2 month old baby panther behavior

[Booly916]

Hi all!

First time posting as i recently became an owner of 2 captive bred panther chameleons by a local breeder.

• Your Chameleon - Ambilobe Panther, male (I think), 2 months of age. I have cared for this little guy for 7 weeks.
  
• Handling - as little as possible and only when needing to clean the cage out. I have taken him out into the sun 3-4 times for about 20 min each.
  
• Feeding - I am feeding this guy melangastor fruit flies and pinhead crickets until i moved up to phoenix worms and small crickets. I usually put about 6-8 crickets or about 25 fruit flies with a few phoenix worms mixed in every other day. I feed him twice a day, once in the morning before work at 7am and right when i get home around 6pm. I have been using a small plastic cup to hold the feeders in one spot and i place that in a secure spot in the cage that is accessible. I keep several sized "cricket dens" with my feeders that have access to fresh fruits and veggies along with Repashy super load for the dry gutload.
• Supplements - I have been using Repashy calcium plus for every other feeding and once a month i give Rep-Cal with D3 and also once a month i give herptivite multi-vitamin.
• Watering - For watering i have a mistking setup with 1 nozzle spraying for 20-30 seconds every 2 hours starting at 6am and ending at 6pm. This provides plenty of water on the leaves for him to drink in which he does. I also have an Exo Terra large dripper plant which i use with a dripper on the top of the cage. This provides a steady drip of water throughout the day which drains on the bottom with the rest of the water. there is no recycled water with how it is setup.
  
• Fecal Description - most of the time his poop is dark in color with a white head as it should but recently i have seen more orange mixed into the dark area. This morning he passed an entire phoenix worm body that was un-digested. i assume he ate it too late and did not have time to warm up to digest. He has not been tested for parasites.
• History - I got this guy and 1 other chameleon of 2 months older from a local breeder. I visited the breeder before the purchase to check out his breeding techniques and ask lots of questions before making a decision. Both looked and seemed healthy and made a smooth transition to their new homes.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Small Reptibreeze, i believe 16x16x20.
  
• Lighting - I use a 60 watt incandescent bulb for heat. I also have a 22" fixture which houses a reptisun t5 5.0 UVB light. 8am on 8pm off.
• Temperature - 80-82 degrees at the basking area of the cage and all the way down to 70-72 near the front on the umbrella plant? 60 is lowest it gets in the room they are in and thats in the winter. i use a laser infrared thermometer to measure temps from 6" away.
  
• Humidity - I do struggle with humidity in the area i live so ambient H levels are pretty low around 25-30% in the room they are in but their cages fluctuate anywhere from high 40's up to 80% with the mistking running 20-30 sec every hour. i also supplement the misting with a reptifogger that is on a timer to run 20 min every 2 hours and it runs in between the misting intervals. Every hour there is a mist or a fog to help increase humidity. I have 2 sides of the cage walled off but not from top to bottom. Just to prevent overspray from misting and guide the fog. I use a digital hygrometer/thermometer from zoo med called the Hygrotherm although i do not use it for the other functions it provides. it seems to be accurate from double checking it with a another digital hygrometer.
  
• Plants - I have an umbrella plant and a small palm in the cage along with a few fake ferns. these have small colored rocks placed on the soil along with wire netting covering it to prevent them from being eaten.
• Placement - The cage is in a front room of the house that does not get much activity. People pass by it but rarely go in it.It is a rather quiet room with no ceiling fan and the HVAC vent is on an adjacent ceiling. The cage is on a large metal wire shelf about 5 feet off the ground placing their basking spots about eye level with me.
  
• Location - Northern California Vally

Current Problem -
For the first 5-6 weeks this little guy was doing fine based on his behavior and eating/drinking schedule/habits. he has shed 1 time since i have had him. Lately for the past 2 weeks or so i have seen him slow down and has been sleeping much of the time. He has not been hiding by any means, he actually look pretty comfortable when he is sleeping but its to the point where i am starting to worry.

He does eat and he does drink as i see his food dish empty over time and as i see him hunt around his cage when he sees them. i also see him lapping up water from leaves after a misting. He just sleeps a lot compared to the other unrelated chameleon i am raising from the same breeder. something that may be related to his sleeping is that i have noticed his eyes do not seem to open fully like they used to. if you look at the pictures you can see that he is almost squinting and his pupils do not look round as his eyelid is not open.

here is a vid i recorded of his eyes if it helps -

Also i am a bit worried that this little guy is not growing. he is still very small and frail yet he has shed once in the past month. is there anything i can try to help promote some growth or overall better husbandry? Any advice is appreciated! thank you very much!

 

[alphakenc]

From the pics that I saw,he is not eating enough food,for a 2month old panther baby,he shall have constant food supply with him,as much as he can eats all day every day,my guessing is either he is dehydrated by the way his poops looks that u mentioned and he is decreasing his appetite slowly,u can see him bit of skinny on the second bottom pics up,also they can be dislike the cold water mist,since that usually send him away ,personally I prefer lukewarm water mist for them.
Another thing is if he is only 2month old,that mean your breeder separate him away from his group way too soon,since lots baby panther chams are still feeding in the group together at that young tender age,the sudden environment change usually trigger the slow growth since he was being separated from his siblings in the early age.
The take away for u is increase his food intake by supplying more feeders at all time.
Hand misting lukewarm water n be more observe if he has enough water drinking judging by his poop color.
Ask ur breeder how did the cage set up before he sold u the baby chameleon so u can mimic the same environment temperature lighting....etc
Also looking into the dubia baby roaches it will help the baby to easily putting some more weight in him if he is willing to taking in .
Hope this will help u a bit n u can always keep us on the updates with his well being,best luck to ur babycham.

 

[carol5208]

I would also get a fecal check done. I know his poop is small, but they can test it. My chameleon was not growing when he was 2 months old and had a parasite called Coccidia. He did not eat a whole lot though. I would rule that out first and foremost. Sleeping during the day as you may or not be aware is usually a sign of illness.