Is my panther sick?

[Elmzy8]

Hi, I have recently bought a panther chameleon, a nosy faly. I am a bit worried because I have not seen him drink and also has no eating routine. At the moment I am giving him 4 - 6 locus's a day but he seems uninterested. Is there any suggestions on how to get him to eat more or could it be because it is a new environment.

Also when I bought him I was told to get a wood vivarium as this keeps the heat in more. I was beforehand looking at a glass tank but was told this was not good as it was harder to keep at a warm temperature. When he is in the vivarium he goes quite a dark patterning but when he is out he is much more colorful and the dark disappears. Could this be that he doesn't like the vivarium or is this normal?

Thanks

 

[Kath44]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Congrats on your lil guy.
How old is he? How big is your viv? What plants do you have in there?
You may not see him drink, one way to tell is checking his poop. There will be a white part to his droppings, that is his pee/urate. If it's white, he's getting his fluids. If tinged with yellow or is orange, he needs more hydration.
He may not eat for a few days and will take his time to get used to everything.
Kath.

 

[kinyonga]

How old is the chameleon? Could the locusts be too big for him?
What are the temperatures in the cage?

 

[Elmzy8]

Kath44 - I believe he is six months old. The vevariam is 34"w x 22"h x 15"d. I have two plastic vine plants, a dropper plant, a spiral stick and a mini log which is situated from the top corner down. His poop is as described. I am just worried about his colour as he is darker when in the enclosure and more colourful when he is out interacting with me.

Kimyonga - I have seen him eat a few so I don't think they too big for him, I buy the large locus as the medium are quite small and was being fed them before I'm the shop I bought him from. At night I drop his temperature to the low 70's but during the day it is middle 80's.

 

[kinyonga]

Chameleons colors are usually different when out of the cage...they have to be in 'predators mode' (on guard).

 

[kplatvoet]

I find that mine need it to be cooler at night to be active day time - this is especially true with my Jackson but I find it to be true with my panther,as well.
My panther has two basking spots as he has a double cage - one is a bit hotter than the other and he goes between the two-
Check the temps in the Resources section and make sure there's a cooler section in the cage - placing the basking in a corner sometimes helps- and getting used to his new cage will also - I would feed him at the same time every day and keep to a bit of a routine till he gets used to used to his new home. I found with mine that by raising my basking temps by a few degrees and lowering the temps in the rest of the cage and at night his colors brightened up-