Female panther has weak grip

[Thomaskoch]

Hi!

I bought 0.1 pardalis Ambilobe 4 days ago. When we bought her she looked OK, although very big and round, so I am assuming she is with eggs (she has been caged together with a male, so it is quite likely).

During the two days she was in transport-cage, her grip has seemed to get weaker and weaker. She can basically not grasp at all! So she is only living on the bottom of the cage. She wants to get up on the branches but has no grip at all. Therefore, if she is with eggs, it is a big problem because she will probably not have power to dig down the eggs...

Other than the grip, she is perfectly fine! Ate 7 locusts, 2 spiders and 1 fly yesterday, drinks alot and is generally very alert and seems healthy (other than the grip). I have seen many sick chameleons, but nothing like this. It is literally only her grip that is failing! And I think this is a condition that has risen within a couple of days. How is this possible? What can I do? Breaks my heart to see an animal in this condition :-(

 

[Chameleomom]

Get her to the vet ASAP she might be egg bound

 

[Thomaskoch]

Thank you for the reply. Hmm, I don't see that weak grip should be a symptom of being egg bound. She was kept together with a male by the previous owner (so stupid, but she was...). Now she has her own big cage and possibility of laying eggs, so if she has eggs she should start digging soon. If she doesn't I will begin to suspect that she is egg bound as well.

But for now, I need to figure what is wrong with her grip! It seems like some sort of illness. As I said, only the grip is affected...

Hope someone can help!

 

[Chameleomom]

She might be too weak from all her calcium being gone Someone can help it's called a vet.

 

[Chachi]

Dude, that weak grip is the beginning of something. Could be mbd, could be egg bound, could be just low calcium but you need a blood test. Now. If your girl cant stay on her branches shes in trouble. I know this because I almost waited too long and hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Remkon]

I agree with the above...
Better take her to the vet before you regret not doing so.
Their grip should be quite powerfull, if it isn't there's reason for concern.

If it's because of low calcium, early signs of MBD or because of eggs the vet can at least apply a calcium-shot or help otherwise.

 

[Chameleon+Cody]

hope all goes well. nobody likes a weak chameleon.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thank you for the reply. Hmm, I don't see that weak grip should be a symptom of being egg bound. She was kept together with a male by the previous owner (so stupid, but she was...). Now she has her own big cage and possibility of laying eggs, so if she has eggs she should start digging soon. If she doesn't I will begin to suspect that she is egg bound as well.

But for now, I need to figure what is wrong with her grip! It seems like some sort of illness. As I said, only the grip is affected...

Hope someone can help!

They can become egg bound and without ever going to ground to dig.

Your description suggests an emergency.

A weak grip is a symptom of something terribly wrong; it is not the problem. It usually means you have missed the initial decline, and are now faced with a critically ill chameleon.

Laying a clutch of eggs is physically demanding and usually exhausting. The physical effort of getting the eggs laid uses a tremendous amount of calcium and if the blood calcium level falls, the muscles cannot actually work.

Really, she desperately needs to go to a vet immediately. This is not a case where you want to take a wait and see approach.

 

[Thomaskoch]

Hi Guys.

Thanks for all your fast replies!
Update: She was at the vet yesterday, and we got some D-vitamin to give her orally (1 drop per day) and some calcium that she must be given 4 times a day also orally.

Regarding her health, I have been keeping her outside in the sun, giving her locusts with powder and nice long showers. Her grip is slightly improving due to this care. And now let's see what happens with the calcium. I am optimistic, which is a rare thing when it comes to sick chameleons...

This week, the weather has been optimum for my chams to be outside, but the Danish summer looks to stop tomorrow. So it will not be as easy for her to get her UV and heat, since she is still primarily living at the bottom of the cage. I could put her in a smaller cage and put the UVB-bulb and heat over her for a couple of hours a day (monitored of course so she does not overheat).

Do you have any suggestions? Experience giving a sick cham heat and UVB?

Br Thomas

 

[Randall-the-Chameleon]

Warning: I would not feed flies or spider ever again. Flies can carry pest aside without dying and many spiders even if harmless to us like daddy long legs can be poisonous to charms.

 

[Remkon]

Warning: I would not feed flies or spider ever again. Flies can carry pest aside without dying and many spiders even if harmless to us like daddy long legs can be poisonous to charms.

I would also not feed a fly that I caught outside but you could breed your own flies (ie. from phoenixworms) ...
My chameleon likes hunting flies more than anything, so I'm going to continue feeding those as an extra.

 

[Chachi]

I built a platform at the top of my guy', Hannibal's cage. She needs to be close to the light and the safest place for it to be is outside the cage. The platform is built of covered wire, very loosly woven together so he can use his feet a little. When he was sick, he just slept and ate up there but as he got better he started to move around a little. I kept constant vigil because i was so worried. Dont let her get to warm. Ill send pics if you are interested

 

[Thomaskoch]

Chachi, sounds like a very interesting solution. Please do send pics

 

[Chachi]

K. Im in Denver CO and its only 6:15. Their lights come on at 6:30. Ill get some more, but check these out, now

 

[Chachi]

I have 4 lines going one way and 4 lines going perpendicular. He has about 5 centimeter squares but he is big and cant fall thru. Its about 7 inches across and 4-5 inches wide and his bulb runs the length so he gets his full 12 hours when there is no sun out. Otherwise, I open that window and he gets 5 hours of the real sun and the rest of the 12 he has the bulb

 

[Thomaskoch]

Thanks Chachi. I have figured out another way of solving it, with a little "ramp" midway in the cage, where a big flat plant is placed. This way she can walk in and out of the heat zone, and is within the UVB range. I can post pic tomorrow when I have built it.

Now... She is getting slightly stronger day by day, so that is very positive. However, the weakness is only the first issue, as I am pretty sure that she is with eggs. She is getting very huge and round, I will post pics, but she looks rounder in real life than the pic shows... So I am worried if she will gain enough strength to bury her eggs before it is too late.

Please comment if you think she looks pregnant, and what actions I can take to help her.

 

[Pitcard]

Hard to say from those pics. From her body shape and how her ribs protrude, it looks like she's inflating herself.

 

[Andee]

Idk she could be inflating or very gravid, can you get pics from different angles?

 

[R.H]

She looks rather plump to say the least, if she is carrying eggs and grip still weak I'd say she may need a shot of calcium prior or after laying to boost her slightly, from the vet!!

Could do with some more pics online different angles really .

 

[brownie64]

Not a vet, but have seen gravid females before, and she looks gravid to me. Might want to make sure she has access to her laying ben with all this UVB issue.