Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Arthur is a 6 1/2 month old Ambilobe Panther; we've had him for three months.
Handling - A lot more than you'd think. Whenever I mist him, he grabs my hand/wrist with his little mitts and rockets up my arm to the top of my head and just sits there. It's not really "handling", but he likes to be up high, apparently... and most probably, out of mister-range.
The only time we have to "handle" him is to get him off our heads and back into his enclosure lol
Feeding - Large crickets, gutloaded with orange cricket cubes. He eats about 7 per day.
Supplements - Calcium powder without D3 every day, calcium with D3 and Reptivite twice a month.
Watering - We water by hand-misting onto the leaves. We mist twice a day for about a minute each time. He has a dripper that runs all day, every day while his lights are on.
Fecal Description - Dark brown and white (sometimes a bit of orange, but predominantly white), relatively solid.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, 18 x 18 x 36
Lighting - 12 hours on, 12 hours off via timer; 5.0 coil UVB and a 60 watt incandescent bulb for heat.
Temperature - Cage floor is about 75 F, basking spot is about 82 (85 at the highest vine he can climb, but about 82 where he likes to sit). It drops to a constant 75 at night.
Humidity - Usually around 55-60%. I've never seen it drop below 40%.
Plants - All of our plants and vines are fake.
Placement - The cage is on our home office, where we like to sit in the evenings on our computers, but he's in the corner and it's not a high-activity area. His cage top is about 6 1/2 feet off the floor and not in any drafts that I know of.
Location - FL
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Hi everyone,
Arthur is doing seemingly well. His color is good, he's growing well, eating well... pooping regularly.
Except for the fact that over the past several days, one or both of his eyes are closed almost all the time. He can open both of them... and does... when we come near the cage or open it to feed him; he just doesn't seem to want to otherwise. He doesn't seem to be "sleeping"... his tail isn't curled up or anything. When his eyes are open, they look normal... no discharge, discoloration, etc.. His eyes aren't sunken or swollen. He acts like he's cleaning them a lot, but I haven't been able to find a single piece of debris.
When his eyes are open, his behavior is relatively normal. He's eating a bit less as a result of not seeing his food, but we still will hear the occasional crunching that tells us he's gotten one. He'll still eat them off of my hand, but he seems to take a longer time to get his aim right than usual. I've only seen him drink from his dripper-spot once in the last week, and his urates are more orange-tinted than I'd like.
The closest reptile vet to us is over an hour and a half away. With the holidays and a full-time work schedule, it will be difficult to get him there. Because of this, I've browsed the forums as much as I can to try to get an inkling of what we're dealing with. I've taken my best guesses, and I'd like some other perspectives. I'm going to try two things:
1) I've ordered a t8 reptisun 5.0 and slimline fixture to replace our coil UVB bulb; apparently, some chameleons have very sensitive eyes that are bothered by coil bulbs.
2) I'm going to attempt to supplement him with more vitamin A. (I did up his reptivite a bit to try to compensate, but it doesn't seem to be helping). Any suggestions on how best to do this? I see conflicting information and a scary part about overdose.
Thanks in advance!!
Your Chameleon - Arthur is a 6 1/2 month old Ambilobe Panther; we've had him for three months.
Handling - A lot more than you'd think. Whenever I mist him, he grabs my hand/wrist with his little mitts and rockets up my arm to the top of my head and just sits there. It's not really "handling", but he likes to be up high, apparently... and most probably, out of mister-range.
Feeding - Large crickets, gutloaded with orange cricket cubes. He eats about 7 per day.
Supplements - Calcium powder without D3 every day, calcium with D3 and Reptivite twice a month.
Watering - We water by hand-misting onto the leaves. We mist twice a day for about a minute each time. He has a dripper that runs all day, every day while his lights are on.
Fecal Description - Dark brown and white (sometimes a bit of orange, but predominantly white), relatively solid.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, 18 x 18 x 36
Lighting - 12 hours on, 12 hours off via timer; 5.0 coil UVB and a 60 watt incandescent bulb for heat.
Temperature - Cage floor is about 75 F, basking spot is about 82 (85 at the highest vine he can climb, but about 82 where he likes to sit). It drops to a constant 75 at night.
Humidity - Usually around 55-60%. I've never seen it drop below 40%.
Plants - All of our plants and vines are fake.
Placement - The cage is on our home office, where we like to sit in the evenings on our computers, but he's in the corner and it's not a high-activity area. His cage top is about 6 1/2 feet off the floor and not in any drafts that I know of.
Location - FL
_______________________________________________________
Hi everyone,
Arthur is doing seemingly well. His color is good, he's growing well, eating well... pooping regularly.
Except for the fact that over the past several days, one or both of his eyes are closed almost all the time. He can open both of them... and does... when we come near the cage or open it to feed him; he just doesn't seem to want to otherwise. He doesn't seem to be "sleeping"... his tail isn't curled up or anything. When his eyes are open, they look normal... no discharge, discoloration, etc.. His eyes aren't sunken or swollen. He acts like he's cleaning them a lot, but I haven't been able to find a single piece of debris.
When his eyes are open, his behavior is relatively normal. He's eating a bit less as a result of not seeing his food, but we still will hear the occasional crunching that tells us he's gotten one. He'll still eat them off of my hand, but he seems to take a longer time to get his aim right than usual. I've only seen him drink from his dripper-spot once in the last week, and his urates are more orange-tinted than I'd like.
The closest reptile vet to us is over an hour and a half away. With the holidays and a full-time work schedule, it will be difficult to get him there. Because of this, I've browsed the forums as much as I can to try to get an inkling of what we're dealing with. I've taken my best guesses, and I'd like some other perspectives. I'm going to try two things:
1) I've ordered a t8 reptisun 5.0 and slimline fixture to replace our coil UVB bulb; apparently, some chameleons have very sensitive eyes that are bothered by coil bulbs.
2) I'm going to attempt to supplement him with more vitamin A. (I did up his reptivite a bit to try to compensate, but it doesn't seem to be helping). Any suggestions on how best to do this? I see conflicting information and a scary part about overdose.
Thanks in advance!!