Panther Chameleon sleeping during the day

HouseOfTequila

New Member
I have a Panther Chameleon, that is pretty new (4 months old) i got him about 2 weeks ago. Today he appeared to be out of energy and even fell off of his plant and landed like a rock. He appears darker than normal, and is sleeping during the day.

I'm a bit worried and not sure what to do. This is my first chameleon.
 

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Your Chameleon - Male 4 month old Panther chameleon.
Handling - handled him once for ~5 minutes a few days ago
Feeding - I feed him 3/8" crickets about 10 per day. Didn't put any in yesterday as he had a few in the cage still
Supplements - I dust with Zoo Med's Reptivite reptile vitamins w/ d3 each feeding
Watering - Misters are set to go off every 2 hours for 20 seconds each interval
Fecal Description -

Cage Info:
Cage Type - all screen 16x15x29
Lighting - 75 watt halogen
Temperature - 75 in the back of the cage
Humidity - 45 at back of the cage
Plants - hibiscus plant
Placement - on a night stand away from the window.
Location - Hollywood california

Current Problem - sleeping during the day
 
Your Chameleon - Male 4 month old Panther chameleon.
Handling - handled him once for ~5 minutes a few days ago
Feeding - I feed him 3/8" crickets about 10 per day. Didn't put any in yesterday as he had a few in the cage still
Supplements - I dust with Zoo Med's Reptivite reptile vitamins w/ d3 each feeding This is too much d3. d3 is offered twice a month. you need a multivitamin for twice a month and you need a plain calcium with NO d3 for every feeding.
Watering - Misters are set to go off every 2 hours for 20 seconds each interval
Fecal Description -

Cage Info:
Cage Type - all screen 16x15x29
Lighting - 75 watt halogen Where is your uvb bulb?
Temperature - 75 in the back of the cage This is WAY too cold. a basking temp should be at least 85 for a panther that age
Humidity - 45 at back of the cage
Plants - hibiscus plant
Placement - on a night stand away from the window.
Location - Hollywood california

Current Problem - sleeping during the day

some of your issues could be from lack of heat and proper supplementation.
you need to correct these asap.

If you have warm weather, take him outside.

He needs a lot of water, and better husbandry.
 
UVB is at back of cage.
Mister is right next to it.
Lighting is in front of that.

(Picture attached)
 

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I just measured the heat directly under the heat lamp and that was over 100. The 75 was from the back of the cage under the UVB lamp.
 
Its 77 degrees outside There is a spot with a little sun i can set him in.

I'll get a lower wattage bulb for him. and spray down the cage more.

Should i be worried about the fact that he's sleeping right now? should i try and wake him up? take him to a vet?
 
what I would do is take him outside for some sun. 77 is fine in the sun. Then I would get a cup an eye dropper and fill the dropper with water. Continue to drip water on his nose to try and get him to drink. This can take several minutes or more to stimulate him to drink. Also, what brand of uvb are you using? 5.0, 10.0 Reptisun, Reptiglo...?
 
He didn't really seem ill until today. I did notice it seemed like he didn't eat a lot yesterday. Maybe the heat lamp was too hot?

Ever since I got him I did notice he would constantly fall from hanging upside down on the cage or from the trees. (I actually named him Newton because of that) Not sure if that's normal or not as this was my first chameleon.
 
Its hard to tell if he was sick before you got him or not, but as you can see there are a few things you were doing that needed to be corrected. The heat on his basking spot was very hot. 100 degrees it terribly hot for a panther especially a baby one. If i remember correctly i think they need a basking spot of around 80 degrees or so. that being said the basking spot is usually the hottest spot in the cage with lower temps throughout the cage that he can thermo-regulate with. He looked pretty dehydrated as well. Possibly a combination of high basking temps and also misting sessions being insufficient. Most people find that they need each misting session to be at least a couple of minutes. This gives the chameleon enough time to be stimulated in to drinking by the dropping of water, only then do they start drinking water. Another thing others have stated, calcium with D3 at every feeding is to much. They only need the D3 twice a month and at a young age i think this can quickly cause them to go down hill. Im not sure but from other cases it seems that to many supplements or d3 overdose also is hard on the kidneys, possibly speeding up dehydration in the little guys. So these things combined may have been a perfect storm for rapid downhill spiral to sickness and dehydration. On the other hand you said you have had him for only two weeks and i have seen people who have made similar mistakes with their new ones for longer and still had a chance to correct them and save their babies. Its hard to tell but on here you will find so many people and pages of information that will help you with success if you do choose to try again with another one. This is no way a definate answer and could be all wrong but just somethings to think about. I am sorry for your loss and really wish you the best of luck in the future!
 
Sad to Hear..... The Vet that I went to in LA was very helpful.

They are on Balboa and Roscoe. and I believe the Dr.s name was Adler. He knows Chams and really helped out my boy with an eye issue.
 
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