sick panther

klamont1

New Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male ambilobe panther chameleon, 1.5 years old, been in my care for 8 months
Handling - handled once or twice a week but less lately
Feeding - primarily superworms, he used to happily eat crickets but about four months ago wont eat them anymore. hed go 4 days without eating before he ate a cricket. he will eat about 3 or 4 supers a day, gut loaded with a storebought oatmeal like formula( cant remeber what its called).
Supplements - multivitamin is rep cal with beta carotine, calcium is flukers with d3, dusting supers every 5 days or so.
Watering - he drinks from a waterfall, and yes i have seen him drinking. i have a monsoon mister and he is misted for 1 min once an hour.
Fecal Description - brown feces and his latest had a 1/4 inch white urate at the end of it (slight orange tint). has never been tested for parasites.
History - was a lil sleepy for a month or so, then in the past two weeks considerably downhill. he will stay still with eyes closed for a few hours after his light comes on, and generally only opens his left eye, for short periods.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4 foot screen cage
Lighting - 75 watt basking bulb, 5.0 uvb coil style bulb. lighting schedule is 12 on 12 off, 9am to 9pm.
Temperature - basking temp is 85 to 90 degrees. daytime ambient temp 75ish. lowest overnight temp about 65 to 70 at lowest.
Humidity - after a misting humidity goes to about 75 to 80 %, but quickly drops to as low as 40% before the next misting. measured with a manual gauge.
Plants - fake plants
Placement - reasonably high traffic area, we have a small apt. so everywhere is. top of cage is 6 feet off the floor.
Location - Toronto ontario Canada

Current Problem - For the last three weeks he has been closing his eyes more and more often, hasnt eaten for at least five days and have been only active for maybe 4 hours a day. i am very concerned and i have limited reptile experience. any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. also if anyone can recommend a good vet with chameleon backround that would be great, its obvious to me that its vet time as he has never been.
 
well supers are not a good staple diet they contain chitin wich is hard to digest you should be dusting with plain calcium every feeding vits twice a month and d3 twice a month and you need a better gutload preferably with high calcium intake and i would also swap the coil uvb for a linear 5.0 tube and one of these or all could be contributing to his ill health

also waterfalls are a breeding ground for bacteria and not good drinking water
 
If i remove the waterfall, what is the best technique for drinking water? should i have a dripper, or is the misting on the leaves enough for him?
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male ambilobe panther chameleon, 1.5 years old, been in my care for 8 months
Handling - handled once or twice a week but less lately
Feeding - primarily superworms, he used to happily eat crickets but about four months ago wont eat them anymore. hed go 4 days without eating before he ate a cricket. he will eat about 3 or 4 supers a day, gut loaded with a storebought oatmeal like formula( cant remeber what its called).This is probably the source of the appetite problems. I recommend not usign these as feeders but if you choose to do so. I strongly recommend asking carol or reading sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading. They will need more that just oat formula they come in.
Supplements - multivitamin is rep cal with beta carotine, calcium is flukers with d3, dusting supers every 5 days or so.I recommend you starting a regiment of plain phos free calcium every feeding and reptivite twice a month.
Watering - he drinks from a waterfall, and yes i have seen him drinking. i have a monsoon mister and he is misted for 1 min once an hour.If you chose to leave the water fall in make sure you clean it daily. not just replacing water. it will need thoroughly cleaned. Personally i would take it out. i would also change the misting schedule if the cage is not drying out between sessions.
Fecal Description - brown feces and his latest had a 1/4 inch white urate at the end of it (slight orange tint). has never been tested for parasites.
History - was a lil sleepy for a month or so, then in the past two weeks considerably downhill. he will stay still with eyes closed for a few hours after his light comes on, and generally only opens his left eye, for short periods.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4 foot screen cage
Lighting - 75 watt basking bulb, 5.0 uvb coil style bulb. lighting schedule is 12 on 12 off, 9am to 9pm.I would tose the coil in the trash and get a 5.0 reptisun florescent.
Temperature - basking temp is 85 to 90 degrees. daytime ambient temp 75ish. lowest overnight temp about 65 to 70 at lowest.
Humidity - after a misting humidity goes to about 75 to 80 %, but quickly drops to as low as 40% before the next misting. measured with a manual gauge.
Plants - fake plants
Placement - reasonably high traffic area, we have a small apt. so everywhere is. top of cage is 6 feet off the floor.
Location - Toronto ontario Canada

Current Problem - For the last three weeks he has been closing his eyes more and more often, hasnt eaten for at least five days and have been only active for maybe 4 hours a day. i am very concerned and i have limited reptile experience. any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. also if anyone can recommend a good vet with chameleon backround that would be great, its obvious to me that its vet time as he has never been.

Lack in appetite and eye problem can be from a variety of reasons. The three i see in your care that i would change immediately to help solve this issue is you supplements, lighting and feeder choices.

Feeders: Try dubia or rusty red roaches if the chameleon is not eating crickets. They also like flying insects like moths, butter flies and flies. These are also snacks and should not be used as a staple food. Another high nutritious option is silk worms or hornworms.

Lighting: see in red in quote.

Supplements: see red in quote

Specific eye care: i would lightly smear some fish oil on the back of a feeder when you feed him next. i would probably do this for a few days. The reason for this is his body may not be coverting the forms of beta carotenes that herptivite has. he is also not recieving any other sources.. this is a touchy situation and you need more info you can either look it up here on the forums or pm me.
 
i have since meen to the vet and it turns out he has parasites. does anyone have any advise on administering them?
 
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