New Keeper Questions...

[ScalesbyKyn]

Hello there! I am both new to the forums and a few months old at chameleon keeping. I do not currently have photos of my set up or chameleon to upload here as I am work but can provide some in the comments if needed. I will try to be as descriptive as possible and ask all of my questions at once as I have a lot. I follow Neptune the Chameleon and have watched nearly all of her videos and I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of chameleon care but a few in between the cracks questions if that makes sense. I will fill out the general info and then ask my questions below it:

Your Chameleon - Male panther chameleon amilobe. Roughly 2 years old

• Handling - Recently almost daily. I do choice-based handling and have a few taller potted plants outside the enclosure he likes to roam. We have developed trust pretty well in my opinion. Sometimes he will want to come out and sometimes not. I always give the choice by opening the door and offering him my hand. I NEVER take him out myself, only offer for him to crawl on.
• Feeding - Crickets, hornworms, Dubia roaches, superworms
• Supplements - Flukers Calcium WITHOUT D3 almost every feeding and the Reptivite Multivitamin WITH D3 roughly every 2 weeks
• Watering - Automatic mister that goes off 20 mins before his lights come on (9am) for 3 minutes at a time and another time 20 minutes after the lights go off (9pm) for 3 minutes as well. I offer a dripper in the middle of the day for roughly 20 minutes that collects on a ZZ plant
• Fecal Description - Looks normal. I have seen the sperm plugs once. Urates are mostly white, I have seen one with the tiniest bit of orange at the top, but for the most part a creamy white color

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Reptibreeze XL with the sides and back in PVC. Front and top are entirely screen
• Lighting - UVB is an Arcadia 6% TO Linear bulb. I just replaced it about a month ago.
• Temperature - Basking temperature right at 86 degrees Fahrenheit, ambient temperature around 73 degrees fahrenheit
• Humidity - Steady around 55%, spike in the nighttime as I run a fogger from midnight to 4am
• Plants - Lost of pothos, monstera, I have 2 umbrella plants and a ZZ plant.
• Placement - There are 3 large potted plants in the bottom and 4 sm/med potted plants hung on the sides towards the middle/top
• Location - His cage is located in the living room in a corner by the window and we are located in North Texas

Current Problem - So I have a few things to ask. I keep my house pretty cold which has caused me to use a 100W bulb for basking. This achieves the 86 degree basking temperature and as he is an adult I have NEVER seen him climb the top screen. Since the house is cold, I also have a small space heater that I placed across the room from his enclosure and keep on low to achieve the 73 degree ambient temperature for the inside of the enclosure. He is pretty active in his enclosure, especially after I added many more branches in a better highway situation throughout. His colors look great, his body composition and legs look great. His grip on branches and my hands are great and his tail functions as it should. On his body his skin looks nice and show no signs of burns or unusual bumps. My few questions are as follows:

1. He came with almost all of the correct supplies. Previous owner at one time did a lot of research and was taking great care of him then admitted to neglect in the recent months. (I got him in January and the previous owner had him for 18 months unsure of when he stopped taking the best care of him.) The UVB "hood" he provided looks like it is used for plants, the brand is Agrobrite and has 4 slots that fit the UVB bulbs. He had 4 UVB bulbs in the contraption and I ordered 4 bulbs however started reading that it is possible to have TOO MUCH UVB. So I only have 1 bulb in the hood. Do you ever run more than 1 bulb at 6%?

2. Marvin (my chameleon's name) has started slowing down on eating. He never seemed hungry in the morning and I get to come home for lunch so typically fed him on my lunch around noon. In the first few months, he ate like a champ. We were eating every other day about 8 crickets worth with a few treat bugs dusted with the calcium WITHOUT D3. The enclosure has one of those feeder things installed on the side but since he was new, he wasn't moving much from his one "safe" spot, in the back of the enclosure. So I hand fed him every other day which he took easy enough (believe this helped on trust as well). Now, Marvin has started showing less interest in food unless it is a hornworm and even then will only eat one. I moved to every 2 days and he was eating well, but in the last 2 weeks or so has showed little interest in food. His colors are still great, his poop looks good, and he seems hydrated. I was going to start moving to try and use the feeder dish on the enclosure so maybe this will help but wondering if anyone has run into this? I've heard they can slow down in the wintertime and it makes sense. It just worries me to not see him eat as much. I believe he was pretty skinny when I got him so maybe he was just bulking up at first but unsure.

3. My next question scares me to ask. I have caught Marvin a couple of times closing his eyes. He doesn't do it all the time but occasionally when he is close to his basking spot, I have peeked in the enclosure and his eyes are closed. His tail is not curled like he is sleeping, his colors still look good but his eyes are closed. Again, he does not do this a lot but I know that is an immediate red flag, however some corners of the internet say as long as he is still active that he is okay although I'm not sure I believe that. I have a vet appointment scheduled in 2 weeks and plan to do a fecal test. Do we think the closing of the eyes and the slowed appetite could indicate a parasite? It really stresses me out and I have done tremendous research and have made adjustments to his enclosure to try and give him not only the best life but the most successful.

A few details that may also be important:

I do gutload Marvin's insects with carrots, spinach, and some of that thirst quencher orange stuff from my reptile store. The insects are also all purchased from this reptile shop. When feeding him, his aim seems spot on and his tongue seems a healthy amount of "sticky". The live plants in his enclosure allow him to hide as well. Lots of times it takes me nearly a minute to find him in the foliage and he is almost always somewhere new so I know he is active. He has a habit of wanting to come out of the enclosure just to poop on me, not sure if this is a good or bad sign lol.

Any help would be appreciated. Please let me know if I can supply any more details. I apologize for not being able to upload a photo at the moment.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome. Give me some time and I’ll go over all of your info and give feedback.

 

[MissSkittles]

Your fantastic husbandry is making this a bit easier. My only comment on it is to ask what your night time temps are. Since you are fogging at night, temps need to be below at least 68. High humidity plus high temps greatly increase risks for respiratory infections. Now to your questions.
1) So Marvin’s previous human used FOUR uvb bulbs at once? Yikes! No…just one bulb is needed. But…does each slot for the bulbs have it’s own reflector or do more than one bulbs share a reflector? If each bulb has its own, the 6% is perfect. If it is a shared reflector, I believe you’ll need to use the next strongest uvb which is an Arcadia 12% or ReptiSun 10.0. I would advise contacting https://www.lightyourreptiles.com/ who can help you better determine what is needed for your particular fixture. You may want to add a grow light for your plants, which he can help you with also…he’s not only very helpful & knowledgeable, but a great vendor and I think a reptile keeper too. The ideal distance between basking area with the standard T5 6% is 8-9”. As the weather is getting nice, you might want to take your guy outside for some natural uvb and fresh air. Never ever leave him alone or unattended though. Besides being able to run away much faster than you’d imagine, predatory birds have scooped up chameleons in an instant before. I hold my animals when I take them outside, or sit them on a plant which is right in front of me.
2) For his appetite, first, you were overfeeding him. I feed all of mine 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week with a treat day. **I prefer to give smaller feeders, so in actuality it’s more like 5-6 feeders. Panthers are very good about regulating their dietary intake, unlike veileds who will eat until the food stops. Since you didn’t provide any pics, I want you to check Marvin for obesity. For panthers we look to the top of their heads…their casque. If it’s puffed up, he’s overweight and you’ll need to put him on a diet (usually just about 2 feeders three times a week and infrequent healthy treats). If his casque is just slightly raised, he’s at a pretty healthy size. If it’s greatly inverted, he’s might be underweight. I’ll add a pic of one of my boys below so you know what ‘normal’ looks like.
Depending on what you have been feeding him, some are rather picky or get ‘spoiled’ and will hold out for what they want (usually the addiction is superworms). I have one who refuses to eat roaches and would rather starve. I do accommodate his preference, since he’s good about eating everything else. Variety is just as important to chams, as it is to us. Many on line vendors sell species-specific variety packs. Check Rainbow Mealworms, Critter Depot and Dubia roaches.com. https://www.chameleonforums.com/sponsors/?tag=food I’m not a big fan of buying feeders from pet stores, unless they don’t sell animals. One never knows if an employee took (accidentally or intentionally) an uneaten cricket from an animal and returned it to the bin, potentially spreading parasites. Or perhaps they didn’t wash their hands after handling an infected animal and then touched the feeders or their food.
Which brings up parasites as the possible cause for his poor appetite. Definitely you want to have him checked. The poo needs to be less than 24 hours old and unless you are able to grab it right before you leave for the vet, you can store it in the fridge.
Some panthers will have a change in the winter, although usually it’s a fading of color. However, one of mine not only faded but did have a change in his appetite and activity level too. Every time I was about to make a vet appointment, he perked up. (I swear they know!)
3) I’m afraid closing the eyes during the day is not at all a normal thing and is a sign that something is off with him. It could be parasites. While we often think of things like simple pinworms, there can be some quite nasty parasites. You may want to consider having some blood work done too, just to make sure his organ function and all else is all good. I do need to tell you, that while most exotics vets will see chameleons, they may not see them often and/or may not have the most experience or knowledge of them. I’m attaching our list of vets who have demonstrated good experience/knowledge with chams.
I’m also going to attach the feeder and gutload graphics. If you are interested in grasshoppers, https://dragonhoppers.com/ is the source. I advise against gathering your own in the wild, not just because of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, but a type of hopper (lubber) is toxic. You want to add more and better to your feeding for the feeders…and eliminate the spinach which binds to calcium. The orange cubes and various gels at the pet stores are only good for hydration, which isn’t even needed if feeding fresh produce. Avoid high protein or high calcium insect foods, as those can be harmful to your cham. I give mine various squashes, bell pepper, sweet potato, turnip, dandelion or other similar greens, occasionally green beans or snow peas, etc and just a little fruit - usually blue or raspberry. For times I’m lazy or rushed, I keep Repashy Bug Burger on hand and will add a pinch of bee pollen to it.
Lastly, yes, some panther boys will come out just to poop on their human. I dunno… Mine just wants to eat my eyeballs and the other just sit on my arm.

You can see the very slight raise to Mango’s casque.


Bart also has a slight raise to his casque. He is in the very early phase of his faded colors returning here. He’s been pale for a couple of months, but no decreased appetite or activity.

 

[ScalesbyKyn]

Thank you for your detailed reply! Marvin's casque may be slightly raised than the ones in your photos but not by much. The closed eyes definitely scares me the most. If he senses me looking at him or around his enclosure he immediately opens them and looks around and typically doesn't go back to closing them. As for the hood, I'm unsure if the reflectors are for individual but I will look into that. I have made sure that the UVB has the ability to reach him in some parts of the enclosure but towards the middle and bottom very little penetrates to give him the opportunity to get away from it. His previous owner said he was ONLY feeding superworms which could aid in the inconsistent appetite and potentially bad health (hopefully a vet can confirm via fecal test or blood work.) I'll be looking through the vet list, I'm close to Dallas so I'm sure there's got to be SOMEONE qualified to check him out. I'm very picky with who can handle him so I appreciate your referrals. As for gutloading, I will definitely step up my game (I'm a picky eater so don't typically keep a lot of veggies in the house so buying specifically for feeders and the veggies spoiling before going through them is kicking my butt. I've heard of people making their own gutload cubes in the freezer and am interested in trying this out.) As for nighttime temperatures it typically sits around 64-67 degrees at night so we are all good there and he's never shown signs of a RI (no opening his mouth, cannot hear him breathe with any crackles or pops). Thank you for all the great information! Hopefully the vet check gives some good answers and I will keep you updated on it!