Need help 2 year old panther chameleon has never had color

[dertien6161]

Everytime I have brought him outside it has been a bad experience. I have tried putting him on a tree branch and watching him. He turns black he tries to bit at me when I go to grab him. I bought a screen cage for outside and put a plant and some branches for him to hang out on. Last week I put him in there outside and when I went to get him I could barely get him. When I finally did he reached over to bite me and fell off my hand. I had a hard time getting him back in the house. I can take him out off his cage and let him hang out around the house and he is fine and never has tried to bite. Only when I take him outside

 

[MissSkittles]

Everytime I have brought him outside it has been a bad experience. I have tried putting him on a tree branch and watching him. He turns black he tries to bit at me when I go to grab him. I bought a screen cage for outside and put a plant and some branches for him to hang out on. Last week I put him in there outside and when I went to get him I could barely get him. When I finally did he reached over to bite me and fell off my hand. I had a hard time getting him back in the house. I can take him out off his cage and let him hang out around the house and he is fine and never has tried to bite. Only when I take him outside

He’s turning black to better absorb the heat and uvb. Since he’s irritable when you are trying to take him back inside, I’d say he really likes it outside.

 

[Babydino0718]

Putting a chameleon outside for an hour a day for a week in natural sunshine , can often correct many issues, and help give insight to others.
This time of year is very good for this.
Don't give up putting him outside . If DONE CORRECTLY, they should naturally be inclined to it.
Hopefully others will show ways to make a chameleon happy outdoors, one of THE BEST things one can do for a Sun loving Reptile.

What kind of chameleon is he?? I have a 3 year old male veiled chameleon, I’ve only had him for about a month maybe a little more. I learned his last owner had a chameleon kit from pet co & everything in that kit besides the cage itself is actually harmful for the lil dinos. That being sad, he’s basically lived his whole life until now in bad/wrong conditions. I started taking him outside because the weather temp as well as humidity is perfect both day and night for the little guy. & let’s just say he’s in love with it. He’s not the biggest fan of me bringing him back in. I noticed when I took him outside, he wasn’t as light as he usually is. Inside he’s always had light blue, off white, beige, and black outlining his different spots but he’d never real been bold or bright colored. When he is outside basking in the REAL SUN (his uvb lights from previous owner were not sufficient for him & providing basically no real uvb, poor fella) his colors are bright and prominent. I started looking into that because usually brighter or bolder colors aren’t known as good. However, with veiled chameleons, when they’re basking in the sun and absorbing the uvb & calcium, they use their stressed colors. It’s normal for veileds. I was advised that if I wasn’t sure if he was just chillin and absorbing or if he was stressed, to add shade over him or bring him out of the direct sun light and if his colors reduce back down then he was just basking and taking it all in. Also, in my chameleon groups, everybody says not to have glass enclosures. They say they keep in to much humidity & without a humidity checker that can get dangerous. But they also are easy and prone to growing excess bacteria that could be harmful especially with extra humidity & can give him a RI.

 

[PardonMyPardalis]

I just feel like something has to be off. I see all these pictures and videos online of beautiful colorful chameleons and mine is not

I say try getting him in front of a female. Even another male should get him to fire up. And even if he fires up gray that is awesome because i never heard of a gray panther and would be willing to get a male from him

 

[yoteango]

I say try getting him in front of a female. Even another male should get him to fire up. And even if he fires up gray that is awesome because i never heard of a gray panther and would be willing to get a male from him

Could something as simple as a YouTube video on a tablet fire an animal up?

 

[PardonMyPardalis]

Could something as simple as a YouTube video on a tablet fire an animal up?

Could be just depends on your cham, I’ve had 2 males that don’t react to their reflection at all.

 

[Mendez]

Where did you purchase your chameleon from? Could be a mix of various different locales. While I have no personal experience breeding panthers, I have heard that mixing locales can be hit or miss--that sometimes mixing locales can lead to duller colors. Something akin to mixing a lot of different paint mixes and getting brown instead of a rainbow.

 

[dertien6161]

So I took him outside again today and put him in an outdoor cage. He looked like he didn't like it but I left him in the sun for about an hr. It was 80 degrees. And when I went to get him out he fired up and tried to bite fall off my hand again. I ended up grabbing the cage and holding it in front of the indoor cage and he couldn't get into the indoor cage fast enough and emediatly went and hid. Later I was trimming up the live plant and noticed the soil has alot of snails and little black bugs. I only put isopods and springtails in the soil. Could it be possible that he has parasites ? When I looked into the symptoms it kinda seems like he could have parasites. He is dark all the time and doesn't move around alot.

 

[MissSkittles]

Not knowing what the little black bugs are, it’s hard to say if they may have affected your guy. However, wild snails are known to carry and transmit parasites, so definitely ruling out parasites is a great idea. You’l, also want to get rid of the snails. How…I have no idea.

 

[dertien6161]

 

[dertien6161]

He looks like that all the time

 

[EmilioTheAnkify]

When you transfer him are you using a stick or your hand? Are you being impatient with his movement? Are you wearing bright clothes? Do you have painted nails on your hands? Do you wear a watch?

I still think it’s husbandry related.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."About 2 months after I got him he got really cool vibrant colors. He would have been 6 to 8 months old at the time" and "We ended up moving and ever since he has never been the same. The day we moved to a new house and had to move his cage is the day he lost all color and his personality changed"...makes me think that there's something that changed that he doesn't like.

 

[MzLaurie11]

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If this is him all the time then he does have color. From 5-8 months their colors come in and they are more brilliant because of the thick sheds due to growth. once the colors come in molting happens less often and is usually with thinner sheds. If he is going all black, then he is changing color. One thing is i would get rid of the substrate give the cage a good cleaning to kill any bacteria, mold, and fungus and most definetly do a fecal test. You can order a home test from rainbowmealworms.com. lab results will be sent to you and you can take them to the vet if anything shows up. I use chlorhexidine solution which i bought online to clean. Vets use it to disinfect cages as it does not harm animals. I wipe down all basking branches all walls, everything! Have him in the outside cage when you do it and do the outside one as well. It could be a mold that is irritating him. Dont forget to clean out and soak any misting fogging devices you use also. I like to sage my house to get out any negative energy as well but thats me. Good luck on figuring out this mystery and keep us posted on your efforts and results.