sick chameleon?

[bluegeorge]

Hello,

I am new to this forum as I have just been given a young male Panther Chameleon, I have had him for a month and he was purchased through a reputable breeder and I haven't had any problems with him.

He eats a variety of food (crickets, silk worms, wax worms, phoenix worms etc) and is well hydrated. I mist his cage 3 times a day and he has a dripper system.

He went through his first skin shedding yesterday and he still has his old skin on his tail but the rest is off....he was off his food this morning but put it down to him eating his old skin yesterday.

He has spent most of the day on 1 of his lower branches (which he never does) and now he is laying on his cage floor and looks very tired and sorry for himself.

Should I be worried or is this normal after they shed their skin? I want to get him to a vet asap if there is a problem.

Any suggestions are welcome...thanks!

 

[m1ndless]

Is he hydrated? Mist him with warm water to help with the shed, if they are at the bottom of that cage it's a bad idea.

 

[AFH]

Bluegeorge, hanging out on the bottom is not good. It could be one of a number of problems, but we can't say without more info.

Check out https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ and give us more information to help us help you.

 

[bluegeorge]

Here is some info

Cage Info:
* Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using? What is the size? - Screen cage - 20"x 18"x 12"


* Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? 24" reptisun ligthing
How long do you keep the lights on during the day? 12 hours on/12 off. They go on at 8.30 am and off at 8.30 pm


* Temperature - What temperature range have you created? During the day the room is at 70 degrees, the bottom of the cage is around 68 - 73 degrees (it drops when misting by a few degrees) and the top of his cage is around 80 degrees. Basking spot temp? 80 - 90 degrees
What is the temperature at night? - The heat in the room is left on at 70 degrees as it gets cold at night as the natural temp is around 54 if I dont leave it on
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? They average around 50 - 60% which goes up to around 70% when he is misted.
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? He has a dripper which is on twice a day for around 2 hours all up and I mist him and his cage 4 -5 times a day with warm water (i work from home)
* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? He has 1 live plant...a little dwarf umbrella plant and the rest are branches with the artificial vine leaves on them.
* Location - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? His cage is in the lounge room in a quiet corner, the closest air vent is not close to him and he does get some traffic past him but not a lot, enough to get used to us but we are respectful towards him and his privacy. We are treating him like a teenager...sometimes he likes us and other times we give him a wide berth.

Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. He is a Panther Chameleon, Blue-Barred Ambilobe approx 7 months old
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? He is fed medium size crickets, silk worms, phoenix, wax and meal worms
What amount? What kind of schedule? He gets fed 5 crickets in the am, at lunch he gets a variety of worms (depending on the size) and in the pm he gets 3 more crickets...more if he eats them quickly and is still hungry His appetite has really started to pick up when we 1st got him it took him a good 3 weeks to adjust to us and would only eat when we were not around, he was stressed out for a while there.
* How are you gut-loading your feeders? I get crickets twice a week and feed them apple, carrots and a cricket grain gut loading mix as well they have access to water. The silk worms eat silkworm food
* Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use? Rep-cal calcium with D3 (twice a week) & Reptivite multi vitamin - a small amount once per week
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking? He likes to drink the droplets off the side of his screen cage, he doesnt like the dripper very much or take the droplet off the leaves or branches. so when I mist I make sure that the sides of the cage have a fair amount of water on for him to drink.
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. They are big, brown and with a white patch.
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He was purchased from a reputable dealer...I am not sure if i am allowed to say who but they seem very professional and are well known in the chameleon business.
* Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about - He was laying on the cage floor for 3 hours after shedding his skin the day before, he is off his food (he did eat his skin yesterday) he is now back in his favorite spot but it took him a long time to get up there, he seems weak and tired and he is just hanging there instead of gripping with his tail and feet, though his personality has not changed he is still feisty and grumpy....so I am just leaving him alone and checking on him every hour and giving him extra warm water mistings to keep his hydration up.

I am still worried about him though.....he is my first cham and I am following everything that the manual that came with him and the website says to do.

I will post some photos in the morning I dont want to stress him out at the moment....he doesn't like cameras at all.

 

[dodolah]

hanging around at the bottom is generally not a good sign.
When you say tired, do you mean he is sleeping during the day or just basically lay there doing nothing?

Please do send us a pic. Send us a pic of him in different angles and avoid blurry pictures.
Also, get a pic of his whole enclosure.

In the meantime, i think you should be ready to schedule a vet appointment.
I'll comment more after i see his pics.

 

[joefarah]

That doesn't sound good.

Can we have pics of the setup and also a closeup of the chameleon?

 

[bluegeorge]

Thanks for everyones concern and advice.

He seems to be back to his normal self now although he is not eating very much so I am misting him and his cage frequently with warm water and offering him a variety of crickets and worms.

I posted some photos of him and his cage in the members gallery under bluegeorge. I think he is about 7 - 8 months old so he will be getting a bigger cage in a month or so. He has a new plant on the way as well

 

[AFH]

I think he looks pretty healthy, not dehydrated or anything. He could have just been stressed from the shipping and his new digs. Once you get a bigger plant in there to fill in the spaces, he'll be more comfortable.

Pretty cham, too!