Panther won't eat or drink

[AKReptiles]

Panther Male

About 4-5 months in age

Custome Cage i live in Alaska and humidity is hard to achieve so i can't have a all screen cage but the cage has excellent ventilation

Humidity 35-80 throughout the day was but bought a repti-fogger and timer to fix this cage stays between 60-85 now

Temperature sits around 80 all day

Basking spot at around 95 during day time

he will not eat or drink and i have found him laying in his water at the bottom of the cage.... I've given him a "bath" and he seems to enjoy it he is calm (no dark colors) and is completely relaxed he's sluggish and hasn't eaten in about 4-5 days before he'd eat every time it was feeding time and id present food to him, i have a bad habit of forgetting about calcium and vitamins i try to give them to him twice every week but don't always help i don't know what to do!! Another thing is he has a soiled cloaca, he might be sick but I'm not sure i gave him a "bath" so i could clean it and its in good shape now

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[Carlton]

A few clarifying questions for you...

What brands of lighting are you using? Specifically, what brand of UVB bulb do you have and how long have you been using it?

Does the entire cage stay at 80? That's a bit warm. There should be cooler more humid areas of the cage he can retreat to if he gets too warm or dehydrated. Maybe that's one reason you find him on the bottom.

What are you feeding your insects? The correct dusting schedule should be:

Dust with plain calcium (no added vitamin D3) lightly every day.
Dust with calcium (with added vit. D3) once every 2 weeks.
Dust with a herp multivitamin once every 2 weeks.

All lights are off at night, right? How cool does the cage get at night. It should drop to at least 55.

 

[AKReptiles]

Sorry should have posted a reply earlier, took Zeus to a vet and found out what was wrong. He has parasites, amoeba to be exact. Petco has never told me their lizards are mainly wild caught or I would have had him checked for parasites when I got him. Thank god I thought it was renal disease has the same exact symptoms. The vet informed me the reason for him being in the water is because the parasites make it hard for him to use the bathroom and water acts as a laxative for reptiles but on the other note,

I use a PowerSun Mercury 100w bulb for uva/uvb/heat, temps all day at the top of the cage are 80 with a basking spot at about 95, bottom of the cage sits at 68-75 degrees in unshaded and shaded spots. Cage ranges from between 70-100 top to bottom due to the cage having an automatic mister and humidifier set on timers. Also has a dripper that is filled every morning and provides constant water all day. Mister runs 3x a day and humidifer runs every hour and a half for 30 minutes.

I feed dubia roaches/crickets mainly and superworms/waxworms/calciworms fruit baby food put on leaves with no additive or artificial flavors as treats to keep his interests

Cage lights are off at night and temps are ranging throughout the cage between 60-66 degrees with humidity ranging from 70-100 all night.

As for the calcium and vitamin schedule thank you very much! This will help a lot once he starts eating again, as of now I'm having to force feed him I hate having to do this because chams stress very easily, but this is the best cham I've had since owning one he has a VERY good tolerance level. As of now he's looking a lot better with medication and recovering quickly vet in my town is very good, she has had 10 years of school in exotic and normal house pets.

 

[AKReptiles]

Sorry for details not being very descriptive was worried about my chameleon, love my reptiles and hate to see them die base on my husbandry but as it turns out it was nothing i was doing it was parasites!

 

[Carlton]

Sorry should have posted a reply earlier, took Zeus to a vet and found out what was wrong. He has parasites, amoeba to be exact. Petco has never told me their lizards are mainly wild caught or I would have had him checked for parasites when I got him. Thank god I thought it was renal disease has the same exact symptoms. The vet informed me the reason for him being in the water is because the parasites make it hard for him to use the bathroom and water acts as a laxative for reptiles but on the other note,

Parasites are everywhere and most chams (both captive bred and wildcaught) carry some. They get them from feeders and are a fact of life to be aware of. However, they don't necessarily stop eating or drinking because of it. Often just the opposite-eating well but losing weight. I am a little skeptical that was the primary problem, but it may be contributing to something else. Parasite loads tend to build up if the cham is under stress from some other problem. Treating the parasites won't hurt so go ahead. Just be aware that one cycle of treatment may not get rid of them. You can easily take a fresh fecal sample to the vet to check in future.

Petco isn't going to tell you much about their herps and what they do tell you may not be correct. Its ironic that there are so many captive bred panthers available in the US and they tell you they carry IMPORTS! There's no way to know for sure and it may not matter much.

I'm also skeptical that your cham is sitting in water because parasites are constipating him. Chams do not soak in water like many terrestrial lizards do. I think its more common for a parasite load to cause loose watery or mucous-filled stools instead. I just re-read your first post and noticed the comment about his cloaca. If he had loose stools that could fit with the parasites.


I use a PowerSun Mercury 100w bulb for uva/uvb/heat, temps all day at the top of the cage are 80 with a basking spot at about 95, bottom of the cage sits at 68-75 degrees in unshaded and shaded spots. Cage ranges from between 70-100 top to bottom due to the cage having an automatic mister and humidifier set on timers. Also has a dripper that is filled every morning and provides constant water all day. Mister runs 3x a day and humidifer runs every hour and a half for 30 minutes.

I feed dubia roaches/crickets mainly and superworms/waxworms/calciworms fruit baby food put on leaves with no additive or artificial flavors as treats to keep his interests

Cage lights are off at night and temps are ranging throughout the cage between 60-66 degrees with humidity ranging from 70-100 all night.

As for the calcium and vitamin schedule thank you very much! This will help a lot once he starts eating again, as of now I'm having to force feed him I hate having to do this because chams stress very easily, but this is the best cham I've had since owning one he has a VERY good tolerance level. As of now he's looking a lot better with medication and recovering quickly vet in my town is very good, she has had 10 years of school in exotic and normal house pets.[/QUOTE]

My gut is telling me he was overheated and searching for cooler areas of the cage. Maybe your light is a bit close to the cage...not sure. Also, dehydrated chams don't eat much if at all. It affects their tongue glands so prey doesn't stick as well. Plus, if he is trying to stay cool he isn't hunting.

I'm not trying to second guess your vet, but this forum sees a lot of inexperienced vet advice and diagnoses. Most vets just don't see many chams in their practices. But, as long as he's getting better that's all that matters. I hope he does fine!

 

[AKReptiles]

His stools where loose and watery or mucous filled, and I found it odd as well what the vet said about him being constipated he hasn't eaten in 3-4 days and was most likely was becoming dehydrated I will try moving his light farther away from the cage or I'll down the wattage and add a uvb 5.0 see if that has any improvement on his behavior but thank you any and all information acquired from fellow Cham owners is greatly appreciated I haven't owned a Cham in 3 years so I'm a little rusty but I'm getting back into the swing of things I'll let you know the outcome of moving his light or down grading them.

 

[AKReptiles]

So I ended up down grading his lights to 5.0 Uvb and a 60w day bulb uva/heat and it seems to have helped tremendously! Cage ranges bottom to top 70-85 with a basking spot at 88-90 at night the cage drops to about 64-66 throughout.. Thanks for all the advice, Zues has yet to start eating entirely on his own but is showing signs of becoming healthier everyday...