Lethargic baby panther

[brenn]

Hello and thank you for taking your time to read through this. My baby panther is now 2 weeks old and is living in a 16x16x30 cage. I feed him fruit flies by feeding cup twice a day dusted with calcium without d3. Usually a couple of hours after the light turns on and 3-4 hours before they go off. He eats around 8 or 9 a day and today was the first time I dusted with a multivitamin with d3. I've noticed he's been sluggish the past few days and takes a lot of naps throughout the day which I just found is a bad sign. I mist his enclosure roughly 5 times in the day, trying my best not to get him directly. Basking temp is around 82 and towards the bottom of the cage is around 75. Humidity swings quite a bit from the mid 40s into the 70s. It's been hard to keep it up. I felt like he was looking a bit thin so i started using a dripper yesterday and have been running it about 5-10 minutes per day just in case.

I've read this could also be stress induced. I've been limiting my interaction to only removing/attaching his feeding cup and the multiple mistings. The cage is next to my bed and maybe 6 feet away from my computer which I'm on most of the day. I also have to pass by his cage to go into the kitchen and bathroom, which is quite a bit. Could even this be causing him stress? Is there anything I'm doing wrong or I can improve on? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

75 watt zoomed basking light with a dimmer which I run very low.
12 inch repti Sun t5 5.0 ho uvb

 

[MissSkittles]

Oh my word! How did you get such a young baby?!
I’m not sure I can help as I haven’t any experience raising such itty bitty ones. @jannb @JacksJill are sure to have much better feedback than I can give.
I do know that baby should be eating much much more than just 8-9 fruit flies a day. Baby should be chowing down as many as he can eat in about a 20 minute period, twice a day. I might even be inclined to offer some three times a day for such a young baby.
To me, you’re misting a lot and then using a dripper - that’s a lot of water. Honestly though, I don’t know if babies need more hydration opportunities than adults, but in the wild it doesn’t work that way. To better maintain humidity, swap out the fake plants for safe cleaned live ones.
Most don’t use basking lights for babies, and I believe keep temps around 78.
How high is the enclosure? If baby is able to be higher than you as you walk by, he will feel safer and less stressed. Definitely no handling!
Lastly, I do know that babies are exceptionally fragile and the smallest error in husbandry can prove fatal. They have zero resources to fall back upon. And sometimes, babies just fail to thrive for unknown reasons. Because of these things, responsible breeders don’t send their babies off to their new homes until they are at least 3-4 months old. I can’t even begin to imagine that anyone would give away a newly hatched baby, so have to think that you did the hatch your own egg thing.

 

[brenn]

Oh my word! How did you get such a young baby?!
I’m not sure I can help as I haven’t any experience raising such itty bitty ones. @jannb @JacksJill are sure to have much better feedback than I can give.
I do know that baby should be eating much much more than just 8-9 fruit flies a day. Baby should be chowing down as many as he can eat in about a 20 minute period, twice a day. I might even be inclined to offer some three times a day for such a young baby.
To me, you’re misting a lot and then using a dripper - that’s a lot of water. Honestly though, I don’t know if babies need more hydration opportunities than adults, but in the wild it doesn’t work that way. To better maintain humidity, swap out the fake plants for safe cleaned live ones.
Most don’t use basking lights for babies, and I believe keep temps around 78.
How high is the enclosure? If baby is able to be higher than you as you walk by, he will feel safer and less stressed. Definitely no handling!
Lastly, I do know that babies are exceptionally fragile and the smallest error in husbandry can prove fatal. They have zero resources to fall back upon. And sometimes, babies just fail to thrive for unknown reasons. Because of these things, responsible breeders don’t send their babies off to their new homes until they are at least 3-4 months old. I can’t even begin to imagine that anyone would give away a newly hatched baby, so have to think that you did the hatch your own egg thing.

Hello missSkittles! Really appreciate your advice. Yes, I bought an egg at a reptile show and it hatched almost a year later. Ill definitely offer him much more food and feed him for 20 minutes twice a day as you recommended. I have a few live plants in the enclosure which includes a pothos, a small rubber tree, and another that i found was safe for chams (can't remember the name).

For watering, should I cut out the dripper? I've seen him lapping up water droplets off the fake leaves (plastic) that I have up near the top of the enclosure just from the mistings.

 

[JacksJill]

If he is napping with his eyes closed during the day it is a bad sign. I doubt it is stress related from you passing through or quietly hanging out in the room. Heat could be the cause raise your basking bulb up several inches for starters. The basking light does not need to be on constantly it can go on and off every half hour. Also new UVB bulbs can be strong in the first 10 days of use so you may want to raise it up as well for a couple weeks. Dripper is fine as long as it's not swampy in your enclosure already.
I'm concerned for him/her also but I don't have any great changes beyond some lighting adjustments that may not be enough help.

 

[spislandboy]

I bought a Cham egg as well and she hatched about 2.5 months ago

 

[MissSkittles]

For watering, should I cut out the dripper?

Follow what JacksJill has advised. She has lots of experience raising babies and lots of experience with chameleons in general.

 

[brenn]

If he is napping with his eyes closed during the day it is a bad sign. I doubt it is stress related from you passing through or quietly hanging out in the room. Heat could be the cause raise your basking bulb up several inches for starters. The basking light does not need to be on constantly it can go on and off every half hour. Also new UVB bulbs can be strong in the first 10 days of use so you may want to raise it up as well for a couple weeks. Dripper is fine as long as it's not swampy in your enclosure already.
I'm concerned for him/her also but I don't have any great changes beyond some lighting adjustments that may not be enough help.

Thank you for your response. I just adjusted the lights to be around 4 inches higher. Im hoping for the best and will update if anything changes. Thanks again to the both of you for your help.

 

[Beman]

Hi there. Sorry your going through this. Babies are so fragile and the slightest thing can impact them.

I would turn the basking fixture off. Raise the UVB 4 inches off the top of the cage.
Use egg carton pieces so you can hook them in the cage on a vine or in the plants. Use a piece of banana in the cup of it. Then pour your fruit flies on the banana. This will keep them where they need to be and its shallow enough so baby can easily access them. Baby should be taking down a ton of feeders. I have a feeling it is just far too hot and hatchling dehydrate extremely easily under heat.

I would not change out the fake plants yet. any more stress could put baby over the edge. But if baby bounces back and gets stronger than I would in a few weeks replace them with chameleon safe live plants.

 

[brenn]

Unfortunately, my baby chameleon didn't make it. To be honest I think it was a little too late and not sure what more I could've done to help him. I wanted to thank everyone again for all of the invaluable information above. I hope that it will help others in the future. Yesterday, I noticed he was moving slower than he ever was and wasn't taking food. By night time he was slumped over on his side and didn't move much at all.

The one thing I learned that may help with the fruit flies is to dip your finger in the calcium supplement and smear a little on the sides of the feeding cup. It will prevent them from escaping as it will make the sides too smooth for them to escape. Good luck!

 

[Beman]

Unfortunately, my baby chameleon didn't make it. To be honest I think it was a little too late and not sure what more I could've done to help him. I wanted to thank everyone again for all of the invaluable information above. I hope that it will help others in the future. Yesterday, I noticed he was moving slower than he ever was and wasn't taking food. By night time he was slumped over on his side and didn't move much at all.

The one thing I learned that may help with the fruit flies is to dip your finger in the calcium supplement and smear a little on the sides of the feeding cup. It will prevent them from escaping as it will make the sides too smooth for them to escape. Good luck!

Sorry to hear about this... Hatchlings are not easy to care for. Should you decide to get another one I would go with a breeder that sells them at 3-4 months only and no younger. This way they are passed the phase where they are so extremely fragile. As long as husbandry is on point a 3 month old will thrive.

 

[Andrew1283]

Was this your first chameleon?

 

[lurker9090]

So sorry about your loss <3

 

[MissSkittles]

Unfortunately, my baby chameleon didn't make it. To be honest I think it was a little too late and not sure what more I could've done to help him. I wanted to thank everyone again for all of the invaluable information above. I hope that it will help others in the future. Yesterday, I noticed he was moving slower than he ever was and wasn't taking food. By night time he was slumped over on his side and didn't move much at all.

The one thing I learned that may help with the fruit flies is to dip your finger in the calcium supplement and smear a little on the sides of the feeding cup. It will prevent them from escaping as it will make the sides too smooth for them to escape. Good luck!

I’m so sorry. With such tiny babies, by the time you notice that anything is wrong it’s usually too late. Wishing you peace and healing.

 

[elizaann2]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[CalamityCrow]

I'm so sorry... Sending compassion your way.