Murrdox
New Member
I have a 9 month old Panther who's been doing great overall. Lately he's had a couple minor setbacks though, but I still think he's doing very well.
First of all, I burned him a couple of weeks ago. This was my fault, I replaced his bulb and lamp with a higher wattage, but farther from the cage. However, while I measured the ambient temperature of his enclosure and everything was good, I failed to measure his basking spot. He got a small burn on the ridge of his back and on one knee. I feel awful about it.
Fortunately, after a hunger strike that lasted a day, he seems to have recovered, and is doing well. He's on his first shed after the burn, so I'm hoping the marks will fade with time.
Secondly, he's developing into a picky eater.
First, he would eat anything I put in his feeding cup or hand-fed him.
A month or two ago, he decided he didn't like crickets which weren't dusted. He would gobble down a dozen dusted crickets, but he wouldn't TOUCH non-dusted ones. He would still eat hand-fed non-dusted crickets, but they didn't interest him nearly as much. Every morning, he would be down next to his feeding cup, waiting to be fed.
Now, he doesn't like his feeding cup at all anymore. He doesn't sit by it anymore. He won't go for dusted crickets or non-dusted unless he's being hand-fed.
He's suddenly decided that he loves super-worms. He's always VERY interested in them when presented with them, but again, he won't touch them if they're in his cup.
This morning, figuring maybe he just hates cup-feeding now... I put a few crickets in his cage allowing them to free-roam. Sure enough, he hunted down the 2 or 3 of them who started climbing up the screen towards him.
I'm thinking I need to replace his feeding cup with something else, I don't know why he's suddenly decided he doesn't like it. He's also a little under-weight I believe, so I'm trying to fatten him up, and his picky eating isn't helping lately. I wish I had a scale that could weigh him, but I don't. I'm just going by the fact that the base of his tail isn't as fat as I'd like it, and the ridge on his back looks thin. He's very hydrated though, and very active. I just need to bulk him up.
First of all, I burned him a couple of weeks ago. This was my fault, I replaced his bulb and lamp with a higher wattage, but farther from the cage. However, while I measured the ambient temperature of his enclosure and everything was good, I failed to measure his basking spot. He got a small burn on the ridge of his back and on one knee. I feel awful about it.
Fortunately, after a hunger strike that lasted a day, he seems to have recovered, and is doing well. He's on his first shed after the burn, so I'm hoping the marks will fade with time.
Secondly, he's developing into a picky eater.
First, he would eat anything I put in his feeding cup or hand-fed him.
A month or two ago, he decided he didn't like crickets which weren't dusted. He would gobble down a dozen dusted crickets, but he wouldn't TOUCH non-dusted ones. He would still eat hand-fed non-dusted crickets, but they didn't interest him nearly as much. Every morning, he would be down next to his feeding cup, waiting to be fed.
Now, he doesn't like his feeding cup at all anymore. He doesn't sit by it anymore. He won't go for dusted crickets or non-dusted unless he's being hand-fed.
He's suddenly decided that he loves super-worms. He's always VERY interested in them when presented with them, but again, he won't touch them if they're in his cup.
This morning, figuring maybe he just hates cup-feeding now... I put a few crickets in his cage allowing them to free-roam. Sure enough, he hunted down the 2 or 3 of them who started climbing up the screen towards him.
I'm thinking I need to replace his feeding cup with something else, I don't know why he's suddenly decided he doesn't like it. He's also a little under-weight I believe, so I'm trying to fatten him up, and his picky eating isn't helping lately. I wish I had a scale that could weigh him, but I don't. I'm just going by the fact that the base of his tail isn't as fat as I'd like it, and the ridge on his back looks thin. He's very hydrated though, and very active. I just need to bulk him up.