chameleon is gray.

[janev]

Hi all I am pretty new to this forum.

I have a Panther nosy be chameleon since october and he is not very colorful. He was greener before and now he is grey and drab looking. Grey, patterned with some black, coral and grey green. Is this normal or is he sick? Temps in room are 75-80 degrees F.

He lives in the fish room so there is good humidity all the time. Has reptsun 5, basking lite.

Every weekend I take him outside to bask in the sun too.


Thanks for your help.

Vicki

 

[Kent67]

How old? Are you sure he is a he?

 

[AFH]

Pictures? At 6 months or so you should be seeing color if it is a male.

 

[Kent67]

Since October....6 months. That's what I get for responding after such a long day....

 

[CammieNLeno]

Since October....6 months. That's what I get for responding after such a long day....

Kent - I was going to ask the same question as well - I think your inquiry is valid - OP has had em since October.. but the cham could have already been a year old for all we know.

How old is the cham? Was it hatched in July then? 100% sure its a male?

 

[janev]

He(she) was really tiny when & bought him.

So probably only a couple months old.

I am not a very good at tech stuff.
I will try to put in pictures this weekend of him outside so you can tell me if he looks healthy.

I don't really care male or female, just want him to be healthy.

Thanks.

 

[lbesok]

Hello, welcome to the forums. When my Nosy, Vega turns black/gray it usually signals some sort of pathology. He usually doesn't eat or drink like usual, when he is like this. Most recently he has an abscess infection in his mouth on his upper gum line we have been fighting. Once that clears up, I expect him to be back to his usual happy bright colors. If you look at the thread I just posted of him, you will see the color difference:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/tongue-shots-11225/

Is this similar to what you were talking about? How long has he not been his typical colors? Maybe you could fill out the link:https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
I don't mean to scare you, just if it continues and you have seen a decrease in appetite, I would definitely consider a vet visit!

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Vicki,

In addition to the: "How to Ask For Help" answers for the earlier post:

Where did you get your Panther?

What part of the world are you located?

 

[janev]

Hi my name is Vicki.
I have a nosy be panther chameleon.
I live in Orange, California.

I bought him in October ’07 at the Anaheim Reptile show from Amazing Blue Reptiles, Mari Nozaki. She was very nice and informative about how to take care of chameleons.

She told me straight up that the chameleon was very little and could be a girl.

My Chameleon, Waldo, is still active has been doing very good still eats well, just very grey now.

I copied the outline from “Ask for help” & answered the questions the best I could.
I work Saturday and will try to take picture Sunday and have them uploaded. for you all to see if his color is ok. I will also take a picture of his poop. I not good at describing it.

Thank you so much for your help.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using?
What is the size?
The one I bought with the chameleon. It is aluminum wire and 18” d x 12” w x 22”l

Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? How long do you keep the lights on during the day?
I have a reptisun 5. I leave lights about 15 hours.

Temperature - What temperature range have you created?
The room is where my parrots and aquariums are high is 83dgs F and low is 73dgs F.

Basking spot temp? What is the temperature at night?
Have a 75-watt bulb on top of his cage I assume in the 90’s. Temp low in room is 73 dgs F.

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
The range is from48% and 27% humidity in the room. I have 2 large aquariums in the room. That keeps the room very humid.

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
One ficus that I bought with the chameleon.

Location - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?

Cage located near window on sunny mornings before work I open the window to get some natural UV. On my days off and if it is sunny I take the cage outside.


Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon.
Panther nosy be. Sex? Supposed to be a boy. Age about 8 months old.

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What kind of schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use?
Eats crickets, I put bunch in his cage in a plastic container w/ cricket food bought from the cricket co. Use sticky tongue farm’s vit all and min all. Have also gut loaded crickets flukers orange cube stuff. I dust the crickets every other feeding and have the min all in with the cricket food.

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Have drip jar that I bought w/the chameleon.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
He poops big black elongated blob with a white end. He likes to poop in where the crickets eat. (Nasty)

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

None, He is still quite active roams around his cage.

Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Worried if the Chameleon is sick because his coloring is off from his normal self.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Hi my name is Vicki.
I have a nosy be panther chameleon.
I live in Orange, California.

I bought him in October ’07 at the Anaheim Reptile show from Amazing Blue Reptiles, Mari Nozaki...

is still active has been doing very good still eats well, just very grey now.

...It is aluminum wire and 18” d x 12” w x 22”l

I have a reptisun 5. I leave lights about 15 hours.

...high is 83dgs F and low is 73dgs F.

...75-watt bulb on top of his cage I assume in the 90’s...

48% and 27% humidity in the room.

Plants - One ficus that I bought with the chameleon.


Eats crickets... Use sticky tongue farm’s vit all and min all. Have also gut loaded crickets flukers orange cube stuff. I dust the crickets every other feeding and have the min all in with the cricket food.

Watering - Have drip jar.

He poops big black elongated blob with a white end.

...He is still quite active roams around his cage.

Worried if the Chameleon is sick because his coloring is off from his normal self.

Howdy Vicki,

Small world. I have a Nosy Be' Panther from Amazing Blue that I got back in 9/2004 at the Anaheim show too .

Part of the trick of successful chameleon keeping is eliminating possible sources of stress, health issues, and general husbandry problems before they turn into killers.

1.) It is quite possible that he's feeling cramped in his original baby enclosure, creating stress. It's time to upgrade his enclosure to something larger like a 24x24x48. I've got a spare one if you want to borrow one for a while. Also, LLLReptile isn't too far of a drive if you want to buy one right away .

2.) Try lighting/heating for 12 hours a day tied to similar daylight hours, maybe 6am-6pm or thereabouts. Is that a Reptisun 5.0 compact or 18" long tube?

3.) A basking spot of 90F should be ok. Confirm the temp by either using a low-cost infrared temp gun (LLLReptile!) to measure his skin temp or stick your hand right where he basks and see if it gets too hot for you to hold your hand there after a minute.

4.) Above 40% humidity is reasonable. 40%-60% is good providing he is kept well-hydrated.

5.) Look into a Schefflera (Umbrella) plant. They are pretty good plants for even full-grown chameleons to climb around in. Fairly cheap and readily available at Home Depot etc. You could get one or two and that would do nicely in a big enclosure.

6.) Vit-All is gutload. Minerall is for calcium and trace minerals. Do you have Minerall (I) or (O)? You actually want both. You'll also want to get Herptivite (also available at LLLReptile) for all of the other vitamins needed. The usual way to deal with crickets is to feed/gutload them and then lightly dust them (shake in a bag or other container) and then place them in the enclosure either in a feeder cup or free-range.

7.) A dripper alone is often not an effective method for keeping a chameleon fully hydrated. He is obviously taking in enough water to survive but he may need more in order to thrive. Many keepers have found that hand misting for 5-20 minutes twice a day works well at fulfilling the goal of complete hydration. Try using one of those $7 handheld, pump-up plant misters from Home Depot. They hold about a quart of water. Try warm water (90-110F) direct misting as well as soaking the plant leaves too. All of this will also increase the overall humidity in the immediate area. Someday you may even joins the ranks of us with fully automated misting systems like the ones sold at www.herpmist.com .

Eliminating as many possible sources of stress and other health problems will go a long way towards sorting-out why his colors are out of whack.

You are welcome to bring a poop sample here for parasite testing (trinocular microscope). I do it for fun for lots of other keepers' chameleons all of the time. It doesn't replace a qualified vet's analysis but it will give you insight into to what's going on.

 

[janev]

Thanks Dave for your prompt answer!

I would like to take you up on testing Waldo's poop for parasites.

I am way over budget on vet bills.

My small parrot, a sun conure just had a live or die operation that cost me over $2000!

I am so broke.

I will try to get a camera & take a picture of Waldo outside so you can see his colors.

I really like the people at Amazing Blue Reptiles, I would definitely get another chameleon from them.

Could you pm, how I can get the "sample" to you.


Vicki