Panther not pooping

Jeemy

New Member
If I'm right, he hasn't pooped in 4 weeks now. I found one dried up shrivelled poop, which had white urates, just old and dried, hidden on the back of a leaf on the back of his cage since I started watching out for this. So if he has, it's just that one. But that was 10 days ago.

He's (as far as I was told when I bought him) a male blue panther, and is almost exactly 1 year old. I still worry he is quite small, and his colours don't seem to have come in as much as you would expect.

I don't want to get too wordy with all of this but his viv ranges from 70-80, 80-85 in basking, he is misted regularly, sleeps well afaik, eats 5-15 locusts a day plus crickets he feeds on free range so I can't count them well, I'd guess 5 a day, plus silkworms, horn worms and calci worms once every week or two. He gets calcium most days, without D3, vit A not from beta carotene twice monthly, calc+D3 twice monthly and a multivit weekly.

He's on an ExoTerra UVA and an Arcadia Forest T5 6%. He has a drinking fountain but I've never seen him use it, sometimes he has water from a pipette from me, and I spray his leaves when he is out of the cage.

He doesn't seem unwell or upset. He is always really pleased to see me, comes running out of the viv to climb up me, sits on my arm and eats locusts; originally I worried about him coming out of the viv so fast, and thought I'd tracked it down to incorrect assembly having reflective glass on the inside so he was seeing a reflection of "another chameleon" and it was stressing him; I flipped the glass to the matte side. Since then, he stopped for a little while then started again and it seems friendly, not stressy.

He went to the vet back in May cos one eye was a bit closed, he had eyedrops and antibiotics and recovered fine. They didn't spot anything wrong with him but he hadn't shed in a while, once he got over that he shed on 16/06/2022 and 04/07/2022. So he is due a shed soon I'd say.

I'm worried he isn't growing enough, and I'm worried he isn't pooping. In the old days I'd put my head in the viv and have a sniff around. It would usually be hidden, but detectable by smell, and fairly big, 1.5-2 inches. About 2-3 a week. And now....nothing? I'm really confused. He doesn't seem uncomfortable or in difficulty, quite the opposite, he's really mobile. The only other thing that has changed is 3 things: (i) that he has been spending more time at the cool, dark end of the viv, which I put down to the hot weather; technically everything is on thermostats but of course that only goes so far, but every time I take temp readings they are fine. And (ii) he's started coming out of the viv to see me 8/10 times I go and check on him. But he gets fed that way, so I don't read too much into it. And (iii) he has a tiny mark on his nose, which I'm wondering if he burnt himself on the metal at the top of the viv, where the bulb is hottest. He's never done this before and he could only reach it by climbing his moss stick which he rarely does, so it might just be dirty. I don't want to brush it in case it's sore, but he wouldn't mind.

I'm starting to feel like he's undernourished and eating his own poop or something. But I have never seen any evidence of this. I check him 3-4 times a day, and feed him until he doesn't want fed, twice a day. Any ideas anyone?
 
I forgot to say. I put a little cod liver oil on a locust 5 days ago and 3 days ago with no results. I’ve been spraying him a little with warm water and am building up the courage for a longer shower. He doesn’t like being misted directly or indirectly much. Screws his eyes shut.
 
Eeek sorry, missed it through worry, just saw this after reading the Poop 101. Just if it's more helpful.

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Male blue panther, 1y (from what I was told). I've had him from something in the region of 2 months old, for bang on 1 year.
  • Handling - I now handle him twice a day. Which is his choice. He comes straight out the viv, likes to go up one arm, round my back and down the other arm. Then he'll sit on my hand and feed.
  • Feeding - He loves locusts, so eats 5-12 at a sitting. I hand-feed him locusts twice a day and gutload with carrot, cucumber, lettuce, dandelion leaves, etc, all dusted with Bug Grub. He also gets crickets gutloaded with the same, dropped in the viv for 2 days, then I put in a cup of water for the remainder to drown in. He gets silkworms, hornworms and calciworms on rotation about every 2 weeks. Very occasional mealworms and morios.
  • Supplements - Every day or two; Arcadia EarthPro-CA calcium. Once a week ExoTerra multivit. Alternating fortnights Repashy Vitamin A, and Earthpro RevitaliseD3
  • Watering - He has a mister, going every 1h for 2 mins, and I switch it on overnight for 5 mins sometimes to bump up humidity. When he is out feeding, I'll spray all his leaves. I occasionally see him sip from a leaf, and every 3-4 days he'll take water direct from a pipette I always try first. The other times he walks up the pipette and onto my arm. He's got a fountain that drips water over fake leaves, never seen him near it.
  • Fecal Description - Always 1.5-2 inches, mildly wet/glossy, white urates. Used to be every 2-3 days. This is my issue, Not seeing faeces.
  • History - He shed every 4 weeks up until Dec 2021 when I guess he was brumating, eat less, kept quiet. Shed Feb 2022, then nothing until April when he got a closed eye. I got him to the vet within 2-3 days which was just the start of May. Antibiotics and eye drops, worked out great, he shed just after that, again June, again July, and no shed since then (6 weeks now).

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - 60x45x90cm Habistat with mesh roof, matte glass sides and clear glass doors.
  • Lighting - ExoTerra UVA and an Arcadia Forest T5 6%. The room lights fade in 30 mins before sunrise for 60 mins, these come on at sunrise and reverse, so the Habistat lights switch midway through the room gradient. Both are right on top of the mesh roof, the UVB used to be 8" above but I moved it as I felt he wasn't possibly getting enough UVB and he seemed to get perkier after that. The UVA has a cage so it doesn't touch the mesh directly. He sleeps well, sunrise to sunset and up til recently always went to his umbrella plant to sleep. Now he is hanging out over the cold end of the cage and sleeping there. The umbrella plant has got too big and is getting burnt at the top. I'm going to set up the
  • Temperature - 70-80 across main body of cage, 80-85 in basking spot. Not seen it below 67 at night even in Scotland; I have 2 ceramic heat pads that come on at 70deg. Have a permanent sensor thermometer that measures two spots and use a laser one when he is out.
  • Humidity - Humidity is about 90-100% which I measure using the same thermometer, and was advised panthers like it a bit more humidified by both seller and vet. Maintained by misting.
  • Plants - Clay balls at the bottom then Habistat Jungle Bio earth. Dracanae, Pothos Moss Pole, Umbrella Plant, Bromeliad
  • Placement - Cage is in a room that Tango has to himself at the moment (and has since birth, we figured we'd move him into his owner (my son)'s room once he was old enough and used to handling). It is about 1m off the ground so about head height at the top. I've had a Zoo Med Repti Breeze XL in mind, and am ready to press the button once he is big enough. But I feel like he isn't growing at the right rate. His eyes, legs, joints, tail etc all seem fine. His skin seems softer and more matte than all the other chams I see.
  • Location - Scotland, UK
 
For the reflection of the glass I put that car window cling that blocks out the sun along my front doors where he walks a majority of the time.
After that he wasnt as timid.

I’ve feed locust a couple times and have noticed they slow down the bowel movement of my chameleon.

I’ve also learned a trick… put your chameleon on a stick and take him outside bright indirect light. If he has to poop the wobbliness of the stick will make him go..lol
Works for me all the time..
 

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@Beman Here's some pictures. But the good news is....he pooped today! Whether it was the silkworms vs locusts as Emilio said, or whether I just caught it, I don't know. But if anyone has any comments based on these pictures I'd be grateful as I'm still a tad worried he isn't growing fast enough, or pooping often enough.

@EmilioTheAnkify maybe you misread, I already flipped the glass, as I'd caught him staring and gaping at his own reflection a couple times. I thought that was why he kept coming running out of the viv to me. He stopped doing the running out but has started again. It makes me want to say it's just cos he loves me but I am aware that's not typical behaviour.
 

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Pretty sure u have a female not male.
I'm really worried about that too. The guy who sold it to me swore blind he was a male. The vets never corrected this. That's why I included the picture I did. It would explain the colours not coming in, and the growth not being what I would expect.

Can anybody else confirm? Because I'll need to start looking into laybins and stuff pretty fast, s/he's one year old now.
 
I'm really worried about that too. The guy who sold it to me swore blind he was a male. The vets never corrected this. That's why I included the picture I did. It would explain the colours not coming in, and the growth not being what I would expect.

Can anybody else confirm? Because I'll need to start looking into laybins and stuff pretty fast, s/he's one year old now.
Without doubt a female and she looks receptive as well. Therefore, search for a lay bin is needed, like yesterday.
And she’s really beautiful 😍
 
12” high flowerpot located, filling with sand/Earth/water now.

There’s a male nosy faly in the local garden centre I’ve been feeling very sorry for, so my son (the owner) is now going to have two chameleons; Tango who he still loves, and Rango the new one so he still gets his proper colour changing chameleon he has waited so many years for. Gonna pick him up tomorrow.

Thank you all.
 
12” high flowerpot located, filling with sand/Earth/water now.

There’s a male nosy faly in the local garden centre I’ve been feeling very sorry for, so my son (the owner) is now going to have two chameleons; Tango who he still loves, and Rango the new one so he still gets his proper colour changing chameleon he has waited so many years for. Gonna pick up tomorrow.
 
I'm really worried about that too. The guy who sold it to me swore blind he was a male. The vets never corrected this. That's why I included the picture I did. It would explain the colours not coming in, and the growth not being what I would expect.

Can anybody else confirm? Because I'll need to start looking into laybins and stuff pretty fast, s/he's one year old now.
Female 100% Congrats!! 🥳. The gender that the worker or, Vet tells you it is always wrong! For lay bins i just buy a tall empty planter and fill with play sand and mix a little bit of different substrates. Shes Beautiful btw 😍
 
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