Odd behavior in male Panther

xxleucisticxx

New Member
Chameleon Info:
Chameleon - Panther Chameleon, Male, approx. 4-5 months old. Has been with me since Jun 8th (Almost 2 months now)
Handling - Only when hand feeding.
Feeding - Crickets (medium/large now - giving about 5-10 roughly daily if nothing else is being given to him.) Waxworms, Superworms (small ones now), hornworms (only twice so far) I give him worms every so often. Perhaps 4-10 worms of any type a week.
Gut-Loading - mostly crickets but perhaps not as frequently as I should. Here's what they get from time to time: collard, mustard, kael, apples, plums, carrots, squashes, etc) They always have cricket powder for food just in case though. Clear water gels with no supplements.
Supplements - Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamins and Rep-Cal Cal with Vit D (phos free). Dust only the crickets every other day.
Watering - Spray bottle - watering 2x/3x daily for a duration of about 1-3 minutes tops. Yes, I do see him drinking.
Fecal Description - Mostly brown with little white. Consistency appears normal compared to my other reps. Never been tested for parasites.
History - Shy/Nervous panther with handling. Slowly getting better with hand feeding. Very nosy when within enclosure - doesn't seem at all afraid of cats/dogs/people around enclosure. Always wants to see where you're going in the room, even if it's the floor. Also suppose to be a blue bar. Colors remain red with hints of blue behind arm. Full blue stripes when asleep.

Cage Info:
Cage Type
- Screen (Dimensions N/A currently.)
Lighting - 5.0 UVB strip light zoomed model, 60W heat. Lights go on at 8am, go off at 8pm with timer. (Heat light will be upgraded soon)
Plants - Yes, one. Hibiscus. Rest are artificial.
Placement - Sadly my room on a stand.
Location - US: PA

Current Problem
I've been hand feeding my panther a week after I got him. He readily and eagerly takes anything I offer him. As of late though - I'd say for a good 2-3 weeks I've been making him climb my other hand to reach the food. He now runs up it to get the food and so progress is being made as far as getting him used to at least coming out. (it makes it so much less stressful for him when its cleaning day on the cages!)

In any case, I noticed that today like yesterday he really didn't seem all that interested in eating so I offered up a decently sized hornworm. He eagerly took it but didn't appear to want anything else so I put him back in the cage and misted him. As of late, he's been finally venturing at the bottom of his enclosure not for long periods of time though. Since I've had him, he would only go to the bottom to see what I was doing on the floor or eye the cats at the bottom who might be hanging around at the stand so I figured he was finally interested in what was down there. (No substrate by the way.)

Well when someone walked into my room, he zoomed back up which isn't uncommon for him. He tends to zoom all over the enclosure whether it be that something happened or nothing at all. He just seems to fly all over the branches and across the screens. Later I noticed he was back at the bottom of the cage and I spotted a cricket free roaming my carpet. I snatched it up and opened his enclosure while he was still on the bottom of it. He didn't seem the least bit bothered so I offered the cricket without asking for him to come out. He took it in a heart beat. Moments after though he toppled to his side and appeared to sluggishly fix himself. What was that about? Over zealous?

He did go back up when my sister tried to get him also concerned with that sudden odd topple. He's been on his branches ever since but not scurrying about like he usually does. The topple wasn't anything serious in my opinion. He was just there on flat ground, struck at the cricket, chomped a few times and then whoops - there he went onto his side. Granted, he was on the screen a bit and he is rather clumsy. has been since I purchased him. It does not appear to be MBD (no physical signs of it anyway). It just seems to be his mannerism I think.
 
This all sounds pretty normal, baby panthers are so fast and crazy. As for him falling- since he is so young it could have caused damage but there's no way to tell with out pictures. He could also be sluggish from eating. If he went to his basking spot and was there for some time it's because he's metabolizing.

As for having other animals... Most cats can and will try and attack your chameleon even when it's in the cage so you need to make sure if the cats in the same room that you are in there as well.

What are your temps and humidity

Temp at basking spot, bottom of cage, normal room temp?
Humidity at its lowest during the day and its highest?

Gut loading- you can find many threads on here that give a great recipe! Easiest way to find threads is google search "chameleon forums gut loading"
As goes for at question you have... I can garantee it's already been answered 5 different times. If you really can't find a thread on it go ahead and ask.
 
You need to change the way you are supplementing.

Calcium with NO D3 = Daily
Calcium with D3 = 2 times per month
Multivitamin = 2 times per month

As for your crickets, he should be getting 10 - 12 small crickets every day right now. between 6 to 12 months he should be at 10 - 12 medium crickets every day.

What are your temperatures? Basking spot and ambient.

What is your humidity?

Here is the Panther care sheet which is what you should be following. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/
 
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