5mo panther chameleon won’t grow, please help :(

[DabiTodoroki]

Hi guys, I’m desperately in need of some help! My little male chameleon Dabi won’t grow. I got him when he was supposedly 3-4 months old but he was so tiny I suspect he was younger. He should be around 5-6 months old now and he’s as small as a few month old. I know he’s not eating enough. The whole time I’ve had him, eating has been a struggle. I’ve tried leaving out a dish with over a dozen crickets and dubia roaches and he’ll barely touch it. I tried letting them lose in the enclosure are he’ll maybe eat like 5-7 crickets. He won’t touch the roaches even when they are crawling around. I’ve got him to eat silk worms but he’ll only eat 2-3 max (they aren’t huge so he can chew them since he’s so small. Same with hornworms. I’m at my wits end and I’m scared he’s gonna miss his window to grow. Any advice is extremely appreciated!

Your Chameleon - 5-6 month old Male Ambanja Panther Chameleon

• Handling - As little as possible to avoid stressing him out. Usual less than 3 times a month. (I did take a picture of him on my had for a size comparison.)
• Feeding - 5-7 Small crickets a day is all he eats or 2-3 silkworms. I offer around 15-20 cricket a day. And 4-5 silkworms every other day. I also offer dubia roaches. Occasionally hornworms. All gutload on sweet potato, carrots, and greens. He usually eats in the afternoon.
• Supplements - Daily dusting of Arcadia EarthPro-A and bimonthly Repashy calcium plus LoD (green label)
• Watering - I hand mist 2-3 times a day, fully wetting the enclosure and letting it dry between mists. Day humidity is around 55-65%. At night I fog when I turn off the lights. It’ll reach 97% humidity in the area he sleeps. I’ve only ever seen him drink once, but I head they are shy drinkers.
• Fecal Description - His droppings look good. His urates are nice and white.
• History - He has shed twice since I’ve had him. I weighed him almost a month ago and he was only 7g.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - It is a bioactive glass enclosure with a screen top. I added two little fan to help airflow. I live in Colorado and glass is the only way to keep his humidity up. It’s fairly large I’m not sure the exact measurements but I think it’s around 4 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide.
• Lighting - I have a long T5 UVB light, a 50w heat lamp, and a grow light for the plants.
• Temperature - 83° to 85° In the basking spot. Middle of cage is around 76° and lower part of cage is around 70°. I have a thermal heat gun to measure temps and a Bluetooth thermometer/hydrometer to notify me of changes.
• Humidity - Daytime 55-65%, I do this through misting and fogging if necessary. Night time 97% through fogging
• Plants - All live plants, pathos and schefflera plants. Lots of cover on the bottom 2/3 of enclosure. (It takes me a while to even find Dabi half the time.) It’s been hard to get live plants to the top 1/3, I put in a little pathos and I’m letting the schefflera grow in.
• Placement - My cage is in the dining area of my small apartment, it is fairly low traffic (we don’t eat in the dining area ever, and it we do have ppl over we cover his cage with a curtain), the only time he sees us is from a distance entering the bathroom.
• Location - I live in Colorado Springs, It can either be really cold or really hot depending on the time of year

I attached some photos below to show the enclosure and his size.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums! Panther babies can grow very slow but I recommend getting a fecal test on a fresh poop. Parasites can keep them from growing, especially cociddia. There’s a really good vet in CO. Let me get her link for you. Dr. Dayna is an expert with chameleons.
https://www.auroraanimalhospital.com/our-team/dayna-willems

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. I’m not seeing anything jump out at me in your husbandry, other than you don’t mention having a fecal parasite check. That is often a reason for chams not to grow. …and I see @jannb beat me to. Well, she is one who has taught me.

 

[MzLaurie11]

I think you are doing everything right! Agree with fecal test. Also as they grow their likes and dislikes of feeders change. I know veiled babes double in size every two weeks, but panthers are different. when mine was that age, i let the small crickets loose so he can learn to hunt and target with the tongue. He hated dubias and was terrified of hirnworms. Thus changed with age. Then in a weighted bowl a variety of feeders including Silk, super, meal and wax worms and a salad of collard greens a few times a week. this way if still hungry after hunting he had his bowl. this was daily until full grown now every other day. And once every three days when molting. also he may like to be handled so if fecal comes back good, change things up.

 

[Isaiahht]

What cage is that?

 

[DabiTodoroki]

Welcome to the forums! Panther babies can grow very slow but I recommend getting a fecal test on a fresh poop. Parasites can keep them from growing, especially cociddia. There’s a really good vet in CO. Let me get her link for you. Dr. Dayna is an expert with chameleons.
https://www.auroraanimalhospital.

Welcome to the forums! Panther babies can grow very slow but I recommend getting a fecal test on a fresh poop. Parasites can keep them from growing, especially cociddia. There’s a really good vet in CO. Let me get her link for you. Dr. Dayna is an expert with chameleons.
https://www.auroraanimalhospital.com/our-team/dayna-willems

Thank you for the recommendation! I hope he doesn’t have a parasite!

 

[DabiTodoroki]

I think you are doing everything right! Agree with fecal test. Also as they grow their likes and dislikes of feeders change. I know veiled babes double in size every two weeks, but panthers are different. when mine was that age, i let the small crickets loose so he can learn to hunt and target with the tongue. He hated dubias and was terrified of hirnworms. Thus changed with age. Then in a weighted bowl a variety of feeders including Silk, super, meal and wax worms and a salad of collard greens a few times a week. this way if still hungry after hunting he had his bowl. this was daily until full grown now every other day. And once every three days when molting. also he may like to be handled so if fecal comes back good, change things up.

Glad to hear my boy isn’t the only fussy eater!

 

[DabiTodoroki]

What cage is that?

It’s one I built out of an ikea cabinet. There are some good tutorials on YouTube by other keepers.

 

[GoggletheVeiled]

Hi guys, I’m desperately in need of some help! My little male chameleon Dabi won’t grow. I got him when he was supposedly 3-4 months old but he was so tiny I suspect he was younger. He should be around 5-6 months old now and he’s as small as a few month old. I know he’s not eating enough. The whole time I’ve had him, eating has been a struggle. I’ve tried leaving out a dish with over a dozen crickets and dubia roaches and he’ll barely touch it. I tried letting them lose in the enclosure are he’ll maybe eat like 5-7 crickets. He won’t touch the roaches even when they are crawling around. I’ve got him to eat silk worms but he’ll only eat 2-3 max (they aren’t huge so he can chew them since he’s so small. Same with hornworms. I’m at my wits end and I’m scared he’s gonna miss his window to grow. Any advice is extremely appreciated!

Your Chameleon - 5-6 month old Male Ambanja Panther Chameleon

• Handling - As little as possible to avoid stressing him out. Usual less than 3 times a month. (I did take a picture of him on my had for a size comparison.)
• Feeding - 5-7 Small crickets a day is all he eats or 2-3 silkworms. I offer around 15-20 cricket a day. And 4-5 silkworms every other day. I also offer dubia roaches. Occasionally hornworms. All gutload on sweet potato, carrots, and greens. He usually eats in the afternoon.
• Supplements - Daily dusting of Arcadia EarthPro-A and bimonthly Repashy calcium plus LoD (green label)
• Watering - I hand mist 2-3 times a day, fully wetting the enclosure and letting it dry between mists. Day humidity is around 55-65%. At night I fog when I turn off the lights. It’ll reach 97% humidity in the area he sleeps. I’ve only ever seen him drink once, but I head they are shy drinkers.
• Fecal Description - His droppings look good. His urates are nice and white.
• History - He has shed twice since I’ve had him. I weighed him almost a month ago and he was only 7g.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - It is a bioactive glass enclosure with a screen top. I added two little fan to help airflow. I live in Colorado and glass is the only way to keep his humidity up. It’s fairly large I’m not sure the exact measurements but I think it’s around 4 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide.
• Lighting - I have a long T5 UVB light, a 50w heat lamp, and a grow light for the plants.
• Temperature - 83° to 85° In the basking spot. Middle of cage is around 76° and lower part of cage is around 70°. I have a thermal heat gun to measure temps and a Bluetooth thermometer/hydrometer to notify me of changes.
• Humidity - Daytime 55-65%, I do this through misting and fogging if necessary. Night time 97% through fogging
• Plants - All live plants, pathos and schefflera plants. Lots of cover on the bottom 2/3 of enclosure. (It takes me a while to even find Dabi half the time.) It’s been hard to get live plants to the top 1/3, I put in a little pathos and I’m letting the schefflera grow in.
• Placement - My cage is in the dining area of my small apartment, it is fairly low traffic (we don’t eat in the dining area ever, and it we do have ppl over we cover his cage with a curtain), the only time he sees us is from a distance entering the bathroom.
• Location - I live in Colorado Springs, It can either be really cold or really hot depending on the time of year

I attached some photos below to show the enclosure and his size.

I do know I'm a little late with this... but you can handle him a tiny bit more if you want. That probably doesn't have anything to do with why Dabi isn't growing but I would say handle him up to 4-5 times a month. That's what I think in my opinion lol.