamp 100w). He is still as active as before, mostly roaming around the middle and bottom of his cage, chilling for a bit, then going to the top branch to bask before repeating.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Pics attached (Before Shed (August and September 2017), Shedding(November 2017), Then After Shed (January 2018))
