Chameleons Northwest
Avid Member
We responded to a local add on Craigslist for a breeding pair of panther chams. The owners have had them for 8 months and were keeping them in the same cage. I wanted to post this as a warning to anyone thinking they may be tempted to do the same. Compare the photo of the male with those of the female. The male is very robust. The female is deformed and ill. It is our thinking that her problems were created by the joint domicile. She was unable to eat or bask because of the dominant, aggressive, male. The owners were a very nice couple who were simply led astray concerning proper husbandry for these 2 beautiful animals.
The couple told us on the phone that the female had an "eating problem" and so has been handfed. When we showed up to see the pair we were really taken aback at her condition. But, of course, we felt like we couldn't leave her there, so purchased the pair. The male really is lovely, and in excellent health and very tame.
The cage is a nice size- 20" x 20" x 36", and had a fitted black tub bottom for catching water. The enclosure contained a schefflera, a perching branch, and some long twigs. The chams were watered with a "little dripper".
The male is very large, 8 inches snout to vent. Haven't weighed him yet but he's a big guy. The girl is small, weighs 43g today. She was wrinkled, with concave casque, and bony tail. Her ribs were sticking out and her belly was hollow. Her legs are deformed, and she cannot focus her eyes. The couple said she spent most of her time at the base of the plant, near the soil.
The UVB/heat lamp was mercury vapor. The female probably spent most, or all, of her time outside the range of the UVB pattern. There is a photo below, but the area below the plant branches is much darker in real life than it shows in the photo. The female had obviously been threatened and abused by the male. Scratches and bite marks were obvious on her skin. This, of course, kept her from being able to eat or bask. Resulting in severe calcium deficiency.
She just laid a clutch of eggs in July. The owner found the eggs after the fact. She probably didn't look very pregnant, since she had no body fat. She also laid a clutch in December. That's a decent space between clutches, but in the mean time the poor girl has hardly eaten. The couple had moved recently, and continued to house the chams at their old house.
We've been feeding her crickets dipped in concentrated rescue food since we got her Saturday. She's already beginning to fill out a bit. She's also getting prescription calcium drops, and I gave her a bit of Vit A from a capsule. She's been outside in the sun twice. When we got her she did not use her rear left leg at all, and did not grip with the rear right foot, although she did move that leg. Already now she is gripping with both feet. We don't know yet whether she is able to poop. The couple could not tell us when she last pooped.
She has an old, cratered, scar on her back probably from a feeder bite when she was a baby, and a nasty new-ish bite on the side of her head. We are treating that with Nolvasan.
She appears to be "legally" blind. She can see movement, but cannot focus her eyes. She can only just barely raise the pupils above the bottom edge of her eyelid. And she struggles to do that. She also cannot project her tongue more than 1/16" outside the front of her mouth. She accepts force feeding very well. A few times she has actually eaten from rubber coated tongs. But it is exhausting for her. To do so I have to select a somewhat large and very active cricket. I hold it in front of her head and she notices the movement and then struggles to focus on it. She moves her nose from side to side and then tilts her head way back. The backward head-tilting thing seems to facilitate moving her tongue forward. But it makes it even harder for her to see the cricket. She actually tilts her head back, and then her whole body arches backwards, until her head is upside down (as if she were preparing to do a back flip). She is then able to move her tongue out to the front of her mouth. I place the cricket on the front tip of her tongue and she works to bring it into her mouth. It is exhausting for her and very sad. By the time she ate 3 crickets I was soaked with sweat (because I was standing on a ladder at her cage door and it was very warm and I had to so concentrate on what I was doing), and it had taken probably 15-20 minutes. So, we've been mostly feeding her by holding her gently and opening her mouth with a tiny rubber spatula and inserting the food. She takes this very well and works her tongue vigorously inside her mouth to manipulate the food. She's been getting 3 medium crickets a day (except for yesterday she only wanted 1), two of her 3 crickets get smeared with concentrated rescue food.
The couple we purchased her from said she'd been like that since they bought her. Seems unlikely. They told us she and her mate were purchased at the Puyallup Captive Breeders Expo last October. Royden, if you see this you may remember the male. We do. I vaguely remember that the male and female may have been in the same cage at the show. We noticed the male at the show and were toying with the idea of purchasing him, but he was very expensive (to us, at the time- $695). When we went back to look at him again, he'd been sold.
The couple told us on the phone that the female had an "eating problem" and so has been handfed. When we showed up to see the pair we were really taken aback at her condition. But, of course, we felt like we couldn't leave her there, so purchased the pair. The male really is lovely, and in excellent health and very tame.
The cage is a nice size- 20" x 20" x 36", and had a fitted black tub bottom for catching water. The enclosure contained a schefflera, a perching branch, and some long twigs. The chams were watered with a "little dripper".
The male is very large, 8 inches snout to vent. Haven't weighed him yet but he's a big guy. The girl is small, weighs 43g today. She was wrinkled, with concave casque, and bony tail. Her ribs were sticking out and her belly was hollow. Her legs are deformed, and she cannot focus her eyes. The couple said she spent most of her time at the base of the plant, near the soil.
The UVB/heat lamp was mercury vapor. The female probably spent most, or all, of her time outside the range of the UVB pattern. There is a photo below, but the area below the plant branches is much darker in real life than it shows in the photo. The female had obviously been threatened and abused by the male. Scratches and bite marks were obvious on her skin. This, of course, kept her from being able to eat or bask. Resulting in severe calcium deficiency.
She just laid a clutch of eggs in July. The owner found the eggs after the fact. She probably didn't look very pregnant, since she had no body fat. She also laid a clutch in December. That's a decent space between clutches, but in the mean time the poor girl has hardly eaten. The couple had moved recently, and continued to house the chams at their old house.
We've been feeding her crickets dipped in concentrated rescue food since we got her Saturday. She's already beginning to fill out a bit. She's also getting prescription calcium drops, and I gave her a bit of Vit A from a capsule. She's been outside in the sun twice. When we got her she did not use her rear left leg at all, and did not grip with the rear right foot, although she did move that leg. Already now she is gripping with both feet. We don't know yet whether she is able to poop. The couple could not tell us when she last pooped.
She has an old, cratered, scar on her back probably from a feeder bite when she was a baby, and a nasty new-ish bite on the side of her head. We are treating that with Nolvasan.
She appears to be "legally" blind. She can see movement, but cannot focus her eyes. She can only just barely raise the pupils above the bottom edge of her eyelid. And she struggles to do that. She also cannot project her tongue more than 1/16" outside the front of her mouth. She accepts force feeding very well. A few times she has actually eaten from rubber coated tongs. But it is exhausting for her. To do so I have to select a somewhat large and very active cricket. I hold it in front of her head and she notices the movement and then struggles to focus on it. She moves her nose from side to side and then tilts her head way back. The backward head-tilting thing seems to facilitate moving her tongue forward. But it makes it even harder for her to see the cricket. She actually tilts her head back, and then her whole body arches backwards, until her head is upside down (as if she were preparing to do a back flip). She is then able to move her tongue out to the front of her mouth. I place the cricket on the front tip of her tongue and she works to bring it into her mouth. It is exhausting for her and very sad. By the time she ate 3 crickets I was soaked with sweat (because I was standing on a ladder at her cage door and it was very warm and I had to so concentrate on what I was doing), and it had taken probably 15-20 minutes. So, we've been mostly feeding her by holding her gently and opening her mouth with a tiny rubber spatula and inserting the food. She takes this very well and works her tongue vigorously inside her mouth to manipulate the food. She's been getting 3 medium crickets a day (except for yesterday she only wanted 1), two of her 3 crickets get smeared with concentrated rescue food.
The couple we purchased her from said she'd been like that since they bought her. Seems unlikely. They told us she and her mate were purchased at the Puyallup Captive Breeders Expo last October. Royden, if you see this you may remember the male. We do. I vaguely remember that the male and female may have been in the same cage at the show. We noticed the male at the show and were toying with the idea of purchasing him, but he was very expensive (to us, at the time- $695). When we went back to look at him again, he'd been sold.
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