Some concerns about new little one

RescueMom

Avid Member
I'm not new, but I have a new little one and I'm looking for some insite

Chameleon Info: Male Panther, almost, 9mos old. I've had him a little over 3 weeks

Handling - maybe every other day or so, sometimes because he climbing out when I'm trying to put his feeders in ?

Feeding - I feed him in first part of the day and remove feeders he hasn't eaten by early afternoon. He ate a few crickets, but lost interest. He will eat super worms, but likes to have the dish held for him while he eats, so that's a bit of a pain. He LOVES wax worms, and black soldier fly larva. He is TERRIFIED of horn worms (weirdo?) and showed interest in butterworms, but hasn't tried one yet.

Gut-loading superworms and crickets with Flukers cricket quencher.

Supplements - Dusting with repashey calcium plus daily and zoo med calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks

Watering - he has a monsoon mini mister on a timer. It is scheduled to go off 3 times a day, 4 hours apart for 30 seconds. He also has a dripper that he sits under, letting the water drip on his head, then he drinks the water when it runs off. He does regularly drink water from the leaves, especially first thing in the morning. I use tap water with Prime water conditioner in both the mister and the dripper. I also have a smaller reptibreeze set up for him to get extra hydration weekly in the shower.

Fecal Description - his latest (which was this morning) was a cream color urate, followed by a dark reddish color (which also seemed to be urate), then a normal looking feces (no undigested feeders or anything odd). I've not had him tested for parasites

History - I got him from someone who was rehoming him due to her having an adult male Panther that needed more attention than she had for both of them

Cage Info:

Cage Type - 24x24x48h screen reptibreeze. The back and one of the sides has a hard plastic panel (my design) on the outside to help with humidity level and temperature in the cage

Lighting - Strip lighting with Exo Terra tropical 25" 15w T8 reptile bulb Flukers sun dome reptile lamp with ZooMed 100w daylight heat bulb. Lights are on a timer. On for 12 hours. Off for 12 hours. 7:30am-7:30pm /on

Temperature - basking temperature in the upper 80s. To measure the basking temp, I have a Zoo Med digital thermometer in the cage that is positioned on the branch at the point highest for him. Ambient temperatures range from 69 to 75, which is based on the thermostat in the house Florida "winters" make for difficult temperature regulating. Nights temps are no lower than 67, but no warmer than 75. Humidity - I haven't checked humidity levels, but in Florida creating humidity is never a problem. However, I do have 2 sides of his cage enclosed on the outside rather than all open to help keep more humidity in.

Plants - I have one live plant in his cage now, a shefflera. Placement - The cage is in a spare bedroom. No traffic. No fans. The to top the cage is approximately 5ft off the floor Location - Florida

Current Problem - when I got him 3 1/2 weeks ago he looked like he was about to shed, but he's still the same. The bottom half of his tail has finished shedding, but that's it.

Also, he started closing his right eye late in the evening and that eye has gradually gotten less "hydrated" looking that his left eye. He seems to be able to see fine with both eyes, and they look clear, but the right eye getting less bulgy looking is concerning.

There is also a really strange spot on his back, to the right of his spine. It looks almost black like a burn, but I can't see how that could be. The dark spot has yellow around it, which is his coloring when he's asleep. I also see some yellow coming out when he's basking, but the dark spot has me wondering?

He doesn't seem to have a great appetite, but it depends on what he's offered. I don't think he's lost weight, but it might be too soon to tell ?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts
 
Gut-loading superworms and crickets with Flukers cricket quencher.

1. Gutloading does not mean adding cricket quencher. Cricket quencher is only a water source for crickets and dubias. To gutload your feeders, you need to feed them fresh vegetables. I feed my supers carrots, and I feed my crix a mix of carrots, dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, and sweet potatoes. I also use cricket quencher with my crickets and dubias.

Lighting - Strip lighting with Exo Terra tropical 25" 15w T8 reptile bulb Flukers sun dome reptile lamp with ZooMed 100w daylight heat bulb. Lights are on a timer. On for 12 hours. Off for 12 hours. 7:30am-7:30pm /on

You need a t5 uvb bulb.

Plants - I have one live plant in his cage now, a shefflera. Placement - The cage is in a spare bedroom. No traffic. No fans. The to top the cage is approximately 5ft off the floor Location - Florida

Add pics of cage. You probably need more plants. I have the same size cage with two schefflera and two pothos. Chams like to hide in foliage.

As for the other problems, I have no idea. Just my thoughts on husbandry.
 
20200229_154405.jpg
1. Gutloading does not mean adding cricket quencher. Cricket quencher is only a water source for crickets and dubias. To gutload your feeders, you need to feed them fresh vegetables. I feed my supers carrots, and I feed my crix a mix of carrots, dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, and sweet potatoes. I also use cricket quencher with my crickets and dubias.



You need a t5 uvb bulb.



Add pics of cage. You probably need more plants. I have the same size cage with two schefflera and two pothos. Chams like to hide in foliage.

As for the other problems, I have no idea. Just my thoughts on husbandry.

1. Thanks for the info on gutloading. since he won't eat crickets at all though, the feeders he is eating don't need to be gutloaded
1. Gutloading does not mean adding cricket quencher. Cricket quencher is only a water source for crickets and dubias. To gutload your feeders, you need to feed them fresh vegetables. I feed my supers carrots, and I feed my crix a mix of carrots, dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, and sweet potatoes. I also use cricket quencher with my crickets and dubias.



You need a t5 uvb bulb.



Add pics of cage. You probably need more plants. I have the same size cage with two schefflera and two pothos. Chams like to hide in foliage.

As for the other problems, I have no idea. Just my thoughts on husbandry.

Thanks for that. Since he won't eat crickets, I don't have to worry about that for now. The feeders he is eating don't need gutloading.

Just clarification, on the bulb, but isn't a T5 vs a T8 the balast size? I've attached a picture of the bulb I have.
The "T" in T5 indicates the bulb is tubular shaped, while the "5" denotes that it is five eighths of an inch in diameter. ... In other words, more T8 fixtures are needed to produced the same amount of light generated by significantly fewer high output T5 bulbs.

I am going to add additional plants, especially since he's destroying the shefflera.
 

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1. Gutloading does not mean adding cricket quencher. Cricket quencher is only a water source for crickets and dubias. To gutload your feeders, you need to feed them fresh vegetables. I feed my supers carrots, and I feed my crix a mix of carrots, dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, and sweet potatoes. I also use cricket quencher with my crickets and dubias.



You need a t5 uvb bulb.



Add pics of cage. You probably need more plants. I have the same size cage with two schefflera and two pothos. Chams like to hide in foliage.

As for the other problems, I have no idea. Just my thoughts on husbandry.
 

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What feeders are you using? I can't think of any feeder that doesn't require gutloading. superworms, waxworms, crickets, dubiaroaches, mealworms, BSFL, they ALL NEED GUTLOADING. feed your superworms. Give them an oats bedding along with carrots and other vegetables. If you don't gutload your supers, they are dehydrated, and about as nutritional as a bag of chips.
 
T5 Tubes
Over the past few years, T5 UVB lighting (HO – High Output) has hit the market. Again, Arcadia, and Zoo Med ReptiSun are the top of the market here.

These T5’s are ‘Stronger’, and far better technology. Offering brighter, more quality light. And, also importantly, flicker free.

“What flicker?”, I hear you ask. Well, have you ever recorded a T8 tube on your phone? You will notice a flicker you cant see by eye. But its there. Not so with the T5 technology. And because many reptiles having trichromatic vision (meaning they CAN see UVB) they can more than likely see that flicker.

Also, because the T5 tech Is stronger. The minimum distance, with a reflector, should be around 12/13 inches. Again, this is from lamp to the reptile’s back/vivaria surface.

Under these conditions, they will give an index reading of around 6-8. Which is pretty much double that of a T8 tube. More importantly, much closer to the ‘naturally’ required index readings of their habitat from where they originate.

This has huge benefits for the health and well-being of your reptile. Better conversion of calcium/vitamins & minerals, better food digestion and improved vision which means far more visual stimuli.
 
What feeders are you using? I can't think of any feeder that doesn't require gutloading. superworms, waxworms, crickets, dubiaroaches, mealworms, BSFL, they ALL NEED GUTLOADING. feed your superworms. Give them an oats bedding along with carrots and other vegetables. If you don't gutload your supers, they are dehydrated, and about as nutritional as a bag of chips.

Let me circle back to what I said and correct that. Yes, ALL feeders NEED gutloading, but the wax worms, BSFL, horn worms, silk worms and butterworms have their own food source. Unless you're harvesting them yourself, they don't require being fed before being used as a feeder.

As far as the flukers cricket quincher, I was just going by the information stated on the label that it is also a source of calcium so it was not only a water source, but a way to gutload your feeders.
 
T5 Tubes
Over the past few years, T5 UVB lighting (HO – High Output) has hit the market. Again, Arcadia, and Zoo Med ReptiSun are the top of the market here.

These T5’s are ‘Stronger’, and far better technology. Offering brighter, more quality light. And, also importantly, flicker free.

“What flicker?”, I hear you ask. Well, have you ever recorded a T8 tube on your phone? You will notice a flicker you cant see by eye. But its there. Not so with the T5 technology. And because many reptiles having trichromatic vision (meaning they CAN see UVB) they can more than likely see that flicker.

Also, because the T5 tech Is stronger. The minimum distance, with a reflector, should be around 12/13 inches. Again, this is from lamp to the reptile’s back/vivaria surface.

Under these conditions, they will give an index reading of around 6-8. Which is pretty much double that of a T8 tube. More importantly, much closer to the ‘naturally’ required index readings of their habitat from where they originate.

This has huge benefits for the health and well-being of your reptile. Better conversion of calcium/vitamins & minerals, better food digestion and improved vision which means far more visual stimuli.

I had no idea about the difference in the bulb, but I'll definitely make that change!!
 
Let me circle back to what I said and correct that. Yes, ALL feeders NEED gutloading, but the wax worms, BSFL, horn worms, silk worms and butterworms have their own food source. Unless you're harvesting them yourself, they don't require being fed before being used as a feeder.

As far as the flukers cricket quincher, I was just going by the information stated on the label that it is also a source of calcium so it was not only a water source, but a way to gutload your feeders.
So what is your staple feeder?
 
So what is your staple feeder?

Remember, I've had him a little over 3 weeks and he's being very picky.

I was going to feed him crickets like a normal cham would be fed, but he's not interested. He ate 2, then got freaked out when I put more in his cage the next day ? I even pulled their back legs off and put them in his cup so they wouldn't jump out and he didn't care at all.

He'll eat the super worms, but he would rather have the cup held for him while he sits on my hand, and that's not okay either.

I know wax worms are too fatty to feed him regularly, although he'd eat them every day if offered.

I just gave him BSFL today and he inhaled those like the wax worms.

I'm doing my best to get him on a "regular" diet, but it's not going so well.

I guess the super worms are his staple feeder
 
Super should be used as a treat like 1-2 times a week at most. Try dubia roaches they don’t die quickly, smell, fly, or climb smooth surfaces.
 
Super should be used as a treat like 1-2 times a week at most. Try dubia roaches they don’t die quickly, smell, fly, or climb smooth surfaces.

The woman I got him from gave him supers, so that may be why he is more apt to eat them.

I'll try the Dubias, as long as they can't climb, jump or fly!
Thanks!
 
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