mmsdec0804
New Member
Problem: My 13 year old daughter saved up her money and purchased a 3 month old panther chameleon 3 months ago and he seemed to have been doing great. I noticed about 10 days ago he hadn't pooped for several days and wondered if something was up. I asked the reptile store where we get our crickets about the amount of pooping, and the employee asked me if I see him drink, which I don't. He said we should definitely be seeing him drink, so I thought perhaps the humidifier, fogger, and dripper wetting the leaves were not enough (although he could be drinking when we aren't home) and we started spraying for 5-10 min twice a day using a Mist'r Lizard sprayer. He seemed unsure at first, but he did drink from the leaf when I stopped spraying that first time. Since then, when the "rain" starts, he typically hides his head under a leaf and when I stop, he opens and closes his mouth and appears to be swallowing, even though he isn't drinking from a leaf. In the first week he pooped twice and they looked perfect! He hasn't gone again now for 3 or 4 days. We also rearranged branches in his cage three days ago. Our little guy has seemed rather lethargic and inactive more during this past week than before we added the mister twice a week.
Does anyone have thoughts? I've attached pics of the cage, Larry asleep tonight, and him getting some water a few days ago.
Larry: We have a male panther, 6 months old, we've had him since he was 3 months old.
Handling: He is handled for maybe 10 min three times a week. He seems ok with it.
Feeding: We feed medium crickets, about 8-12 each morning. The past three days he has not eaten more than a few crickets each day. We feed Flucker's dry high calcium food, cricket quencher, and Orange cube complete cricket diet.
Watering: This has recently changed. We were using a dripper, fogger and humidifier on high enough setting to moisten the leaves in the cage, but since I never saw him drink I thought perhaps he wasn't drinking at all/enough. So, last week we started actually misting twice a day for about 5-10 min. We've seen him drink a little, but it's usually him opening and closing his mouth after we stop, almost like he's swallowing. He seems to often hide his head under a leaf when we mist the cage, too.
Fecal Description: He hasn't had any fecal waste in several days, and before that he had two nice looking droppings (for poop!
), brown with white, good sized.
History: He has seemed quite content.
Cage Type: Screen, 18x18x36
Lighting: We have two daytime lights that stay on for 13 hours. Reptisun 5.0 UVB 13 watt and ReptiBasking Spot Lamp 100w No lighting at night.
Temperature: Daytime basking is about 90 F. This has been consistent since we purchased him. Nighttime temps are between about 62-68F. This has also been consistent since we got him.
Humidity: We measure the humidity using a ZooMed small round humidistat. Depending on where we put it in his cage, and if the fogger hits it directly or not, it ranges from 50-80. This has been consistent since we've had him.
Plants: We have a Pothos plant that is live, and a branch of silk pothos to fill in a few bare spots.
Placement: The cage is in our office, away from drafts, fans, etc.The top of the cage is about 4 1/2 feet off the ground.
Location: Colorado
Does anyone have thoughts? I've attached pics of the cage, Larry asleep tonight, and him getting some water a few days ago.
Larry: We have a male panther, 6 months old, we've had him since he was 3 months old.
Handling: He is handled for maybe 10 min three times a week. He seems ok with it.
Feeding: We feed medium crickets, about 8-12 each morning. The past three days he has not eaten more than a few crickets each day. We feed Flucker's dry high calcium food, cricket quencher, and Orange cube complete cricket diet.
Watering: This has recently changed. We were using a dripper, fogger and humidifier on high enough setting to moisten the leaves in the cage, but since I never saw him drink I thought perhaps he wasn't drinking at all/enough. So, last week we started actually misting twice a day for about 5-10 min. We've seen him drink a little, but it's usually him opening and closing his mouth after we stop, almost like he's swallowing. He seems to often hide his head under a leaf when we mist the cage, too.
Fecal Description: He hasn't had any fecal waste in several days, and before that he had two nice looking droppings (for poop!
), brown with white, good sized.History: He has seemed quite content.
Cage Type: Screen, 18x18x36
Lighting: We have two daytime lights that stay on for 13 hours. Reptisun 5.0 UVB 13 watt and ReptiBasking Spot Lamp 100w No lighting at night.
Temperature: Daytime basking is about 90 F. This has been consistent since we purchased him. Nighttime temps are between about 62-68F. This has also been consistent since we got him.
Humidity: We measure the humidity using a ZooMed small round humidistat. Depending on where we put it in his cage, and if the fogger hits it directly or not, it ranges from 50-80. This has been consistent since we've had him.
Plants: We have a Pothos plant that is live, and a branch of silk pothos to fill in a few bare spots.
Placement: The cage is in our office, away from drafts, fans, etc.The top of the cage is about 4 1/2 feet off the ground.
Location: Colorado
