Panther chameleon hanging his leg

Sailouchai

Member
So basically Ive noticed in the past two days that whenever hes laying down he hangs his front right leg, just like in the first image, I dont notice any swelling on damages or different colors, but im kinda concerned because I havent seen him use it for the last 2-3 days, Ive seen him move but I didnt really pay attention to his leg, since he has been okay for the last 2 weeks, Im just noticing it this morning and im just a little bit concerned

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Panther Chameleon, Male, Over a year, Over a year
  • Handling - Never
  • Feeding - Daily feeders, vitamin with no d3, with d3 (twice a month), multivitamins (twice a month)
  • Supplements - Rep-Cal
  • Watering - I use a misting system, It has a lot of sessions throughout the day, he is hydrated.
  • Fecal Description - All the poop is fine and healthy

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Exo Terra X-Large, Ill add photos of it
 

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This is him from last week, btw he hasnt pooped since last week I know its normal for a chameleon his age to poop once a week but ill just mention in just in case, he should be pooping in the next few days
 

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He has swelling going on in that limb... Could be gout. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-medical-gout/

Your UVB looks like it is quite far as well. What bulb strength are you using and what is the actual distance from the bottom of the fixture to the branch?

How is his hydration? Are you offering long misting sessions and a dripper?

What are you feeding him?

Can you take pics of the supplements so I can see the labels?
 
He has swelling going on in that limb... Could be gout. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-medical-gout/

Your UVB looks like it is quite far as well. What bulb strength are you using and what is the actual distance from the bottom of the fixture to the branch?

How is his hydration? Are you offering long misting sessions and a dripper?

What are you feeding him?

Can you take pics of the supplements so I can see the labels?
These have been his supplements ever since i got him, thats the UVB Light Im using this solarmeter, Im getting 03.0 on the basking spot* I got scared and double checked, its not 00.3, Im feeding him crickets as a daily feeder with wax worms and hornworms as snacks, I actually have a video of me feeding him a hornworm from two days ago but I cant upload it here It wont let me, He doesnt have a dripper but his sessions for the misting system are 6am to start the day moist, 9am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm,6pm, 8pm most of them with a duration of 1 to 2 minutes, and I do have a video of him drinking from like 5 days ago, So I know hes getting his water
 

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I want to take him to the vet since It could be gout but how do I deal with that, I never handle him and if hes swollen its gonna hurt, how do I approach that situation?
 
Never mind the above uvb... Tell me about your gutload for your feeders.

So hydration can be a major factor in these types of situations. 1-2 minutes is not a lot of time to trigger a drinking response.

The supplements are ok the way your giving. Just note Herptivite does not have preformed vitamin A. It only had beta carotene. It has not been proven one way or another that they can convert beta carotene to usable vitamin A.
 
I want to take him to the vet since It could be gout but how do I deal with that, I never handle him and if hes swollen its gonna hurt, how do I approach that situation?
You want to find a vet that actually knows reptiles... They will do blood work to check uric acid levels. But since he is not used to handling this will be really important to have a vet that is experienced. IF the tech does not have experience do not let them handle the cham.

So you need a box and punch a stick through the bottom of it about 1 inch from the bottom so he can grip it. Make sure there is no sticky tape inside. This is what you will transport him in. He will fall asleep during the trip because the box is dark. This will keep him low stress.
Now for getting him out the hand in front for him to grab on to and an hand behind him to guide him onto the other hand is an easy method. It just depends on how aggressive he is. You want to have the box close like right below you. Go directly from the cage to the box so he does not try to jump. Again it really depends on how he deals with your hands as far as how effective this method is.

Others use sticks which can work if he will climb up on them.
 
Never mind the above uvb... Tell me about your gutload for your feeders.

So hydration can be a major factor in these types of situations. 1-2 minutes is not a lot of time to trigger a drinking response.

The supplements are ok the way your giving. Just note Herptivite does not have preformed vitamin A. It only had beta carotene. It has not been proven one way or another that they can convert beta carotene to usable vitamin A.
I use carrots and apples for gutload, I will be doing 3/4 minutes for the misting session since today and I will be hand misting more often for now, I have to wait until tuesday to go find a good reptile vet so for now ill be doing this, when it comes to handling, I was actually working on him, hes not scared of me, he just doesnt like it, But sometimes I do leave my hand close to him and he would put his two front legs on my fingers and then let go (depends on his mood tho, he gets angry sometimes get I put my hands close to him and i leave him alone) I will be setting up a box with branches for him and try to do it with my hands, and if anything ill use sticks, But I want to go to the vet myself first to make sure they are good with chameleons and have experience, Ive been investigating for the last 3 hours about gout and hopefully I caught it early enough for him to get better, Im trying to find a reason why he got swollen at first, and I think I probably over fed him crickets
 
Its just really sad to see him laying on the branches not wanting to move and hanging his leg, Im just misting him every few minutes
 
Hi, there! How many of each food item are you giving him, and could you fill out the rest of the form please, as well?
 
Uhm like 10 to 15 small crickets (my mom doesnt like big ones because they make noise) and 1 hornworm a week whenever i buy them
So that's too many for daily feedings. You want the equivalent of around 3 large crickets either every two days or three times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). Here's some gutload and feeder charts, too, as your gutload could improve. The more varied, the better (for both)! Try to get as many gutload ingredients as possible to use!
 

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Yes I was reading a lot about the disease and It was probably a lot of protein for him, sadly I didnt know and was feeding him all this time as if he was a newborn, probably caused it but I just hope to take him to the vet and maybe get good news about recovery with treatment I know recovery from gout disease isnt common but I gotta try
 
You also want to be careful about misting a ton during the day - a lot of humidity and heat from basking lamps can create a prime situation for bacterias that can cause an RI. Humidity shouldn't go above ~50% or so during the day, and the cage needs time to completely dry out. best time to mist is right at lights out, a few times through the night to bring humidity up nice and high while you don't have heat on him (aka, while it's cooler "at night"), and just before/at wakeup time so there's plenty of available drops on leaves for him to drink.

Of course, if you're in a super dry environment, you may need to mist more to maintain some humidity during the day... Live plants help maintain this too.
I hope you can figure out what's going on with your guy. He's beautiful!!
 
You also want to be careful about misting a ton during the day - a lot of humidity and heat from basking lamps can create a prime situation for bacterias that can cause an RI. Humidity shouldn't go above ~50% or so during the day, and the cage needs time to completely dry out. best time to mist is right at lights out, a few times through the night to bring humidity up nice and high while you don't have heat on him (aka, while it's cooler "at night"), and just before/at wakeup time so there's plenty of available drops on leaves for him to drink.

Of course, if you're in a super dry environment, you may need to mist more to maintain some humidity during the day... Live plants help maintain this too.
I hope you can figure out what's going on with your guy. He's beautiful!!
For panthers, it should be 55-65% during the day, spot on with everything else!
 
Filling out the rest of the form will help even more, as temps and humidity are crucial
Yes im sorry its just that ive been at work all day and i cant get that info right now temperature should be around 70 to 75 during the day and 65 at night im in florida so humidity is around 60%\
 
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