Help, My panther boy

[zoner]

Hello everyone. My panther is in a bad shape, kinda, but I can't figure it out. He is constantly very dark. He used to have good coloring but these days he is constantly dark and hasn't shed for about 5-6 months now. His skin doesn't repel water like it used to. Instead it just gets soaked and wet. He also has some crusty stuff around his ledges around his head as if it is trying to shed but not quite been able to. No bumps or no bubbles coming out of his mouth. He is about 13 months old now. I got him from Bruce Chameleon paradise and was very healthy when I got him when he was 5 months old. I do see him drink water but he doesn't eat!!!! I have been force feeding him for the past week and it's exhausting me and I think he is getting traumatized by it. He isn't too skinny I don't think and he has gotten pretty big. Probably good 13-15 inches long. His eyes aren't sucken because I do see him drink.
So my main concerns are him not eating, his coloring, his skin not shedding and constantly dark coloring. He just looks sad. He doesn't move around all that much but different depending on the days.

Your Chameleon - 13 months. In my care for 8 months
Handling - three x week now to feed him.
Feeding - I tried feeding him everything. The only thing he ate on his own is Superworm and a couple fly. There are a lot of flies in his cage now and two small cricket and a moth that I found. He doesn't show a slightest interests.
Supplements - When he used to eat, I used to supplement crickets with Reptical without d3 every other day, with d3 every 2 weeks, multivitamin every weeks.
Watering - I have a dripper that drips 1/1sec and I also mist him four times a day. Give him warm mist shower twice a day too sometimes and sometimes not. He doesn't really care for it though.
Fecal Description - I don't really see it. Last week since i started force feeding him, his poop looks like stuff I have been syringe feeding him. They aren't hard.
Gutloading: Everything but again, my chem only will eat superworms and maybe two if I am very lucky. I haven't fed him any superworms since I started force feeding.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Just bought 2x2x4 screen cage from the 36" one. I am going to change his cage once I hope he eats all the flies in his current cage.
Lighting - He lives outdoor. I live in SOCAL. When he is inside though like when I am gone for the weekend or when it is too cold out, i use Reptisun 5.0 UVB Tropical Bulb, 60w)
Temperature - Basking spot peaks out at 70-95. SOCAL has just started getting hot.
Humidity - Humidity is 20-30% in between mistings, about 65%-75% after mistings.
Plants - Yes, one Ficus and lots of tree branches.
Placement - In my room when it is too cold and outside when the weather is above 50-55 at night.
Location - Los Angeles

 

[Thompson]

Your Chameleon - 13 months. In my care for 8 months
Handling - three x week now to feed him.
Feeding - I tried feeding him everything. The only thing he ate on his own is Superworm and a couple fly. There are a lot of flies in his cage now and two small cricket and a moth that I found. He doesn't show a slightest interests. You should really try and offer him other food like roaches, crickets, silkworms, and hornworms. You don't want to feed super worms to your cham too much because they supply more fat than nutrients.
Supplements - When he used to eat, I used to supplement crickets with Reptical without d3 every other day, with d3 every 2 weeks, multivitamin every weeks.
Watering - I have a dripper that drips 1/1sec and I also mist him four times a day. Give him warm mist shower twice a day too sometimes and sometimes not. He doesn't really care for it though.
Fecal Description - I don't really see it. Last week since i started force feeding him, his poop looks like stuff I have been syringe feeding him. They aren't hard.They're water then? If you can see undigested food in his feces then there could be a problem with his basking temperature or it could be related to something health wise.
Gutloading: Everything but again, my chem only will eat superworms and maybe two if I am very lucky. I haven't fed him any superworms since I started force feeding.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Just bought 2x2x4 screen cage from the 36" one. I am going to change his cage once I hope he eats all the flies in his current cage.
Lighting - He lives outdoor. I live in SOCAL. When he is inside though like when I am gone for the weekend or when it is too cold out, i use Reptisun 5.0 UVB Tropical Bulb, 60w)
Temperature - Basking spot peaks out at 70-95. SOCAL has just started getting hot. Raise the basking light above his cage until you can get his basking area to a temperature of 85-90 degrees.
Humidity - Humidity is 20-30% in between mistings, about 65%-75% after mistings. Humidity levels in-between mistings is pretty low for panther chameleons. I'd get a humidifier so you can maintain humidity levels to about 40-60%. 80% humidity levels after misting is good.
Plants - Yes, on e Ficus and lots of tree branches. Does the ficus cover much of his cage? You might want to add more foliage to his cage so he can feel more secure.
Placement - In my room when it is too cold and outside when the weather is above 50-55 at night. In your house is his cage by any air vents?
Location - Los Angeles

Dark color is usually associated with being too cold and or stressed, but his basking temp being really high at 95 degrees I don't think being too cold is the problem. Have you ever taken him to a vet so he can be checked for parasites.

 

[ChamDE86]

Hello everyone. My panther is in a bad shape, kinda, but I can't figure it out. He is constantly very dark. He used to have good coloring but these days he is constantly dark and hasn't shed for about 5-6 months now. His skin doesn't repel water like it used to. Instead it just gets soaked and wet. He also has some crusty stuff around his ledges around his head as if it is trying to shed but not quite been able to. No bumps or no bubbles coming out of his mouth. He is about 13 months old now. I got him from Bruce Chameleon paradise and was very healthy when I got him when he was 5 months old. I do see him drink water but he doesn't eat!!!! I have been force feeding him for the past week and it's exhausting me and I think he is getting traumatized by it. He isn't too skinny I don't think and he has gotten pretty big. Probably good 13-15 inches long. His eyes aren't sucken because I do see him drink.
So my main concerns are him not eating, his coloring, his skin not shedding and constantly dark coloring. He just looks sad. He doesn't move around all that much but different depending on the days.

Your Chameleon - 13 months. In my care for 8 months
Handling - three x week now to feed him.
Feeding - I tried feeding him everything. The only thing he ate on his own is and a couple fly. There are a lot of flies in his cage now and two small cricket and a moth that I found. He doesn't show a slightest interests.
Supplements - When he used to eat, I used to supplement crickets with Reptical without d3 every other day, with d3 every 2 weeks, multivitamin every weeks.
Watering - I have a dripper that drips 1/1sec and I also mist him four times a day. Give him warm mist shower twice a day too sometimes and sometimes not. He doesn't really care for it though.
Fecal Description - I don't really see it. Last week since i started force feeding him, his poop looks like stuff I have been syringe feeding him. They aren't hard.
Gutloading: Everything but again, my chem only will eat superworms and maybe two if I am very lucky. I haven't fed him any superworms since I started force feeding.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Just bought 2x2x4 screen cage from the 36" one. I am going to change his cage once I hope he eats all the flies in his current cage.
Lighting - He lives outdoor. I live in SOCAL. When he is inside though like when I am gone for the weekend or when it is too cold out, i use Reptisun 5.0 UVB Tropical Bulb, 60w)
Temperature - Basking spot peaks out at 70-95. SOCAL has just started getting hot.
Humidity - Humidity is 20-30% in between mistings, about 65%-75% after mistings.
Plants - Yes, one Ficus and lots of tree branches.
Placement - In my room when it is too cold and outside when the weather is above 50-55 at night.
Location - Los Angeles

How often are you feeding him? As an adult, his feeding should have been cut back to a handful of feeders every other day or a couple of feeders every day. Adults will also shed every few months since they are no longer growing as fast. It sounds to me like he may be getting ready to shed soon, which explains why he's lethargic and not interested in eating. Everything kind of slows down a bit when they get older. Some notable findings as I was reading your help form,

1- You should not be force feeding if he doesn't look skinny and is still able to eat on his own. That is causing a lot of unnecessary stress. An adult chameleon could go on a hunger strike for a couple of weeks and be Okay as long as he/she is drinking.

2- Your vitamins schedule should be the same as your D3 schedule, which is twice a month.

3- Your basking temperature should be minimum around the mid 80's to about 90 degrees, and not anywhere near 70. 70-75 is where the ambient temperature should be sitting. They need to be able to properly digest after eating or it could cause issues.

 

[zoner]

Thanks for your help.

I keep my chem outside, so it gets pretty hot where the sun directly hits him. And yes, I tried to offer him everything you mentioned such as hornworms, silkworms, dubai, crickets, but just refuses them all unless they are superworms.

I only bring his cage inside if I know the night time temp is going to be below 50-55. The day time temp it always ranges from 70-90 here and probably hotter where the sun hits.

You guys think I should just keep my chem inside and control the temp? Bruce told me one hour of real sunlight will do wonders than 10 hrs of artificial light, so that's why I was so keen on keeping him outside.

His poop looks like what I have been force feeding him in the syrange with little bit of orange suff.

What is skinny? I mean he isn't fat. It's hard to tell because sometime they look skinny and sometimes they look kinda chunky when they ball up? How do you determine that?

So what do you think it's going on with his skin and coloring?

Also what should I do about all the flies that are in his cage right now that he isn't eating?

is 13 month old for a chem? As I said, he hasn't shed for about 4-5 months

And it was around mid 90s today and he was still kinda dark and unhappy looking

 

[ryanbaxter]

Is this a good set up for a vieled chameleon [emoji236]