Adult Female Panther on Hunger Strike... getting worried!

[Dave Legacy]

I have an Adult Female Sambava Panther that's almost 2 years old. About 7 months ago she mated and produced a healthy clutch of eggs, but no follow up clutch from retained sperm. Just this week she's started to ignore her feedings of roaches and crickets, but she's very actively drinking (typically she seems to be secretive about her drinking, but she acts very thirsty now).

I'm feeding crickets gutloaded with the Cricketfood.com Advanced Blend Food. Her cage is well planted with live Ficus and Pothos. Mid-zone of the cage is in the mid-70Fs and she has a single 40W basking lamp. I've noticed that the month up until now she hardly ever moves around her cage and she only hangs out in one spot up near the top of the foliage exposed to light; Seems lethargic, but has been eating OK until now.

I did just realize that her Reptisun 5.0 UVB Tube is about 7-8 months old, so I'm way past due on replacing it. Might she be constantly hanging out near the top trying to soak up UVB rays? I'll run out and get one tomorrow. I may also up the wattage of the basking light to a 60W for an increase in heat.

My male is on the same setup and eating like a horse. What's going on here?

Thanks in advance,
Dave Legacy

 

[Will Hayward]

Pregnant female panthers DO bask more often and for longer, imo.

Let us know what changes the two new bulbs bring.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Hey Will,

Turns out I did have a 60W Basking Lamp, so that's squared away. I'm going to send my wife to pick up a replacement tube tomorrow, and I might setup an appointment with a vet as it might take a few days to get in. Could she be gravid 7 months after laying? It just doesn't seem reasonable, but I'm not too familiar with that stuff.

I usually just pick up the phone and call Chris A. about stuff like this, but I decided to try to be more independant this time around... not that he doesn't love to hear my voice at 1am on a Tuesday morning.

 

[Will Hayward]

She definately could be gravid. It's possible for panthers to become gravid without mating, though it's much less common in panthers than in veileds.

What temperature do you record on the branches under the heat source?

I'd suggest still calling Chris right now. If not to just say hello.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Will,

I forgot that she could be gravid w/an unfertile clutch. I just checked with a digital thermometer and the temp at the branch under the lamp is 86F. However I haven't seen her posted up there in a while. I really haven't seen her more than 4" from her usual spot in at least a month.

When I got home tonight I noticed that all the crickets were gone. I had just cleaned all the debris (paper towels/leaf litter) out of the cage a couple nights ago so they wouldn't have anywhere to hide. Last night there were till the same group of 5-8 crickets that had been in there for a couple days... today nothing.

Although I still don't feel confident she ate them since I haven't seen her eat, but they can't escape I guess. Looks like I have a call to make.

Best regards,
Dave Legacy

 

[Dave Weldon]

...I did just realize that her Reptisun 5.0 UVB Tube is about 7-8 months old...

Howdy Dave,

Although it never hurts to replace a used Reptisun 5.0 linear tube in a situation where there are unknowns, a 7-8 month-old Reptisun is still likely to be a pretty good tube . To make sure that she's getting enough UVB, see that she's within 6"-12" of the tube's surface.

One of these days you'll want to snag an infrared temp gun to simplify checking her actual skin temp.

Has she been pooping? How often? How's it look and smell?

 

[Dave Legacy]

Hey Dave,

An infrared temp gun would be pretty handy to use on the car as well!

I haven't checked out the feces yet, nor have I been watching the schedule, but I know for sure she hasn't gone in 4-5 days. This morning I saw her basking under the lamp, eat, and drink. I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm getting home too late to feed her.

I work from 0630 to 1800 (sometimes later) and she's just about ready to sleep by the time I introduce food. It seems that she's eating them the following morning for breakfast. I guess this was a false alarm, but I'll take a look at the fecal matter just in case.

How often should she be defecating? When she does go it strikes me as being pretty large!

Best regards,
Dave

 

[joefarah]

My female panthers would start to refuse food shortly before laying. They would still drink and be very restless, but only take the occaisional wax worm or cricket.

Good luck with everything

 

[Ashley]

Try puttin a laying pot in there incase she just needs to lay. Is she fat?

 

[Dave Legacy]

Try puttin a laying pot in there incase she just needs to lay. Is she fat?

Not really. She's actually showing receptive coloration and continued to show it even after catching a glimpse of my male today. It seems that she just had enough of eating an hour before lights out. The last time I made her a special laying container she ended up laying in her umbrella plant pot on the same day. I'm not too concerned, but I'll keep an eye on her for sure.

Thanks for the insight, everyone.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Exercise anyone?

Well, it sounds like she is not gravid. It sounds like there is a longer delay between poops than one would like to see. They are big because she is not pooping often. She should poop every other day at her age. Do you ever take her out and see how she moves around? Her low activity level may cause the minor constipation problem she has. I don't think it's a big issue, but I wonder how mobile she is, in general.

Next time you are home during the day, I would take her out and let her roam around on a house plant or some other safe area. I would do this just to confirm that she can walk around normally. If this does not stress her out too much, the exercise may be beneficial. After a couple of years, chams can get bored with their cage, their view, their food, etc. I have a couple of chams who look too "settled" in their life and I put them on a plant in my solarium for a couple of hours to broaden their horizons. It seems to perk them up. Nothing is more interesting for them then getting them outside into some real sun when possible. I've got about two months a year that I can do that where I live.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."she's just about ready to sleep by the time I introduce food. It seems that she's eating them the following morning for breakfast"...a couple of thoughts about this...if she is eating the bugs later in the day and the lights go off soon after she might not be digesting them properly. If she is eating the bugs early the next morning at least they should be digested properly...but has the supplement fallen off them by then? I don't know if this could have anything to do with it or not really.

 

[Dave Legacy]

You said..."she's just about ready to sleep by the time I introduce food. It seems that she's eating them the following morning for breakfast"...a couple of thoughts about this...if she is eating the bugs later in the day and the lights go off soon after she might not be digesting them properly. If she is eating the bugs early the next morning at least they should be digested properly...but has the supplement fallen off them by then? I don't know if this could have anything to do with it or not really.

That is a very interesting theory. I don't dust supplement very frequenty, but only about once a week for D3 Calcium and once every 3 weeks for Multivitamin. I use what is said to be a fairly good gutload, from Cricketfood.com Premium Advanced Cricket Food, so I'm not too concerned in the nutritional department.

I may have to put my wife to work feeding the chams in the mornings.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Well, it sounds like she is not gravid. It sounds like there is a longer delay between poops than one would like to see. They are big because she is not pooping often. She should poop every other day at her age. Do you ever take her out and see how she moves around? Her low activity level may cause the minor constipation problem she has. I don't think it's a big issue, but I wonder how mobile she is, in general.

Next time you are home during the day, I would take her out and let her roam around on a house plant or some other safe area. I would do this just to confirm that she can walk around normally. If this does not stress her out too much, the exercise may be beneficial. After a couple of years, chams can get bored with their cage, their view, their food, etc. I have a couple of chams who look too "settled" in their life and I put them on a plant in my solarium for a couple of hours to broaden their horizons. It seems to perk them up. Nothing is more interesting for them then getting them outside into some real sun when possible. I've got about two months a year that I can do that where I live.

Weather in Southern California is good pretty much all year round and they can actually be outside all year if I wanted, but I like them inside. I think I'll set her up on a plant near a window for a few hours this weekend and see how she enjoys that. She's antisocial because I choose not to handle her unless absolutely necessary. My male is a different story as he think any time I open the cage he's going to be fed and comes right out.