Panther will not eat on his own!

[wkdwch69]

I have a 8 month old Panther Chameleon and for the last 2 months, I have been feeding him via syringe food and water/pedialite. I have taken him to the reptile vet FOUR times and they cannot find anything wrong with him other than MBD which is being treated. He opens his mouth very wide numerous times throughout the day and gasps for air. He has been tested for an URI and it was negative however, she put him on the antibiotic injections anyways. Still not helping! He is in a 36x36x18 glass terranium with screen top. He has 3 live plants including the ficus, schefflera and ponthos. He has started drinking water off the ficus in the last few days so I'm not having to hydrate him as much. I offer mealworms, crickets and super worms right to his face and NOTHING. I can physically put a mealworm in his mouth and he will chew is and swallow it but he will not go after food on his own. We tried putting him in a screen cage the same size....no changes.....HELP!

 

[Virgil1972]

You need to fill out the information in the How to ask for help thread at the top of the list in the health clinic forum.

 

[wkdwch69]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - 8 month old Panther Chameleon, purchased from breeder 4 months ago.
• Handling - Daily now because I have to force feed him.
• Feeding - Gut Loaded crickets with Flukers cricket quencher, mealworms dusted with Herptivite & Calcium with Vit D. When he was eating, he would eat about 6/7 crickets daily and a few worms.
• Supplements - Dusted Mealworms and super worms with herptivite and calcium w/vit d. (Rep-Cal brand) 2x a week. Liquid Calcium via syringe from vet.
• Watering - Reptirain every 6 hours for 60 seconds. He does drink of the Ficus leaves.
• Fecal Description - Dark brown - medium brown feces right now. Vet says it's because he's on Insectivore.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Glass 36x36x18
• Lighting - 2 UVB fluorescent lights approx 20" each to cover whole length of cage, 4 national geographic 25w heat bulbs during day (5am-8pm daylight). Night - 2 red heat lights.
• Temperature - Temp ranges from 70-78ish
• Humidity - Reptirain, humidity levels stay around 65%
• Plants - Live ficus, schefflera and golden pothos
• Placement - Cage is in low traffic area with partial sunlight, no vents over cage.
• Location - Houston, TX

 

[Virgil1972]

Meal worms are not a good feeder, they are hard to digest because of a hard exoskeleton and can cause a cham to get bound up. You should be dusting with calcium without d3 every day and using calcium with d3 twice a month. To much d3 can be toxic. A multivitamin should also be given twice a month. Your cham does not need any heat lights at night it can disrupt their sleep and a temp drop at night is also good for their metabolism. Glass cages are not the best for chams. They need ventilation and if your male sees his reflection it will stress him out. They are not social animals and he sees his reflection as an intruder.

 

[wavingsnail]

Even if there was no change when you put him in the screen cage, I'd still move him there permanently.

Long term in your climate keeping him in glass just seems like a gamble.

Does he have a basking spot with higher temps? Low temps will drastically slow down metabolism which will in turn curb his appetite.

Honestly, I'd say move him over, bump his temps a couple of degrees (at least towards the top of the cage) and as long as he's drinking, leave him alone for a while.

The combination of injections and being force fed daily will also kill his appetite, so let him destress for a bit, then try cup feeding him in a couple/few days and see how it goes.

 

[wkdwch69]

Because of the cage's height, he seems to spend all day at the top where the temp is about 75....at night he goes down in the ficus tree where its cooler. I stopped feeding him 3x a day like the vet said and I've only done it once daily now trying to leave him alone and see if he will get back to normal. He is drinking on his own now which is a huge improvement. I'll get him back in the screen cage ASAP.

 

[Virgil1972]

Stress from all that stuff is a big appetite killer and also an actual killer to. Take it one day at a time.

 

[wavingsnail]

Yeah, he needs a basking point with higher temps.

 

[MeruJack]

Be sure to check out the Panther Caresheet under the "Resources" tab at the top of this page. Here is some important Panther-specific and age/sex-specific info I found on the caresheet:

Temperature:
Baby/juvenile (<9 months): ambient 72-80F, basking 82F
Adult males: ambient 75-80F, basking 85-90F

Feeding:
Neonates: as many small crickets as they can eat several times a day
Juveniles 3-6 months of age: 10-12 small crickets daily
Juveniles 6-12 months of age: 10-12 medium crickets every other day
Adults over 12 months of age: 7-10 medium-large crickets every other day

Screen Cage (length x width x height):

16x16x30" - Babies/juveniles
18x18x36" - Juveniles/adult female minimum
24x24x48" - Adult male minimum or adult female

Humidity:
Panther chameleons require levels (of humidity) around 50-70%, which can be achieved by several misting sessions a day over all areas of the cage.

Supplementation:
Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks.

It's great to be able to find all this invaluable info in one place!