My Baby Panther Just wont eat!

[Rieger202]

I purchased a 1 1/2 month old Ambilobe Panther Chameleon from FLChams, and I just adore the little guy My only issue is that he doesn't seem to be eating. First I tried free roaming the crickets, but they were all hiding in piece of wood I had in the enclosure. So i started putting them in a feeding cup and taking off the crickets back legs, but that didn't interest him. I called the breeder, and he said I need to free range them, it's what hes used too. It's been two days and I'm starting to get worried. So I took out the wood they were hiding in, removed the towels that were on the cage floor, and I tonight I released 40 small crickets in there.

I've read this kind of thing can happen. But I wanted to put all this info out there and see what you guys think. Hopefully tomorrow he will start eating the 40 crickets I put in there, and I will be sure to update. He looks fairly healthy right now, sleeping and waking correctly.

Also the crickets seem to be congregating near the bottom which is where he doesn't seem to ever go, I have ways for him to get there, but I've never seen him near the bottom. Some crickets do venture up though so I'm still hopeful.

Small side problem, after removing the towels, my cage is collecting water at the bottom, it has a plastic tray. The crickets are sometimes getting caught in the excess pools of water. I'm thinking about one day building a draining system, but for now I'm just soaking it all up.

Here's some info about me and my chameleon:

http://i.imgur.com/eiA3pTy.jpg

• Your Chameleon - Panther, Male, 1 1/2 months. He's been here for 2 days.
• Handling - Only once, and that was when I brought him out of the cup he arrived in to put him in his cage.
• Feeding - Small and pinhead crickets. Same as what he was eating before he was shipped out.
• Supplements - Repashy Supercal HyD
• Watering - Mist his cage in the morning, and in the evening. And a run a dripper all day.
• Fecal Description - Black with some white, he laid it on his first day. Nothing else, just once.
• History - Not that i know of :/

http://i.imgur.com/tf7CArg.jpg

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - 2'x2'x4' Deluxe Screen cage, with a tray at the bottom. Front door is clea, all sides are screen, but 2 of them have shower curtains on them.
• Lighting - Zoo Med 18" Repti Sun 5.0 UVB bulb, Zoo Med 100 watt basking bulb
• Temperature - Mid 90's at basking spot, 70s at the bottom. Measure it with a digital thermometer.
• Humidity - upper 50's to mid 60's. Digital Thermometer.
• Plants - Fichus Tree, and Pothos plant.
• Placement - I live in a small room, and the cage is near my bed and desk. I'm not home most of the day though, and I think he roams while I'm gone. The cage sits on the floor.
• Location - San Francisco Peninsula

Current Problem - The darn thing just wont eat.

Thanks for any and all help!

Andrew

 

[Remkon]

Hi, it's a bummer when they won't eat but maybe it's just stress from moving to a different environment so I would just offer him food (in a bowl) and leave him alone for the day (except for spraying him)...

I wouldn't leave 40 crickets in the enclosure, if he's used to free range feeding 10 is plenty and he will hunt for them himself.

As an alternative you can try giving him a different feeder, go for Waxworms or small silkworms, phoenixworms (not mealworms) or otherwise something that flies may get his interest.

 

[Andee]

He probably won't eat for several days, he's stressed and his whole world has changed. But honestly why did you put in 40 crickets? Nothing you've fed them will stay in their gut by the time he eats them all. All the supplements you dusted them with will be gone within 2 hours at most. And it's very likely the crickets will start chewing on your chameleon.

Edit: also your Temps are far too high for a baby that young. He should only be at 84 degrees in basking. He may also be having trouble finding free range food in a cage that large.

 

[Rieger202]

The reason I put in 40 is so that they will spread out around the enclosure. It's pretty big being 2'x2'x4', so I want them to be readily apparent. Do you think maybe putting some cricket food at the bottom would keep them gut loaded? They always tend to hangout near the bottom and I'm worried if I only put in 10, and they all hide in the bottom he wont find them, or too many will die to pools of water at the bottom. Him not being able to get to them seems like a bigger risk to him than the crickets going after him. Hes so small he's always on a little stem that the crickets can't get on.

Thanks for the replies, glad to hear that this seems to be normal behavior, I may just be overly worried.

 

[Andee]

I wouldn't believe the crickets don't move around at night, the are nocturnal. It's at night when we are asleep that the chameleons tend to get the bites the most. And cricket bites can get infected. I agree with putting some worms in a feeder cup and just waiting a couple days. Minimal reaction is best. It also sounds like you need to work on your drainage situation, there shouldn't be pools on the bottom of your cage.

 

[Rieger202]

He is on a little stem that they can't get to for tonight, I'll go through and take some out tomorrow though, and put some worms in. The breeder said he shouldn't be cup fed, but if I don't think he's eating tomorrow I will set that up. I have some super worms.

With me spraying and the dripper system, water goes to the ground and with nothing there it tends to congregate. Not sure how it wouldn't. I've seen to many reasons to not put a layer of substrate for me to try that. Guess I will have to figure out a way to drain it in the future.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Andee]

Draining is easy depending on what your bottom is made out of. If it's plastic like reptibreeze you can drill holes through the bottom and put it on top of a cut rubbermaid bin and it will drain into that quite easily. Just empty it when you think you need to. And there is honestly nothing wrong with cup feeding chameleons. It's actually recommended for babies in large cages or just in general, and some feeders are only able to be cup fed. I would cup feed him until he was around 4 months. It's a very useful skill for them to have. When they get sick or become seniors they can easily be given a cup full of feeders and it would be much safer and you'd be able to see how much or how little he is eating. Honestly I only free-range crickets and only one of my chameleon gets them. I also only give him crickets maybe once a week and only thirteen at once. His main feeders are two different types of roaches. I breed four other types of feeders and buy two others.

 

[Remkon]

I just have a hole in the bottom and a tray under it to collect water.

Well if he's used to free range he may need to learn to use the cupfeeder method... Basically just do 50/50 free range/cup

Just make sure he can look into the bowl from a spot where he often sits (baskingspot) and also make sure the bowl doesn't fill up with water when sprayed.

I have had better success with just hanging a bowl under their basking area than with one of the DIY cupfeeders you can hang from the wall but this may differ per chameleon.

 

[Andee]

I regularly have on hand at least 7 feeders unless a colony suddenly crashes or goes into stasis while I am waiting for adults of certain ones.

Edit: I use smaller super worm cups as my feeder bowls and have attached the. To one of the screen sides with a branch next to them. The cup always has small holes drilled into it to let it drain incase it gets water in it.

 

[Rieger202]

Great advice! Im going to get the cage propped up off the floor tomorrow and drill some hols in it so it starts draining properly.

Wen't in and soaked up the water and took out about 15 crickets (both dead and alive), and I'm going to set up a feeder cup tomorrow morning with some supers in it.

Also found some poop near the top that I'm pretty darn sure is new today Hopefully that means he ate something. We'll see what he does tomorrow.

Really appreciate the help!

 

[Andee]

He most likely ate, when they are that small they usually poop every day, when they are eating ^^ congrats

 

[Remkon]

It's best to have the cage off the floor anyways, chameleons like to be up high.
I have my chameleons cages suspended 120cm (47") from the floor. (I wanted to fit a cabinet under it )

 

[Rieger202]

I'm consistently finding poop around the cage now I'm confident he is eating now, I just hope it is enough!

Thanks for all the help

 

[Emz197611]

Hi can anyone help please. My cham will no longer eat crickets it’s been this way for a few months, he will only eat white worms, now he’s stopped eating them for few days. He has what I think is infection around the eyes, antibiotics off the vet & I do put silver cream on as it seems to settle then flare up. He’s booked in for vet on Tuesday. He loves being out & never gruffs up but now he’s going a bright colour and is gruffing up all the time, he’s never done before. Need advice, has his behaviour changed due to ill health. And how and what can I make for him to eat to try building him up also it would have to be force fed. He’s 3yr old

 

[NashansCamos]

you should go to the vet as soon as possible. from my experience white worms are not very healthy and shouldn't be used as staple diets

 

[Kaizen]

I purchased a 1 1/2 month old Ambilobe Panther Chameleon from FLChams, and I just adore the little guy My only issue is that he doesn't seem to be eating. First I tried free roaming the crickets, but they were all hiding in piece of wood I had in the enclosure. So i started putting them in a feeding cup and taking off the crickets back legs, but that didn't interest him. I called the breeder, and he said I need to free range them, it's what hes used too. It's been two days and I'm starting to get worried. So I took out the wood they were hiding in, removed the towels that were on the cage floor, and I tonight I released 40 small crickets in there.

I've read this kind of thing can happen. But I wanted to put all this info out there and see what you guys think. Hopefully tomorrow he will start eating the 40 crickets I put in there, and I will be sure to update. He looks fairly healthy right now, sleeping and waking correctly.

Also the crickets seem to be congregating near the bottom which is where he doesn't seem to ever go, I have ways for him to get there, but I've never seen him near the bottom. Some crickets do venture up though so I'm still hopeful.

Small side problem, after removing the towels, my cage is collecting water at the bottom, it has a plastic tray. The crickets are sometimes getting caught in the excess pools of water. I'm thinking about one day building a draining system, but for now I'm just soaking it all up.

Here's some info about me and my chameleon:

• Your Chameleon - Panther, Male, 1 1/2 months. He's been here for 2 days.
• Handling - Only once, and that was when I brought him out of the cup he arrived in to put him in his cage.
• Feeding - Small and pinhead crickets. Same as what he was eating before he was shipped out.
• Supplements - Repashy Supercal HyD
• Watering - Mist his cage in the morning, and in the evening. And a run a dripper all day.
• Fecal Description - Black with some white, he laid it on his first day. Nothing else, just once.
• History - Not that i know of :/

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - 2'x2'x4' Deluxe Screen cage, with a tray at the bottom. Front door is clea, all sides are screen, but 2 of them have shower curtains on them.
• Lighting - Zoo Med 18" Repti Sun 5.0 UVB bulb, Zoo Med 100 watt basking bulb
• Temperature - Mid 90's at basking spot, 70s at the bottom. Measure it with a digital thermometer.
• Humidity - upper 50's to mid 60's. Digital Thermometer.
• Plants - Fichus Tree, and Pothos plant.
• Placement - I live in a small room, and the cage is near my bed and desk. I'm not home most of the day though, and I think he roams while I'm gone. The cage sits on the floor. I’ll
• 
  
• Location - San Francisco Peninsula

Current Problem - The darn thing just wont eat.

Thanks for any and all help!

Andrew

Just a heads up: supercal hiD is not an everyday supplement. If you’re looking for an all in one, try repashy calcium plus LoD. But don’t keep dusting your bugs with hiD every feeding.

 

[NashansCamos]

Just a heads up: supercal hiD is not an everyday supplement. If you’re looking for an all in one, try repashy calcium plus LoD. But don’t keep dusting your bugs with hiD every feeding.

the thread started in 2016 lol. someone then posted 8 minutes ago after a 3 year gap. lol

 

[Kaizen]

My bad.

 

[Emz197611]

you should go to the vet as soon as possible. from my experience white worms are not very healthy and shouldn't be used as staple diets

Vet app on Tuesday. Is there anyway or anything I can feed him via a syringe

 

[NashansCamos]

i'm not sure... I'm not an expert in health care but for now i would say not to be safe. for better health care try contacting brodiebreux25