Pastel coloring, small bumps.

Kbuder

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon: Male, Panther. About 11 months old. Purchased from a local Petco in August 2018
  • Handling: About 2-3 times per week, 20-30 minutes depending on temper.
  • Feeding: Have had difficulty feeding recently. We attempt fresh crickets daily (about 5 large) He doesn’t always eat them. He use to eat super worms and wax worms, but has refused for last two months but I attempt to offer one every few days. His favorite is usually hornworms and I recently purchased five large. He attempted to eat one but it was too strong holding on to branch and he gave up. I gave him one smaller one and he ate if. Currently he is seeming to eat 3-4 crickets a day but is very slow to eat.
  • Supplements - I dust with ZooMed calcium every other day for crickets, super worms though he doesn’t always eat them.
  • Watering - Large dripping container on top of cage all day to maintain humidity and collect water at top of cage. Cham only drinks from collected water at top of cage from dropper or straight from spray bottle. We spray cage down 4 times a day. Humidity maintains around 80%. Have increased dripping amount due to dehydrated appearance with good results. Sphagnum moss at bottom of cage to keep humidity.
  • Fecal Description - Orange, less watery. Is improving slowly but definitely still hints at dehydration. The rest of BM is solid, but digested.
  • History: Hasn’t shed in about 2 months. Unsure of cause.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type: Screen cage, medium sized 16x16x30.
  • Lighting - ZooMed dome lighting, daylight blue 60 watt, reptisun 13 watt. Lights are on12 hours, 8am to 8pm.
  • Temperature: lowest level Cham hangs out is 72-75, basking area 87-90, measured with digital thermometer. Has recently warmed up in home. We live in Ohio and it’s been a cold winter up here, he is on second floor of home. Since weather has gotten nicer, his room has naturally warmed and natural humidity is increasing.
  • Humidity - Humidity with dripping system only is around 60-70%, misting four times a day with spray bottle to increase humidity to 80-90%.
  • No live plants.
  • Placement: second floor of home in corner of children’s room. They are only in room for sleeping so room is relatively calm and quiet. Placed near sky light to gain natural sunlight on sunny days. Has been gloomy from winter. Recently. Cage sits on small table, approximately two feet high.
  • Location: Ohio
Problem: have been battling dehydration and lack of appetite, unsure of cause. Panther is pastel in color, moves about cage regularly but seems weak, slow to place hands when walking, etc. eyes have sunken slightly. We did increase watering due to this. Has no interest in normal favorites (esp super worms, horn worms) while having him out this week, noticed two small bumps behind his head. His coloring just seems pastel like, some have suggested a possible difficult shed but as this is my first panther, unsure how to recognize that. His hydration is definitely improving as noted in eyes, but stool is still orange.

Questions:
Color? Normal or not? He almost has a female appearance at times.
Bumps? Any thoughts to what they are?
Feeding? Is this a normal strike against his favorites, he has been eating more since increasing water drip.
Vet visit necessary? Difficulty finding an exotic vet up here.

Thanks so much in advance! This is our first Cham and even the most research I can do isn’t as worthy as experienced owners.
 

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Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon: Male, Panther. About 11 months old. Purchased from a local Petco in August 2018
  • Handling: About 2-3 times per week, 20-30 minutes depending on temper.
  • Feeding: Have had difficulty feeding recently. We attempt fresh crickets daily (about 5 large) He doesn’t always eat them. He use to eat super worms and wax worms, but has refused for last two months but I attempt to offer one every few days. His favorite is usually hornworms and I recently purchased five large. He attempted to eat one but it was too strong holding on to branch and he gave up. I gave him one smaller one and he ate if. Currently he is seeming to eat 3-4 crickets a day but is very slow to eat.
  • Supplements - I dust with ZooMed calcium every other day for crickets, super worms though he doesn’t always eat them.
  • Watering - Large dripping container on top of cage all day to maintain humidity and collect water at top of cage. Cham only drinks from collected water at top of cage from dropper or straight from spray bottle. We spray cage down 4 times a day. Humidity maintains around 80%. Have increased dripping amount due to dehydrated appearance with good results. Sphagnum moss at bottom of cage to keep humidity.
  • Fecal Description - Orange, less watery. Is improving slowly but definitely still hints at dehydration. The rest of BM is solid, but digested.
  • History: Hasn’t shed in about 2 months. Unsure of cause.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type: Screen cage, medium sized 16x16x30.
  • Lighting - ZooMed dome lighting, daylight blue 60 watt, reptisun 13 watt. Lights are on12 hours, 8am to 8pm.
  • Temperature: lowest level Cham hangs out is 72-75, basking area 87-90, measured with digital thermometer. Has recently warmed up in home. We live in Ohio and it’s been a cold winter up here, he is on second floor of home. Since weather has gotten nicer, his room has naturally warmed and natural humidity is increasing.
  • Humidity - Humidity with dripping system only is around 60-70%, misting four times a day with spray bottle to increase humidity to 80-90%.
  • No live plants.
  • Placement: second floor of home in corner of children’s room. They are only in room for sleeping so room is relatively calm and quiet. Placed near sky light to gain natural sunlight on sunny days. Has been gloomy from winter. Recently. Cage sits on small table, approximately two feet high.
  • Location: Ohio
Problem: have been battling dehydration and lack of appetite, unsure of cause. Panther is pastel in color, moves about cage regularly but seems weak, slow to place hands when walking, etc. eyes have sunken slightly. We did increase watering due to this. Has no interest in normal favorites (esp super worms, horn worms) while having him out this week, noticed two small bumps behind his head. His coloring just seems pastel like, some have suggested a possible difficult shed but as this is my first panther, unsure how to recognize that. His hydration is definitely improving as noted in eyes, but stool is still orange.

Questions:
Color? Normal or not? He almost has a female appearance at times.
Bumps? Any thoughts to what they are?
Feeding? Is this a normal strike against his favorites, he has been eating more since increasing water drip.
Vet visit necessary? Difficulty finding an exotic vet up here.

Thanks so much in advance! This is our first Cham and even the most research I can do isn’t as worthy as experienced owners.


Last picture is of him today. The first few are from two days ago.
 

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Ok cage is too small you need at least a 24x24x48 and you have him in a small enclosure. Set your cage on something taller when you are hovering over them can cause stress. You also say he is in the kids bedroom but they are not in there until bed time so while that is a calm place to put him. But yet you said you handle him 2-3 times a week how do you know if that’s not stressful for him? I’m not saying he dose or dose not like being handled but it could be something to look into. Get rid of your coil reptisun bulb and get a reptisun T5 HO 5.0 at the least. I would get at least 1 live plant for drinking purposes plus it will help with humidity, maybe a pathos or umbrella plant but something with bigger leaves so the water droplets can form on them for drinking. The bump looks to be possibly a absence.
 
This is due to several factors, some mentioned above:
-Small cage needs 24x24x48

-Bare cage his viv should be full of sticks and live plants. Empty space = wasted space. Chams need to hide when the want to, they feel more secure if they have a retreat.

-No acceptable UVB lighting need 24” T5HO with 6% Arcadia bulb

-Insufficient calcium program every feeder should be dusted, always. You need both calcium with D3 and without. D3 should be given on the 1st and 15th every month, same for multivitamin

- possible D3 OD post a pic of your calcium bottle

-No multivitamin this is a must have

-No gutload this is a must have

-Moss on floor encourages bacteria/mold. Bare bottom or Bioactive are your only options

- location I know you said your kids don’t bother him but it’s never a good idea to keep a Cham in a child’s room. Kids are too jerky, fast moving, and unpredictable.
 

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I would also add your humidity is too high. During the day it should be around 50% and at night 70-80%. It should fluctuate like this and not be consistently high as this can cause upper respiratory infections. @Brodybreaux25 knows his stuff and I agree with everything he's said above. If you want a happy healthy panther for years to come that is!
 
My little man, Camille, was bit by a cricket and got a black spot. I assume it's an infection. I had great results with cleaning the spot with pure 3% hydrogen peroxide from your local drug store soaked on a paper towel, 2-3 times a day. Eventually I was able to gently pick it off and open it up a little, The spot got less noticeable after a few days and came off completely with his next shed. And since hydrogen peroxide converts to water it's pretty safe as long as it doesn't get into the eye or swallowed.
 
Thank you for all of your help everyone!! So far every change we have made has been from the suggestions of the workers at the Petco, and I realize they are not experts, leading us here. Will reconfigure everything and update!
 
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