2.5 month old Nosy be Panther, not eaing/ sleeping alot

thanks everyone

Thanks for all the great advice. I actually started using a small syringe to give him water yesterday as the vet recommended. And i tried to get him to open his mouth to pop a cricket in, but he would open at all.

This morning I brought him back to the vet where he is gonna stay for the night. I should be hearing from the vet today, and I will let you all know what he said. Whatever is wrong, I really hope I caught it earlier enough, and that it is fixable.

THanks for all the great advice and thoughts.
 
Good luck Dan-you are doing the right thing. Not that I mean to be a downer here, but any animal that has multiple babies kind of means that all were not meant to survive. We as humans have all of these ways to keep things alive, but in nature these animals are "selected" out of the breeding circle. I really do hope that all goes well because I know how easy it is to get attached to these little creatures.
 
Hello All,
Well I picked him up from the vet this morning. They were able to force feed him 4 crickets, and they started to give him a calcium supplement. He was looking a little bit better.

The vet taught me how to properly force feed him. She told me to try and get 4 crickets in him a day, along with water from a small syringe, and a drop of calcium supplement a day.

I have tried to force feed him a cricket today, and it was very difficult. Even after I got his mouth open and the cricket inside, he would hold it in his mouth, and then spit it back out. He did that several times. I put him back in his cage to relax for several hours, and then I tried to force feed again, but this time I only tried to give him a 1/3 of a small wax worm. However, he spit that out too. The good news is that I have seen him drink water once or twice on his own off the leaves, and he definitely swallows the water that I give him with the syringe.

I dont know how to get him to eat though. He just refuses to eat, do any of you have any ideas on how I might be able to get him to swallow some food. It is very difficult to balance between getting food into him, and not over stressing him.

SO i don't know, I am getting very discouraged, and I just dont know what to do. I feel as though I am doing everything I can, but nothing will work.

If you have any ideas or tips of getting some food into him, I am all ears!

I cant stress how thankful I have been for all the wonderful advice and kind words from all of you.

Hopefully he will pull though....
 
You are doing well :)

Don't get discouraged Dan! Things are starting to work. He is now drinking and he has eaten something. The drinking is a very big step forward. The smaller the cricket the easier it is to get them to swallow it. I pinch off the head first. Do you have a pair of tweezers? Tweezers are easier to work with than big human fingers are. Try to put the cricket in the side of the mouth instead of from the front. They can't gag it up so easily. Crickets would be better than the wax worms. They have a better gutload in them. Just keep trying. If he still won't swallow the food you can use tweezers to poke the cricket very carefully towards the back of the throat. Not too far....just past the tongue. They will usually swallow it if it gets past the tongue. If he looks stressed stop and just let him sit on your hand a minute before trying again. You are doing very well Dan. Look at his size. It's not easy fussing with something that small. Please give us an update tomorrow :)
 
Dan said:
Hello All,
Well I picked him up from the vet this morning. They were able to force feed him 4 crickets, and they started to give him a calcium supplement. He was looking a little bit better.

The vet taught me how to properly force feed him. She told me to try and get 4 crickets in him a day, along with water from a small syringe, and a drop of calcium supplement a day.

I have tried to force feed him a cricket today, and it was very difficult. Even after I got his mouth open and the cricket inside, he would hold it in his mouth, and then spit it back out. He did that several times. I put him back in his cage to relax for several hours, and then I tried to force feed again, but this time I only tried to give him a 1/3 of a small wax worm. However, he spit that out too. The good news is that I have seen him drink water once or twice on his own off the leaves, and he definitely swallows the water that I give him with the syringe.

I dont know how to get him to eat though. He just refuses to eat, do any of you have any ideas on how I might be able to get him to swallow some food. It is very difficult to balance between getting food into him, and not over stressing him.

SO i don't know, I am getting very discouraged, and I just dont know what to do. I feel as though I am doing everything I can, but nothing will work.

If you have any ideas or tips of getting some food into him, I am all ears!

I cant stress how thankful I have been for all the wonderful advice and kind words from all of you.

Hopefully he will pull though....
Click to expand...

When I have force fed a chameleon, I had some success when I thought of it as a tennis game, and the food item is the ball. Every time he tries to spit the cricket out, you have to push it back in before it leaves their mouth. Push it in kind of deep so its hard for them to work it out. Eventually, they will give out (or perhaps their gag reflex kicks in) and they will swallow it.

Also, from reading this thread, I'm convinced that the problem was water intake. I don't think young chams can use a drip system. So you have to spray them. I never saw in this post that you were doing that, but maybe you were. Use a regular $1 garden spray bottle (like a windex bottle with a trigger handle). If a cham doesn't get enough to drink, its appetite will be supressed.

Steve
 
Well, I got him to swallow a cricket this morning, the trick was pushing it further down his throat, past his tongue. However, he is def not looking good at all. I am waiting a few hours, and I am gonna try to get another cricket in him.

As for the water....I had a drip system set up, and I also sprayed his cage either with a spray bottle as you suggested, or an actual sprayer. I am preaty sure he was able to use the driper because I saw him go to it several times for water.

Anyway....hopfully with some more crickets in him he will start to feel a little better, but to be honest things arent lookin to good.

Either way, I will be keepin you all posted....
 
Keeping my Fingers Crossed.....

Keeping my fingers crossed for you and your little one. It may take his digestive tract awhile to catch up since he did not eat for an extended period of time. I would just do a couple of crickets today and try more tomorrow if he keeps today's down. Bye :)
 
Well everyone, I am really sorry and sad to say that My baby panther died today. I expected it, sadly enough, but it is still very rough. Thank you all so much for all your help, and kind words.

Dan
 
I'm really sad for your loss. I must say, your effort to save your cham was most commendable. In time , you may consider another chameleon. If that day comes, you will be able to apply all that you have learned through this unfortunate ordeal.
 
Very very sorry......

I am totally bummed now Dan. You really tried to help him. You have to find comfort in that. I actually heard this line in some show on TV last night......"Just because you do everything right, does not mean that the outcome will be a good one". I normally don't quote platitudes from crime type shows. But this one stuck in my head because it is very true. You did everything you could do to nurse him back to health. I think he may have been one of the slower to grow members of his clutch and may not have been destined to survive. It's something one sees when hatching out clutches. Some babies, although they are just as cute and worthy of love and care, are just not created as physically equal as their other siblings. In nature, they don't last long. Under human care, they may live for several months but just don't thrive and grow. This is the part of nature I have a hard time dealing with. Don't give up on chams though. You would make an excellent "parent" for one.
 
Thanks everyone.

Ya the vet I took him to told me the same thing, some animals just arent meant to survive, thats life. I dont feel so bad knowing that I really did do everything in my power to nurse him to health. I brought him back to the pet store where I got him, and they told me they have already been talking about the situation and they are gonna call their breeder and get them to send another one out. They agree that he obviously wasn't healthy when I got him, so they are gonna do everything to make it right.

I just hope that if/when I get a new one that I have a better experience with him. It just goes to show you how addicting Chams are. I didnt even have a healthy one, and I already know I want another one, I just hope the next one does a little better.

Once again, I cant express how awesome all of you have been. You have been so encouraging, and given great advice.

As usual, I will keep you posted on what the story is, and if the breeder ends up sending a new cham to me....keep your fingers crossed!
 
Dan-I am so sorry to hear. I lost my first one also(from a petstore), but within weeks I received a beautiful Baby Veiled from Mike at FL Chams that has been nothing but healthy from day one. Everything is a learning experience with chams and I wish you the best of luck with your next one-sounds like you are addicted like the rest of us!
 
Sorry for your loss Dan, you gave it hell and thats all you can do, I recently had some veiled babies die and I did everything in my power to keep them healthy and it just didnt work out, I now have 4 babies that are doing really well and keep thinking it just wasnt meant to be, nice work and keep it up and best of luck with your new one when you get it...not if .. when you get it... cya
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
New chameleon
Replies
3
Views
373
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
ChamChom
I need help
Replies
13
Views
742
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
R
New Chameleon Owner
Replies
6
Views
258
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
lallalaura
Rescued a chameleon
Replies
5
Views
558
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
S
PLEASE HELP
Replies
6
Views
267
janjan20
janjan20
Back
Top Bottom