Weird panther demeanor

[Angler Shark]

Hi guys,

I have a two years old panther chameleon that recently had fallen into some sort of a food strike. Therefore all he wanted to eat were hornworms so I decided on giving him a few days of nothingness and he started back on eating Superworms, butterworms and grasshoppers but about one or two of each every two days or so.

Yesterday everything seemed normal but today, he seemed to have pass all of his day on the lowest vine. I found it weird that he haven't move at all while I have left the house for about an hour because when I came back he still was there. Therefore, it got weirder there:

Once I opened the door of the vivarium to get to attempt on feeding him, he seemed to attempt on keeping his balance. It looked liked he was dancing or wiggling or so and it already happened but still was eating. Now he refused to eat anything today AND his head also did weird jerking or spasmodic moves and these are pretty intense and happens often. He never did this at all. He also seems very hesitant at every of his moves but when I take him in my arms, he moves everywhere and wants to climb up everywhere.

I tried on searching on videos or anything that could tell me what it is but didn't find anything. I think I also hear his bones cracking in some sort of a hollow sound.

Almost all of the stuff I get to find are related to MBD and I seriously hope it is not this. So far he has nothing swollen, all of his limbs seems alright as well. He lost his balance once today as well but saved himself with his tail.

Could it be a lack of calcium and D3 vitamins? I put them on the carrots to feed my superworms but don't on my butterworms since they already are very high in calcium. The grasshoppers are canned because I can't find any here and the guy who sold them told me that I don't need to put anything on them.

I wanted to buy hornworms to get him to eat again but they were out of stock at the local petstore. I will get to search somewhere else tomorrow but I'm really stressed at the moment. I'm scared on waking up and finding him dead at any minute...

Did anybody already noticed some strange head movements with their cham?

Hoping for tips and answers.

Thanks!

 

[MSP]

Two things:

1) How recently have you replaced his UVB source?

2) Have you been dusting his prey items, or just the food for the insects? It's important to dust the worms themselves to ensure your cham gets all the calcium he needs. The insects should be dusted with calcium every other day and with vitamins and d3 twice a month.

 

[Psychobunny]

What you discribe can be lots of things, hard to tell w/o more info about your husbandry.

Please copy/paste and fill this out, a few pics of your cham and setup would also be helpful.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Angler Shark]

I recently changed my UVB source this last August. It's an Exo Terra Solar Glow 160W.

And I do dust all of his preys. Therefore I put calcium every three days and D3 once a week.

I called a specialist today because I didn't get any answers in the thread until then but they told me that he's in mating season so the head bobs are because of this (I didn't know they could do this) or he's doing attitude to me.

I decided on giving him a warm bath too and well, everything went out so I assumed he was constipated and his belly might have hurting him... probably because of the worms so I will attempt on changing his diet.

I will use the form if I see another problem next time

Thanks!

 

[ChamDE86]

I recently changed my UVB source this last August. It's an Exo Terra Solar Glow 160W.

And I do dust all of his preys. Therefore I put calcium every three days and D3 once a week.

I called a specialist today because I didn't get any answers in the thread until then but they told me that he's in mating season so the head bobs are because of this (I didn't know they could do this) or he's doing attitude to me.

I decided on giving him a warm bath too and well, everything went out so I assumed he was constipated and his belly might have hurting him... probably because of the worms so I will attempt on changing his diet.

I will use the form if I see another problem next time

Thanks!

Just throwing in some advice. It is not necessary to dust all feeders. Phoenix/butter/silk/horn worms are all high in calcium and do not need dusting. Crickets/roaches/superworms/mealworms should be lightly dusted without D3 about every day. Calcium with D3 & multivitamin should be given every two weeks. I'm not sure about the head bobbing, but if he's puffing up, that could possibly be a sign of aggression, possibly lunging?

 

[Angler Shark]

Alright! I wasn't sure because a guy from a petshop told me to roll a hornworm in calcium to get sure he gets enough, since he's in some sort of a food strike at the moment and only wants horn worms. But I still wasn't too sure about it because I knew that they already were high in calcium. I did it twice so far only so I will stop. Thanks for the info!

He had taken back his normal color today [red-green with a blue stripe] (yesterday when he was doing that weird head bobbing, he had another color that he constantly kept [bright red-orange with a white stripe] but didn't seem angry or anything. He wasn't puffed up and his breath was normal too. I still could pick him up no problem and he would stand in my hands or shoulder like usual.

I watched a video of a mating and the male had been bobbing his head the same way some times during it so I assume it was this. That's still somehow frightening; I was sure that he was getting some dysfunctions to the brain that would send that sort of spasms since it wasn't the same thing as an iguana (no one ever explained this to me). Mostly like strong jerks.

But that had stopped today.

 

[zlew]

The jerking side to side- its called leaf walking. "See the leaf. BE the leaf." They sometimes try to look like a leaf blowing in the wind. My boy does it when he is hunting or when he is nervous.