panther grasp weakness

[ginny]

My 2 year old panther has been getting weaker in his grasp. One vet said he was calcium deficient (blood work) and gave him calcium drops. He didn't improve. Took him to reptile specialist who said he was not deficient but that I should switch to a glass terrarium instead of mesh. I live in pacific northwest. I switched to glass, he has UBV/heat lamp, night heat, distilled water spray couple times a day, drip twice a day. He is friendly and active. I have also switched his diet to silkworms, hornworms, and phoenix worms, and also dust these in calcium and vitamin powder.
His appetite is great, but his grasp continues to weaken. What else can I possibly do? Should I give him the calcium drops again?

 

[Carlton]

My 2 year old panther has been getting weaker in his grasp. One vet said he was calcium deficient (blood work) and gave him calcium drops. He didn't improve. Took him to reptile specialist who said he was not deficient but that I should switch to a glass terrarium instead of mesh. I live in pacific northwest. I switched to glass, he has UBV/heat lamp, night heat, distilled water spray couple times a day, drip twice a day. He is friendly and active. I have also switched his diet to silkworms, hornworms, and phoenix worms, and also dust these in calcium and vitamin powder.
His appetite is great, but his grasp continues to weaken. What else can I possibly do? Should I give him the calcium drops again?

Get rid of the night heat unless your room gets colder than 50. Its preventing him from sleeping well. Chams need a drop in temp at least 10 degrees at night and NO visible light. If he's always tired he won't have as strong a grip.

The nutritional questions are not overly simple. When you dust his insects what products are you using and how often do you use each type? Here's what it should be:

Dust with plain calcium (NO added vitamin D3) daily.
Dust with calcium (WITH added D3) once every 10 days to 2 weeks.
Dust with a herp multivitamin once every 10 days to 2 weeks.

If you dust with vitamins too often it can create symptoms similar to MBD (calcium deficiency).

What brand of basking and UV bulb are you using and how old are they? The basking bulb only needs to provide heat, so a regular house light bulb will work. The UVB bulb brand and age does matter. There are very few combination bulbs that produce both heat AND the correct type of UVB. If you are not using a specialist combination bulb such as a mercury vapor or metal halide type he's probably not getting the correct amount of UVB. This will also create MBD eventually.