Manex
New Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male panther chamelon. Approx 7.5 months old. Been in my care since approx 3 months old.
Handling - around once a week.
Feeding - he eats crickets, dubia, discoids, horn worms, silk worms, butter worms,and the occasional super worm.
How are you gut-loading your feeders? current dry gutloads are bug burger, cricket crack, super load resphasy veggie mix and sunflower seeds. Wet gutload items are always fresh veggies: squash, carrots, apples, romaine lettuce, kale, sweet potato, blueberries, oranges, zuchini, and the occasional pears and strawberries.
Supplements - zoo med brand calcium w/o d3 5 times a week, resphasy calcium plus 1-2 days week, and herpivite 2x a month
Watering - mistking mister. Mister goes off 5x a day for 3 minutes at a time. Yes, I see him drinking.
Fecal Description - Giant droppings as he only poops once a week usually. urate tips are very white and gets a little orange by the time it reaches the poop. I believe this is from only pooping once a week. Poop is brown in color. tested 3 times for parasites, all negative.
History - please see below
Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen cage 2 x 2 x 4.
Lighting - daily lighting schedule is 9-9. I currently use an arcadia 6% t8, a phillips 6500k plant light and a 75 watt zoo med basking lamp.
Temperature - Basking temp is 88. bottom of the cage is 70. Lowest overall night temp is low to mid 60's. I measure with two temp guns, and analog thermometers.
Humidity - Daily humidity ranges from 30% to around 80% right after mistings.
Plants - live and fake plants. Live are hibiscus, umbrella and ficus.
Placement - located in the basement, with no outside lights. traffic is minimal and basking sight is located around 8 feet off the floor. No vents in the basement.
Location - pennsylvania
Current Problem -
I've been experiencing some troubling and confusing symptoms with one of my male panthers. different symptoms have been showing since he was approx 5 months old and have been growing from there. I really do understand them or how they are compounding together and what they are leading to, nor did any of the three exotic vets I've seen thus far. I'm hoping to get some opinions and help and hopefully save this guy and make his life better.
Starting from the beginning, at 5 months he started pooping like an adult. Once every 5-7 days. This was even with proper diet and hydration. I added an extra mister to his cage to see if this would help, although he never looked dehydrated, and also upped his misting times to see if this would help. It did not. I changed his diet and this did not help. He started to leave "stinky droppings", so my immediate thought was parasites and maybe a possible impaction resulting from. He had a fecal tested by two seperate vets, as the first came back clear, but I wasn't convinced as it was getting worse. Smell eventually went away, but his habit of pooping once a week stayed the same.
Just this week, things have gotten much worse. after a shed, I saw him fall off a branch at the top of his cage. I grabbed him and immeditaely inspected him. I allowed him to move around a little for further inspection on the floor and he immediately became uncoordinated , and showing signs of MBD. for example: grabbing his arms with his back legs. His tail almost knots itself, but doesnt wrap around a branch. half the time when he moves, his back legs grab his spine, missing the branch and even his front arms completely. I immediately rushed him to a specialist. radiagraphs were taken, blood tests and also another fecal exam. Radiagraphs came back with healthy white bones with the exception of a small fracture looking line in one of his left fingers. Blood tests were all normal levels, even calcium etc..and ruled out MBD and internal parasites. Fecal was also normal and only done again to explore every possibility. So, after all the vet vists and tests etc...I still have no real answers other than knowing its something serious that keeps getting worse. he is falling more and more and often has jerky moments and/or shaking when moving. I moved him to a hospital cage for his safety after the fall. In the few days I was waiting for the blood tests to come back, thinking it was a possible MBD at the time, I gave him a few doses(1x a day) of rescue cal to see if this would help. So far it did not, but it was hard for me to believe he may have MBD, other than what some of his symptoms showed. Sorry for the very long post, but this is a very involved problem and wanted to give all possible info I could recall to get the best possible help. Attached will be a few pics if they help. From right before to during problems and my setup. Thanks for any and all help to save our boy.
and the tail knot. Sorry for the phone pics.
Thank you again for any help.
Your Chameleon - Male panther chamelon. Approx 7.5 months old. Been in my care since approx 3 months old.
Handling - around once a week.
Feeding - he eats crickets, dubia, discoids, horn worms, silk worms, butter worms,and the occasional super worm.
How are you gut-loading your feeders? current dry gutloads are bug burger, cricket crack, super load resphasy veggie mix and sunflower seeds. Wet gutload items are always fresh veggies: squash, carrots, apples, romaine lettuce, kale, sweet potato, blueberries, oranges, zuchini, and the occasional pears and strawberries.
Supplements - zoo med brand calcium w/o d3 5 times a week, resphasy calcium plus 1-2 days week, and herpivite 2x a month
Watering - mistking mister. Mister goes off 5x a day for 3 minutes at a time. Yes, I see him drinking.
Fecal Description - Giant droppings as he only poops once a week usually. urate tips are very white and gets a little orange by the time it reaches the poop. I believe this is from only pooping once a week. Poop is brown in color. tested 3 times for parasites, all negative.
History - please see below
Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen cage 2 x 2 x 4.
Lighting - daily lighting schedule is 9-9. I currently use an arcadia 6% t8, a phillips 6500k plant light and a 75 watt zoo med basking lamp.
Temperature - Basking temp is 88. bottom of the cage is 70. Lowest overall night temp is low to mid 60's. I measure with two temp guns, and analog thermometers.
Humidity - Daily humidity ranges from 30% to around 80% right after mistings.
Plants - live and fake plants. Live are hibiscus, umbrella and ficus.
Placement - located in the basement, with no outside lights. traffic is minimal and basking sight is located around 8 feet off the floor. No vents in the basement.
Location - pennsylvania
Current Problem -
I've been experiencing some troubling and confusing symptoms with one of my male panthers. different symptoms have been showing since he was approx 5 months old and have been growing from there. I really do understand them or how they are compounding together and what they are leading to, nor did any of the three exotic vets I've seen thus far. I'm hoping to get some opinions and help and hopefully save this guy and make his life better.
Starting from the beginning, at 5 months he started pooping like an adult. Once every 5-7 days. This was even with proper diet and hydration. I added an extra mister to his cage to see if this would help, although he never looked dehydrated, and also upped his misting times to see if this would help. It did not. I changed his diet and this did not help. He started to leave "stinky droppings", so my immediate thought was parasites and maybe a possible impaction resulting from. He had a fecal tested by two seperate vets, as the first came back clear, but I wasn't convinced as it was getting worse. Smell eventually went away, but his habit of pooping once a week stayed the same.
Just this week, things have gotten much worse. after a shed, I saw him fall off a branch at the top of his cage. I grabbed him and immeditaely inspected him. I allowed him to move around a little for further inspection on the floor and he immediately became uncoordinated , and showing signs of MBD. for example: grabbing his arms with his back legs. His tail almost knots itself, but doesnt wrap around a branch. half the time when he moves, his back legs grab his spine, missing the branch and even his front arms completely. I immediately rushed him to a specialist. radiagraphs were taken, blood tests and also another fecal exam. Radiagraphs came back with healthy white bones with the exception of a small fracture looking line in one of his left fingers. Blood tests were all normal levels, even calcium etc..and ruled out MBD and internal parasites. Fecal was also normal and only done again to explore every possibility. So, after all the vet vists and tests etc...I still have no real answers other than knowing its something serious that keeps getting worse. he is falling more and more and often has jerky moments and/or shaking when moving. I moved him to a hospital cage for his safety after the fall. In the few days I was waiting for the blood tests to come back, thinking it was a possible MBD at the time, I gave him a few doses(1x a day) of rescue cal to see if this would help. So far it did not, but it was hard for me to believe he may have MBD, other than what some of his symptoms showed. Sorry for the very long post, but this is a very involved problem and wanted to give all possible info I could recall to get the best possible help. Attached will be a few pics if they help. From right before to during problems and my setup. Thanks for any and all help to save our boy.
and the tail knot. Sorry for the phone pics.
Thank you again for any help.
) all I can think of is some sort of neurological or neuromuscular problem that isn't providing any physical evidence. I think we forget that sometimes chams just end up with medical problems that are not based on nutrition. At first I wondered about a possible spinal abnormality but suspect it might show up on the radiographs. In your pics I notice his back has a slightly odd shape too. He almost looks as if he does have MBD because one symptom of a cham suffering from it is a "collapsed" posture. But your nutrition is great so that may not be it. Possibly a congenital defect? After all, MBD posture is just one of many symptoms, not a cause. 
