Possibly overweight female panther *cute pics*

[RedMountainHome]

Hey everybody,

I purchased a female amiblobe panther chameleon this morning at a local reptile show. The seller said she's roughly 6 months old and hasn't been bred yet. She's super cute, and seems healthy, though its been mentioned in another thread (https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...roaches-and-lives-in-a-large-exoterra.158276/) that she's likely overweight. My male panther has always been a super picky eater and too thin for my liking, so I didn't give a thought to her possibly being overweight.

I've got a few questions that I'd like some help with. I'm sure these have been asked a million times before, but hey, at least I posted some pics to look at so the thread's not a total waste of your time, right?

1. Does she look overweight to the point where I should worry about her health? I just snapped a few pics to capture her snacking this afternoon so I'll take a few more tomorrow.
2. What does a healthy diet look like for a 6 month old female panther? Dubia roaches will definitely be a staple, but I also breed super worms and regularly buy crickets to feed my stubborn male. FYI I do plan to attempt to breed her with my male soon, if they're both game.
3. She kept her mouth open a lot today, but not in an aggressive way. It was almost like she was panting without the heavy breathing like a dog would. She was clearly stressed out when I bought her (though not more than you'd expect from a chameleon at a show), so is it safe to assume that mouth gape was just a stress reaction?

Thanks for your time!

 

[rotadennis]

She has rolls... lol ya looks a bit overweight.

 

[Andee]

I won't answer the first two at the moment was going to answer number 2 of course, in a very extensive way but I will wait until tomorrow.

Number three is more worrisome, is she still gaping? What are her temps? Basking and ambient?

 

[kinyonga]

Has she got an egglaying bin in her cage?
There are a few reasons she may be keeping her mouth open.

 

[RedMountainHome]

Thanks for the replies!

She does not have a bin as she doesn't have eggs yet.

I'm currently keeping her in an outdoor cage during the day and take her in at night while I get the temp settings on her new cage just right. I live in North Carolina and the highs are in the upper 80s / low 90s recently, and it's been pretty rainy. The guy I bought her from said he kept her outside 24/7, and he lives about an hour from me.

She doesn't gape so much anymore but her mouth is often slightly cracked, even while sleeping. I'm trying to attach a photo from my phone that shows what I mean, hopefully it works!

Lastly, based on Andee's advice I've only been feeding her 1 appropriately sized dubia a day to help get her weight down a bit.

 

[Andee]

Is she flattened right there? She looks odd in that picture... considering her first pic.... though god she has pretty colors XD. She isn't showing signs of RI right?

 

[RedMountainHome]

She is a cutey, right? I'm curious what she looks like normally but I'm in no rush to find out.

She was kind of scrunching down because the top of the cage moved a bit before I took that pic.

I don't think she's showing any signs of a ri besides the slight mouth crack, but I'll look more closely.

 

[Andee]

Ah that makes sense then, she looks like she is showing some nervous body language which would explain the excessive ribby look compared to normal.

 

[RedMountainHome]

Here are some more relaxed shots of her.

She does seem very "ribby", I'm not sure what's up with that. I've not seen any signs of sickness such as mucous, wheezing, or whatever. Just kinda weird that she leaves her mouth cracked a lot (like a mouth breather ). She doesn't move much unless I'm feeding or moving her, but I understand that's fairly normal for females.

 

[Ilike4hornedchams]

Can I see your enclosure there? Looks very cool, low cost, easy to build and effective!

 

[Andee]

Is her mouth actually open?

 

[RedMountainHome]

Andee, if you look at that picture where she's flattened out you can see the mouth thing. It's not really open, just cracked a bit.

4horned, I can't take credit for the design but enclosures don't get much cheaper or easier than these outdoor cages. They're just a length of three foot tall fence looped inside large drip pans. I secure the top pan to the cage with twine and such, and silicone part of the overlapping section of fence to a garden spike to hold it in place and give it some spine. I have a trellised jasmine plant in this one, and a shefflera in the other. I prefer the jasmine since both chams like perching atop the trellis.

Here's a pic of my boy Toby playing in the rain while the new girl is inside the cage. She had eyes only for him but he didn't seem to notice her. Sorry for the poor quality photo, I was just messing with the camera while they played.

 

[MedicMan1]

I am not qualified to comment on her BMI status, but I have to say, those rolls when she bends over are absolutely ADORABLE. If that is unhealthy, then I apologize, but she's freaking cute.

I have always worried about my guy being a bit skinny, but he has a Mini roll and a fat tail now, so I'm not so worried. He was absolutely skeletal when I got him. He definitely isn't now.

 

[Andee]

I am wondering if it's more her lips is screwed up and causes the cracking more than anything. I mean her bones look fine so I don't think her jaw is receding... I think you might want to palate it though and see if it feels soft. One thing you don't want to do is breed a female who is calcium deficient and then you might want to talk to the breeder about returning her sadly if that is what is wrong. But it also could just be an old injury, or like a treated infection. Though you might also want to look inside her mouth well when you touch her jaw just to check to see if her mouth is generally healthy.

 

[RedMountainHome]

Sounds like a trip to the vet is in order.
Even if she is deficient in something I'd keep her as a pet. I like my chubby little mouth breather =)