things aren't looking too good for Cosmo

[serenaj25]

Cosmo seems very sick and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - ambilobe panther chameleon, around 1 month old, had him for 3 weeks now, he's a male (75% sure)
• Handling -I handle him every day to take him out to eat, since he is so small I monitor how much he is eating by putting his food in a bin and letting him go at it
• Feeding - I feed him pinhead crickets and/or flightless fruit flies gut loaded with kale, collard greens, and carrots. usually he's a good eater but he won't eat for the past two days
• Supplements - I use d3 calcium 2 times a month and a multivitamin 2 times a month and dust every day with calcium with no d3. him and my veiled have the same schedule
• Watering - I mist his cage several times a day for long period of time until the bottle runs out of water, he has a fogger on all day for humidity and I do see him drinking but recently I haven't seen him drinking
• Fecal Description - never been tested for parasites, its brown, not runny and the urate is white
• History - lately he has been sleeping a ton during the day even when he's on my finger to be fed he falls asleep and seems to be dehydrated as well ( skin doesn't move once its been pulled up). he won't eat either. today I took him outside in the sun for around 20 minutes so he can have some fresh air and natural sun light and he perked up outside. I talked to an exotic vet and described my situation and he said I'm doing everything the right way.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - reptibreeze small size
• Lighting - usb light and daylight blue heat bulb 12 hrs of heat 12 hr complete darkness
• Temperature - I have a digital thermometer, usually anywhere from 75-83 depending on if I misted recently or not
• Humidity - I have a humidity gauge its 60-80% and I use a fogger
• Plants - yes I use vines that I cut from outside (I believe an ivy plant ) that have all been thoroughly washed and I have one live plant that fills most of the cage not sure what kind but I researched before and it said that they were safe for chams
• Placement - cage is right next to my other chams cage, near a window that isn't open ever. not really any traffic. its about 1 or 2 feet off the ground (for now, I'm getting a taller cage that has its own stand once he's large enough to go in there)
• Location - Santa Monica, CA mild temps here

 

[serenaj25]

*uvb not usb light

 

[jamest0o0]

Someone sold you a cham at 1 week old?

 

[kinyonga]

Was the UVB light new when you put it on his cage?

 

[serenaj25]

Someone sold you a cham at 1 week old?

2 weeks old

Was the UVB light new when you put it on his cage?

yes brand new out of the box

 

[kinyonga]

I think you said that when he was out in the sun his eyes were open...it might be that the UVB light is bothering his eyes.
Try using a dripper with a very very tiny hole.so it drips at the rate of one drop per second on the end of his nose to see if you can get it to drink.be careful because you dont want to get water in its lungs.

 

[kelly_girl199]

running the humidifier all day long can cause respiratory problems. If you can try to put his cage outside everyday to get natural sun. the cage needs time to dry out too. Misting and live plants should really be enough to keep up on humidity.

 

[TamanWali]

I'm still new but from everything I have read and seen on here 80% humidity is too high for panthers as well as running a fogger can be too much and cause RI. Not only that but how big is the spray bottle you use for a "long" period of time until its empty? Possibly too much misting.

Also would look into the ivy plant/branches you are using a little closer. Sounds like you researched them but still could be a cause for concern.

 

[serenaj25]

I'm still new but from everything I have read and seen on here 80% humidity is too high for panthers as well as running a fogger can be too much and cause RI. Not only that but how big is the spray bottle you use for a "long" period of time until its empty? Possibly too much misting.

Also would look into the ivy plant/branches you are using a little closer. Sounds like you researched them but still could be a cause for concern.

Unfortunately he passed away last week

 

[TamanWali]

Very sorry to hear

 

[jamest0o0]

I'm confused. Is there a reason you bought a chameleon at 2 weeks old? My understanding is that they should not be sold even close to that young.

 

[serenaj25]

I'm confused. Is there a reason you bought a chameleon at 2 weeks old? My understanding is that they should not be sold even close to that young.

yes i had no idea that they shouldn't be sold at that age unfortunately i had to learn that the hard way

 

[jamest0o0]

I'm more concerned as to who was irresponsible enough to sell you a cham that young

 

[kelly_girl199]

yes i had no idea that they shouldn't be sold at that age unfortunately i had to learn that the hard way

I went through this with my first. I was sold a runt. Kept it alive for 5 months but it never grew. Got it at 3 weeks.

 

[serenaj25]

I went through this with my first. I was sold a runt. Kept it alive for 5 months but it never grew. Got it at 3 weeks.

i'm so sorry to hear

 

[kelly_girl199]

i'm so sorry to hear

It's ok. I bought a 1 year old male afterwards. I've had him for 7 months now. He is doing really well. Super great personality. He hates his indoor cage now though. Super spoiled. He stays outside a lot now.

 

[Carlton]

yes i had no idea that they shouldn't be sold at that age unfortunately i had to learn that the hard way

If you know the seller, make sure you take some action to prevent them from doing this again. You can leave a review on the Fauna Classifieds Board of Inquiry. If you got him through a pet shop TELL them what happened. Don't let this pass.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah it's really not okay, idt petco even stoops that low