Problems with Panther.

[Meg4433]

My Panther is 6 months old. I am having trouble with temperatures and humidity. Also he has for the last week or so he keeps his mouth open a lot. Also I hardly ever see him drink. If I get heat up humity drops a lot. Getting heat up to basking is hard to do too. My question why is his mouth open? Any ideas how to get temp up along with humility. I have feed him crickets and an occasional mealworms.

 

[Meg4433]

Temps ranging from 70-80
Humity from 40-50
Using dripped and several misting
Cage 16x16x30
Age6 months
Mouth held open off and on for about a week and a half
Don't see him drink hardly
60 watt basking
5.0 uvb

 

[oneillchameleons]

What is the temperature directly at his basking spot? Likely he is just gaping from overheating, but if you are hearing any wheezing or popping when he breathes it can be a sign of respitory illness.

 

[junglefries]

1) ditch the mealworms for superworms
2) add in hornworms, silkworms, roaches, mantids, BBF, moths, butterflies to diet
3) get a thermometer within 1-2" of the basking spot of the bulb (83-85°f desired)
4) ambient temp of 78°f
5) is that UVB older than six months? If so, replace.
6) need to figure out if gaping is too hot or RI
Good luck

 

[kinyonga]

Please post a recent photo.
What specific supplements do you use and how often for each? What do you feed/gutload with?

 

[Meg4433]

I am doing something wrong when I try to post a photo. Am feeding my crickets Flukers high calcium diet then I put carrots and something like a kale leaf, book choy leaf. I am a bit confused on vitamins. I give calcium w/o D. Almost each day then a mulivitamin like once a week. Calcium with D3 once every two weeks. The guy I bought from gave the multivitamin every other day. Routing with the calcium without D. I have read once every two weeks with the Multivitimin. A bit confusing. I have 3 plants in a 16x16x30 cage. I am wondering if me themonitor works along with gauge for humity. How often do you feed super worms. I bought large and Lincoln is 6 months old.

 

[Meg4433]

Are large super worms too big for a 6 month panther

 

[guanagator]

I would get the mediums, feed them plenty of fresh veggies and they grow quick, also start gutloading your crickets with fresh veggies and fruit. Photobucket is a good way to post photos to this or any forum.

 

[Wowbango]

Are large super worms too big for a 6 month panther

At 6 months old, a male panther is plenty big enough to handle large superworms. If your panther is a female, I would try the mediums instead.

 

[LindsayG]

Hi, my panther is only 5 months old and he's been eating large super worms and large hornworms for about a month and a half now. He really likes the super worms but loves the hornworms. I attached a picture of him eating a superworm. I thought it was funny.

 

[Meg4433]

Are you saying to gut load the super worms. Or just the cricket. Is it also good to use the Flukers diet for crickets along with fruits and vegetables?

 

[Meg4433]

Are super worms a treat or can I feed them 1 or 2 each day?

 

[Wowbango]

You can gut load the super worms with carrots, certain fruits and grains. Super worms can be high in fat so I would try to limit them, I wouldn't want to do more than 1 a day if that.

 

[guanagator]

I don't use the flukers at all, you want the feeders to have access to a variety of fruits, greens, and veggies to ensure they are getting as much nutrient uptake as possible before you feed them off to the chameleon. If you search gutload you'll come up with plenty of threads on the topic with list of potential ingredients. I tend to use leftovers from my own cooking so its mostly carrots, orange slices, sweet potatoes, kale, romaine, strawberries, apple, occasional broccoli but I read somewhere that broccoli and spinach can block Calcium uptake pathways so don't use them much.

On the superworms yours like others said above can probably take the large no problem, I just would get mediums bc they will often reach large size by the time you finish feeding them off and you will know they've been fed good ingredients. I personally buy some feeders in bulk online and have a couple roach colonies going to avoid buying from local petco. For the last few orders I have been getting smaller feeders and raising them to size myself after seeing some other senior members advocating this technique, I like the extra control over what goes into my chams diet.

 

[Meg4433]

The temp in my cage is 75 and 45 humity. It's never the right temp. I just put in a 75 watt bulb o see if I could get the heat up. Also should he be cold to the touch. When in the warm spot in the cage