New baby panther chameleon won’t eat

jelayne.ann

jelayne.ann

New Member
Hi! I’m just hoping to get support about my new baby panther chameleon. I got him at a month old and i’ve had him for almost two weeks now. I’ve been very worried about him because i can only get him to eat one insect a day, and some days i can’t even get him to eat at all. He won’t eat from my hand or tongs, or even a cup, i have to place the insect on a leaf in front of him but even then he doesn’t eat it sometimes. I see that he drinks, and his poops are good, i’m just worried about him not eating as much as he should. I offer him dubia roaches, crickets, superworms, waxworms and even hornworms but he will only ever eat superworms. I also catch him doing weird things, like he’ll puff up and open his mouth out of nowhere, he will keep one eye closed at times, or he will rub his eyes against something, and sometimes he will whip his head around. I’m very worried that he may be sick, and that might be why he’s not eating. I’m hoping for some suggestions on how to get him to eat or what i can do to make him better. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!!

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male ambilobe panther chameleon
Handling - once every couple days
Feeding - trying to feed him dubia roaches, crickets, waxworms, super worms & hornworms but i’m only able to get him to eat once a day at most
Supplements - calcium w/o d3 7 days a week, multivitamin and calcium w/ d3 once a week
Watering - i mist his cage almost every hour, and i have a humidifier blowing into his cage
Fecal Description - half an inch long, looks normal

Cage Info:
Cage Type -screen cage 16”x16”x30”
Lighting -duel dome basking bulb & uvb, and linear T8 uvb; set on 12 hour timer 8am-8pm
Temperature - around 70 at bottom and 90 at top
Humidity - 60-70% at bottom and 50% in basking area
Plants - 2 large real pants
Placement - on top of bookshelf, next to the window.
Location- near Chicago IL
 

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If he's pooping he has to be eating? Do you leave insects in the cage for him to eat when he wants to? That might make him feel safer about eating.
 
kinyonga said:
If he's pooping he has to be eating? Do you leave insects in the cage for him to eat when he wants to? That might make him feel safer about eating.
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Some days i will get him to eat one insect , and some days i can’t get him to eat anything at all, so he does poop but not every day. I have left crickets in there before but after a couple days i find them dead at the bottom. And if i let the superworms in there they just fall to the bottom and eventually die. Do you suggest getting a tub and putting some sticks in there to crawl on and just let the insects go in there so they wouldn’t get lost at the bottom?
 
KhameleonMomz said:
Does he drink water? Have you seen him drink water? Have you seen him falling or shaking?
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Yes i do see him drink water, and there is a white part in his poop so i think he’s getting enough. He rarely falls, sometimes he stumbles but i think that’s just because he’s only a baby and is very small, and I don’t see him shake
 
He is wayyyyy to small for that hornworm you show.. If he is a little over a month old he would be eating very small feeders. 1/4 inch crickets at the very largest. Maybe 1/8th size. And he should be eating a lot of these every day. Feeder runs are a great way to know how much they are eating. Tk Chameleons makes a shooting gallery that I really like.

Your temps are way too hot for a baby... Should be no hotter then 80 at basking.

The dripper fountain needs to go it is a bacteria breeding ground. You should be misting the enclosure and all the plants for 2 minutes. Morning and evening. Not all day long. You can add a little dripper to drip down on the plants during the day. Humidifier should only run at night when lights are off and the temp has dropped below 67-68.

This would be a good resource for you. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
 
Beman said:
He is wayyyyy to small for that hornworm you show.. If he is a little over a month old he would be eating very small feeders. 1/4 inch crickets at the very largest. Maybe 1/8th size. And he should be eating a lot of these every day. Feeder runs are a great way to know how much they are eating. Tk Chameleons makes a shooting gallery that I really like.

Your temps are way too hot for a baby... Should be no hotter then 80 at basking.

The dripper fountain needs to go it is a bacteria breeding ground. You should be misting the enclosure and all the plants for 2 minutes. Morning and evening. Not all day long. You can add a little dripper to drip down on the plants during the day. Humidifier should only run at night when lights are off and the temp has dropped below 67-68.

This would be a good resource for you. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
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Thank you so much for the suggestions!! She does eat about that size of superworms. Is it bad for him to be eating that big of insects or is that just why he’s not going for them? And I have a feeder run for him but he won’t eat out of it. Would pinhead crickets be a better feeder for his size?
 
jelayne.ann said:
Thank you so much for the suggestions!! She does eat about that size of superworms. Is it bad for him to be eating that big of insects or is that just why he’s not going for them? And I have a feeder run for him but he won’t eat out of it. Would pinhead crickets be a better feeder for his size?
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That is why he is not going after them. They are too large. They should not have items that are wider then the space in between their eyes. Pinheads are going to be tiny... those are more for hatchlings. So you want the 1/8 or 1/4 size for baby no larger. That should be for all feeders you get. If you order super worms they should be small size only. I would hold off on feeding hornworms until baby is bigger. These must be fed off when they are small and you should hand feed these to avoid them causing tongue injury.
 
Beman said:
That is why he is not going after them. They are too large. They should not have items that are wider then the space in between their eyes. Pinheads are going to be tiny... those are more for hatchlings. So you want the 1/8 or 1/4 size for baby no larger. That should be for all feeders you get. If you order super worms they should be small size only. I would hold off on feeding hornworms until baby is bigger. These must be fed off when they are small and you should hand feed these to avoid them causing tongue injury.
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Thank you so much for your suggestions! It is greatly appreciated. I will definitely be trying smaller insects
 
Today i saw my chameleon do something really strange and frightening. As he was basking, he kept falling over to the side and closing his eyes. One time i saw he was completely laying on his side on a piece of driftwood and his color was black, then i walked away for a couple minutes to look it up and when i came back he was completely white and it looked like he has fallen asleep. After he woke up he opened his mouth really wide like a yawn. I am very concerned for him and i want to figure out what’s wrong. Is he sick?
 
jelayne.ann said:
Today i saw my chameleon do something really strange and frightening. As he was basking, he kept falling over to the side and closing his eyes. One time i saw he was completely laying on his side on a piece of driftwood and his color was black, then i walked away for a couple minutes to look it up and when i came back he was completely white and it looked like he has fallen asleep. After he woke up he opened his mouth really wide like a yawn. I am very concerned for him and i want to figure out what’s wrong. Is he sick?
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Looks like he may be sick?If no improvement take him to a vet ASAP
 
Brian J G said:
Looking at your enclosure, he may be having trouble drinking.I recommend having more plants near the top of the cage and having a drip system falling on the plants?
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Dehydration is worse than a lack of food and if he drinks he should start to eat?
 
Brian J G said:
Looking at your enclosure, he may be having trouble drinking.I recommend having more plants near the top of the cage and having a drip system falling on the plants?
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I do mist his cage many times a day and his poop seems like he’s drinking fine. I took my dripper out because the water started to leak out the bottom of my plants, but i will put it back in there. Here’s a picture of him.. is this normal?
 

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jelayne.ann said:
Today i saw my chameleon do something really strange and frightening. As he was basking, he kept falling over to the side and closing his eyes. One time i saw he was completely laying on his side on a piece of driftwood and his color was black, then i walked away for a couple minutes to look it up and when i came back he was completely white and it looked like he has fallen asleep. After he woke up he opened his mouth really wide like a yawn. I am very concerned for him and i want to figure out what’s wrong. Is he sick?
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Sounds like heatstroke....
 
jelayne.ann said:
I do mist his cage many times a day and his poop seems like he’s drinking fine. I took my dripper out because the water started to leak out the bottom of my plants, but i will put it back in there. Here’s a picture of him.. is this normal?
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No!! That is not normal at all, whats your current basking temp? Or temperature at the top of the cage? Did you adjust it as suggested?
 
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