Why is my panther's tail black?

[Kuzco]

I just bought a 4 month old male ambilobe panther three days ago and his tail has been a dark shade of brown to black the whole three days I have had him. I can't see anything wrong physically other than the discoloration of the tail and he has been eating and drinking very well as well as pooping regularly with normal poo. The discoloration is from the tip to about an inch and a half below his hind legs. He seems perfectly normal other than the tail but it is still functioning normally, curling and holding his weight. Can anyone give me an idea of what might be wrong?

 

[carol5208]

That definitely is not normal coloration. There is a possibility he could have injured it at some point. I closed my chameleon's tail in the cage door once(stupid me) and it turned black about two inches up. He was able to curl it also and day by day the color turned back to normal.

 

[Balizar]

Some Chameleons take a while to fully color. I have an Ambi that did the same thing. My guess is your guy is just slow to color like mine was and mine still has a lil more color hiding but it will come out over time as I am seeing with mine. As long as you have good lights and a healthy supplemented diet he should come around in a month or 2.

 

[carol5208]

Some Chameleons take a while to fully color. I have an Ambi that did the same thing. My guess is your guy is just slow to color like mine was and mine still has a lil more color hiding but it will come out over time as I am seeing with mine. As long as you have good lights and a healthy supplemented diet he should come around in a month or 2.

yours had a black tail like that???

 

[Balizar]

Yes and it is still a lil grey but is starting to come out with green and reds???!!! At first his whole body was off color (like it had a shadow over it) and slowly over time his body filled but the back end is slower but defenitley start to show thru now. Hey man just my experience???!!! I have 8 other chams and seen hundreds of babies and some loathe to color. All my other chams were fine. This one was delivered to me this way.

 

[Balizar]

Its not just the chams tail. It is also slightly up his back and hind legs. One is either taking over the grey or the color. My guess is the color. He just got him 4 days ago and it's only 4 months old... So I am willing to be he is just starting to come out. I can take a short drive and send you pics of a few others ambi's that are the same and can take a pick of mine in the morning. I am just sating this because I recently experienced this.

1. On another note I would ask what kind of lights he was kept under and what was his diet. But not sure if he will know what the previous owner did. This can be caused by improper lighting.

On the flip side

2. Another possibility is that the chameleon has a fungal or bacterial infection of the skin. The only way yo know this is by taking a trip to the vet.

By the looks of it to me it is the first of the 2. He can improve this with proper lighting and diet. Always advisable to take to a vet just in case!

 

[Balizar]

I did not look at the first pic since it was sideways. But I do notice color variation between the 2 picks. Pic 2 shows more grey than the other. Would like to see the whole cham in the lighting of the first pic because it depicts just the far back of the tail as grey. Lighting or mood is playing tricks with the back end colors. Looks like the color is taking over from the 2 pics I see.

 

[Tay And A]

Your panther still looks very young. Some of mine have had dis colored tails until around 5-6 months when their colors really come in! Also and most if my females have "black" tails when they are not receptive

 

[carol5208]

Well I guess I have learned something new then. I have seen literally thousands upon thousands of chameleons on here and I never knew that a black tail half up that way was "normal". I would have assumed some trauma. It looks exactly like mine when his tail was closed in the door. The good thing is, it looks to be fading, as the second picture looks worse than the first.