birthnugget
Member
Hey, I'm just having some really difficult issues with my baby panther, and I'm really worried about him. He isn't eating, and I don't know how to help him.
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Furcifer Paradalis (Panther Chameleon), Male, 4 months. I have had Louie for about a month.
- Handling - None at all. At Kammerlfage, they said they handled him minimally.
- Feeding - I feed Louie purely crickets Medium to Medium Large, I try to feed him about 10 a day, but over the past week, he's only been eating 3-4 a day at most. I gutload my feeders with Orange, Mango, Carrot, spinach, Kale, Sweet Potato, Potato, and Banana. However, I've lately only been gut loading them with Orange, Mango, and Carrot.
- Supplements - I follow supplementation to the book, calcium w/o d3 every day except Sundays where I on one week will dust with calcium w/d3 and dust with multivitamin/herptivite the next week.
- Watering - I use a dripper, and mist about 4-5 times daily. Louie drinks plenty.
- Fecal Description - Urate is white, poop is brown and all good like.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Screen cage about 3 3/4 ft. tall, 19 inches wide and deep. Custom built.
- Lighting - I usually turn on the lights at about 7:20 and off at about 9:00 on weekdas, and on weekends, it's usually from 9:00-9:00. He has a basking bulb (zoo med) and UVB 5.0 light.
- Temperature -His basking area is about 90, and the rest of the cage is mid to high 70's.
- Humidity - Humidity is anywhere from 50-80% depending on the time of day, and when I spray it down.
- Plants - The interior of the cage has a giant pothos.
- Placement - Air flow is directed away from the enclosure, it is right net to my bedroom door.
- Location - In the Mountains. Roanoke, VA.
Current Problem - Mr. Louie has been not eating very much lately and has been very moody. In fact, the reason I'm writing this is because he punched me in the face with his Gular pouch and looked like he was trying to bark at me, be it he could do so. No hissing, just very angry gaping and gular pouch enflaming. I was simply sitting there observing him with him at eye-level, and he really did not seem to like that. I was observing because I was looking for crickets. Why was I looking for crickets? Because they were large, and I was assuming they were stressing him out. I took all of the crickets out. After that, I was looking for more, and he did not want that to be a thing. He's currently sitting in the top of his enclosure staring at me from behind some leaves.
Now, this may sound normal, but it gets me rather giddy when I have a little man like this get so flustered with me. I do not know what I am doing wrong, but I want to change it so that way when summer comes around, he can have no problems being handled and taken out to bask in the sun. Part of me wonders if he is simply getting bored with crickets, so tonight I'm ordering unhatched hornworm cups to feed him very small hornworms. Other than that, I have no clue as to what I am doing or how to fix it. I really want this chameleon to be a chill chameleon where he just has no problem doing whatever wherever. I know that he may not grow up to be that way, but that's what I'm trying super hard for. I haven't tried handling him, and again, I have not even the slightest clue as to what I should do. Please help! After writing all of this and taking pictures, he is now is pretty blues again, so I dunno.
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After:
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Im sure your dude will come around eventually but be sure not to stress him too much. If he's just not in the mood, back away and try again the next. Hope this helps a little, good luck.
