Sick chameleon?

[IckysGuard]

Chameleon Info:
Male panther chameleon ~5-6 months old, in our care for 4 months. Bought from a pet store.

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
We've handled him twice since he's been in our care.

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Crickets (5-6/day) and mealworms now and then. Gut-loading with Flukers orange nutrient cubes and Flukers cricket quencher with calcium.

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
None.

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Ultrasonic mister going constantly. He sometimes drinks from a dripper, and we hand feed him water from a plastic syringe now and then

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Brown, looked like normal consistency and normal size
Icarus has never been tested for parasites.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Screen cage 2x2x3 feet

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
1 100W bulb, a UV, and a thermometer controlled 100W heat lamp on a timer (turns off if bottom of cage gets above 73F)

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
ambient temp is ~68-75F, near the basking spot is ~85F

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Hydrometer measures around 80%

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
No live plants currently but two have been ordered

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
The room stays cool with A/C in a medium traffic area. The top of the cage is 8 feet from the ground.

Location - Where are you geographically located?
San Francisco

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

We got our panther chameleon, Icarus, when he was a baby (1 month old?). He seemed to be growing happily (now ~5 months old) but for the past week or so we've noticed that he hangs out mostly near the bottom of his cage, looks very weak when he moves (which isn't often), and hasn't been eating much (1-2 crickets every few days). This morning, we noticed that he was resting on his vine with the tip of his tongue sticking out. He's got it back in his mouth now.

We moved him from a smaller enclosure into a bigger screened in cage about a month ago. Once we realized he wasn't thriving, we adjusted the humidity and added the foil and styrofoam to the outside of the cage to retain heat. We think the environment is okay now (it's been two days). We *think* he might be a bit better but he's still not eating much and very weak.

We're newbies to chameleon care and doing our best to take care of him. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Andee]

You desperately need to start him on supplements, his dusting schedule should be calcium w/o d3 every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month.

You need a much better gutload, there are tons of pre-made ones that are better such as repashy or cricket crack.

In my personal opinion he should be eating more that just 5-6 crickets a day, are you limiting what he eats?

What do his urates look like? White? Or orange?

What is an ultrasonic mister?

 

[kinyonga]

Please post a couple more recent photos of him so I can see his legs.

It's important to supplement, feed, gutload the insects properly to prevent things like MBD.

 

[IckysGuard]

More pictures

Thank you for your quick reply. We'll start adding the supplements immediately and move to one of your suggested gutloads.

We are not limiting what he eats but we'll see if we can get him to eat more per day. He may have been up to 8 before he got sick. How many crickets should he be eating per day?

His urates are mostly white, sometimes orange.

I attached pictures of the mister and a better picture of his legs. He's moving a lot more today and has climbed higher in his cage than we've seen him before.

Thanks!

 

[Andee]

Well most 6 month old panthers eat around 12-16 as of average, my boy was a bit extreme and eating 24 large everyday.

That fogger isn't going to be giving him enough water. I would get an actual mister. An automatic mister that sprays the leaves so he can drink from them. Mistking is the best system.

 

[IckysGuard]

Okay thanks. We'll try feeding him more often during the day to see if he'll eat more.

We bought a mister originally but it leaked so we switched to the fogger. We'll get it fixed or replaced. We have been spraying his cage too so we don't think he's dehydrated at least.

 

[Andee]

I would get a mistking if you could, it's more expensive at first, but lasts a hell of a lot longer and is worth it in the end. No leaking, totally awesome, mist for two minutes at a time or else he won't be stimulated to drink.