Panther vomited 😬

[Milch]

Hey guys,

My beloved panther was fine today until I came home to find his eyes closing and opening. I took him out and put him on his branch and he was unusually lethargic, eyes often closing.

Then he started gaping and ‘yawning’ and vomited! He was last fed two days ago, 5 locusts, and some locust ‘remains’ were visible.

He’s back in his enclosure now, slumped on a branch and drinking a lot when I spray water at his mouth (more than usual). It’s early evening and his eyes are mostly closed unless I disturb him. Usually his eyes close for sleep around 11pm, it’s now 8:30pm.

He’s 2 years old and is normally in good health, this was very sudden.

Husbandry same as usual. His last meal included a dusting of D3 (which I give him twice a month). I don’t gut-load his locusts, as per the breeder’s advice.

I’m going to try and take him to the vet tomorrow but am very worried. Has anyone heard of, or had experience with, anything like this?

Any advice welcome. Thank you

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

That is crazy. I hope the vet says you Furcifer pardalis is alright.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[MissSkittles]

If you’re able to get a fresh poo, it would be good to get him checked for parasites. That is my first suspect of what may be going on, aside from husbandry error (I assume all is good there). Nothing against your vet (don’t know him or her), but do be cautious if medication is prescribed or given without appropriate diagnostics…like lab/blood work or radiographs to indicate there is indeed a just cause for the med. Many meds are very hard on the kidneys, so that’s why it’s best to ensure they are truly needed. I wish you and your guy the very best. Do let us know what is found and how your guy is doing.

 

[kinyonga]

You said…”drinking a lot when I spray water at his mouth”…why are you spraying water at his mouth? I would think he could aspirate it easily this way. Not saying that that is why this is happening…just a warning to not spray water at his mouth.

Please show some photos of him and the whole cage, lights included.

Why wouldn’t you feed/gutload the locusts any food?

 

[Milch]

If you’re able to get a fresh poo, it would be good to get him checked for parasites. That is my first suspect of what may be going on, aside from husbandry error (I assume all is good there). Nothing against your vet (don’t know him or her), but do be cautious if medication is prescribed or given without appropriate diagnostics…like lab/blood work or radiographs to indicate there is indeed a just cause for the med. Many meds are very hard on the kidneys, so that’s why it’s best to ensure they are truly needed. I wish you and your guy the very best. Do let us know what is found and how your guy is doing.

Thanks. His poo this morning looked pretty normal despite being unusually small (seems most of his last meal reappeared in his vomit), but we’ll see what the vet says. I called the breeder I bought him from and he seemed to think he needs to be ‘wormed’, so I guess that’s parasites?

My concern now is his lethargy. He’s asleep for the night now, but he’s sorta slumped on his basking branch and only the tip of his tail is coiled - not the usual full spiral, and he’s not on his usual sleeping branch lower down.

Hard to know if this is just a bit of food poisoning or signs of a serious problem

The only abnormality recently was that he suddenly started refusing locusts (his staple) a few months ago. Then I went on vacation and took him back to the breeders to look after. When I got him back he was eating locusts again! I asked how they did it and they said they held back from feeding him for a few days. Maybe he’s not used to eating so much after a short ‘starvation’ period?

 

[Milch]

You said…”drinking a lot when I spray water at his mouth”…why are you spraying water at his mouth? I would think he could aspirate it easily this way. Not saying that that is why this is happening…just a warning to not spray water at his mouth.

Please show some photos of him and the whole cage, lights included.

Why wouldn’t you feed/gutload the locusts any food?

Sometimes if I want to quickly hydrate him between mistings I’ll spray water onto a leaf near his mouth, and today he has been too fatigued to travel to the dripping leaves, so I sprayed leaves/objects near his mouth, and around his mouth, and he was lapping it up. He has been unusually thirsty after vomiting today.

I’m not spraying directly into his open mouth, but around it so it drips into his tongue when he opens up for another gulp. It’s the only way I can get him the water he clearly needs. Are you worried that he’ll ‘inhale’ water?

The breeder never told me to gutload locusts. I tried it for a while but they would die, when I didn’t gutload they would survive. I then read that various owners don’t gutload locusts and assumed this would be OK? I did gutload his crickets but he refused to eat them after a while (he might be open to them again now that the breeder fixed his fussiness while I was on vacation and he’s back on locusts - see my above post)

I’m attaching a couple of photos. Thanks for your help