New juvenile Panther has only eaten once.

[CarlLloydHimself]

Hey friends! So Lloyd my 6 month old Panther has only eaten one horn worm from me since he’s been home. I brought him home on Halloween and gave him a hornworm right after he went in his new enclosure. His poop is normal and he’s hydrated, acting normal, exploring, basking, and alert.
My main concern is I have offered him food every morning and I know it’s normal for a Jew Cham not to eat right away but wanted to know if there’s anything I could try to entice him a little mor. I’ve also tried tong feeding and he wasn’t interested.
Updated Lloyd Husbandry

• Your Chameleon - 6 month old male Ambilobe Panther Chameleon
• Handling - handling him for cleaning his cage and transporting him outside in the summer. Once a week max. (Haven’t tried to handle him yet at all.)
• Feeding - Silk works, Dubias, as staples, horn and super as treats. 3 dubia and 2 silks a morning are offered in a cup. Kale, Carrots, sweet potato, greens (not romaine or iceberg lettuce), mango, apple.
• Supplements - ReptiCal w/ and w/o D3, and Zoo Med ReptiVitamin with D3. 6 days w/o D3, 7th day I will switch every other week to Cal with D3 and Repti vitamin.
• Watering - I will mist twice a day for 3 minutes each.
• Fecal Description - Has not been tested, poop is solid with white uraites.
• History- reputable breeder who has had him since hatchling.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - All screen with 3 sides wrapped with shower curtain. 24x24x48.
• Lighting - I have a Carolina hood with a t5 HO 10.0 UVB and I use a 75 watt incessant home bulb for heat. Lights on at 8am and off at 8pm.
• Temperature - the lowest overnight temp is 55 degrees in my bedroom where he stays. I measure temperature with a temperature gun. Basking stays between 81 and 83 degrees. Ambient is 72.
• Humidity - My humidity stays between 62% and 73%. I use manual misting plus my live plants to maintain humidity. I measure with a digital hydrometer.
• Plants - I am using all live plants. A hanging Pothos, 3’ umbrella plant.
• Placement - In a bay window in my bedroom that gets a lot of natural light. Away from vents and fans. The cage sits 2 feet off the ground.
• Location - Southern Maryland

 

[Fchamel]

Hello! That is normal for your chameleon to not eat as much or not at all when you first bring him home. He should start to eat again once he adjusts to his new home more. Just keep offering food, and he might eat.

 

[CarlLloydHimself]

Thank you! Could you tag someone who could review my husbandry?

 

[Fchamel]

Thank you! Could you tag someone who could review my husbandry?

Absolutely! @Beman @MissSkittles

 

[Kaizen]

Hey friends! So Lloyd my 6 month old Panther has only eaten one horn worm from me since he’s been home. I brought him home on Halloween and gave him a hornworm right after he went in his new enclosure. His poop is normal and he’s hydrated, acting normal, exploring, basking, and alert.
My main concern is I have offered him food every morning and I know it’s normal for a Jew Cham not to eat right away but wanted to know if there’s anything I could try to entice him a little mor. I’ve also tried tong feeding and he wasn’t interested.
Updated Lloyd Husbandry

• Your Chameleon - 6 month old male Ambilobe Panther Chameleon
• Handling - handling him for cleaning his cage and transporting him outside in the summer. Once a week max. (Haven’t tried to handle him yet at all.)
• Feeding - Silk works, Dubias, as staples, horn and super as treats. 3 dubia and 2 silks a morning are offered in a cup. Kale, Carrots, sweet potato, greens (not romaine or iceberg lettuce), mango, apple.
• Supplements - ReptiCal w/ and w/o D3, and Zoo Med ReptiVitamin with D3. 6 days w/o D3, 7th day I will switch every other week to Cal with D3 and Repti vitamin.I’m not sure I understand your regime here. Here’s the supplement regime that most closely resembles what you have:1) plain calcium with no d3 at every feeding. 2) once every two weeks, use a multivitamin such as reptivite (if your reptivite has d3, then that’s it). 3) if your reptivite does not have d3, then use a calcium with d3 once every two weeks.
• Watering - I will mist twice a day for 3 minutes each. I find misting three times/day to be helpful, but the timing matters. What works for me is a good misting just before lights on (8:00 am) another just after lights off (8:00 pm), and a heavy misting just before you go to bed (10:00pm or whenever you go to bed). This way he wakes up to moist leaves, and can drink. He goes to bed with wet leaves so he can drink/benefit from higher nightime humidity, and sleep all night with increased humidity. I always find a dripper useful to run for a few hours in the afternoon.
• Fecal Description - Has not been tested, poop is solid with white uraites.
• History- reputable breeder who has had him since hatchling.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - All screen with 3 sides wrapped with shower curtain. 24x24x48.
• Lighting - I have a Carolina hood with a t5 HO 10.0 UVB and I use a 75 watt incessant home bulb for heat. Lights on at 8am and off at 8pm.
• Temperature - the lowest overnight temp is 55 degrees in my bedroom where he stays. I measure temperature with a temperature gun. Basking stays between 81 and 83 degrees. Ambient is 72. Temps and cage specs look good to me.
• Humidity - My humidity stays between 62% and 73%. A lot of people suggest lower humidity during the day is better...see my comments above. I use manual misting plus my live plants to maintain humidity. I measure with a digital hydrometer.
• Plants - I am using all live plants. A hanging Pothos, 3’ umbrella plant.
• Placement - In a bay window in my bedroom that gets a lot of natural light. Does the cage end up cooking by direct sun through the window?Away from vents and fans. The cage sits 2 feet off the ground.
• Location - Southern Maryland

 

[Kaizen]

Sugar! I didn’t actually address your feeding concern. New chameleons can take some time to adjust, and may be nervous to eat. Try a combination of cup feeding and free ranging your bugs. Also, give him some space and privacy. Healthy chameleons won’t starve themselves, even if they won’t eat in front of you.

 

[CarlLloydHimself]

The supplement regime you mentioned is the one I use. I will adjust my misting times and lower daytime/raise nighttime humidity. I don’t have a dripper or automatic mister so right now I’m only able to list twice a day since I work long hours.
He also seemed to be messing with the fishing line I have my pothos secured with. Is that just juvenile Cham curiosity or mean he’s stressed about it?
thank you!! I will try free range some bugs too.

 

[Kaizen]

The supplement regime you mentioned is the one I use. I will adjust my misting times and lower daytime/raise nighttime humidity. I don’t have a dripper or automatic mister so right now I’m only able to list twice a day since I work long hours.
He also seemed to be messing with the fishing line I have my pothos secured with. Is that just juvenile Cham curiosity or mean he’s stressed about it?
thank you!! I will try free range some bugs too.

I’d have to see how the fishing line is set up, but it’s probably just him exploring his new environment. If finances allow, automatic misters and drippers are helpful tools.

 

[Bmiller]

You can make a cheap dripper with a cup and a small hole on top of cage, or can get airline tubing and a ball valve and a large cup or whatever you want to use. But a small hole in a red plastic cup will help, cheap and easy

 

[CarlLloydHimself]

I’d have to see how the fishing line is set up, but it’s probably just him exploring his new environment. If finances allow, automatic misters and drippers are helpful tools.

It’s up in the back right corner if you zoom in. Just a little is exposed the rest is wrapped around the plastic hanger. He hasn’t been messing with it anymore that I’ve seen.
Today when I held my hand out to see what he would do he shot his tongue at me and licked me finger! It felt so strange. Neither of us knew what to do ?

 

[AmandaS]

Jew Cham

This made me laugh a little. Some typos are too funny.