Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[ukscott1972]

I've had my male panther chameleon for about 6 to 7 months and he has been fine with no problems noticed, my setup is as follows:

flexarium
compact uvb bulb
60 watt lamp

temps around mid 80's
12 to 14 hours of UVB every day
spray every day and have a water dripper

gutload crickets everyday and then every 10 days or so i will give him some waxworms dusted in either calypso calcium or repton powder.

Wednesday he had some waxworms dusted with calypso
Thursday ate as normal although seemed to miss his food on a few occasions
Friday: refused to eat but seemed normal otherwise
Saturday: refused to eat but seemed normal otherwise.
Sunday: for a few hours had his eyes closed and seemed very lethargic, gave him some water from a hand dripper which he eventually started to drink but didn't move much. He yawned and his tongue fell out a long way before he finally retracted it, at the same time a lot of saliva came out. He opened his eyes at this time and has started to walk around which is when i took these photo's.

At this point i am either thinking that he had too much calcium, not enough water or some sort of mouth problem. Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Scott

[ukscott1972]

He has spent the last hour drinking lots of water which they don't normally do, usually will only drink once or twice per day.

[mcfluffin]

He looks well in the pics, but have you got any pics of him since he's declined. I might be inclined to put the flexarium in the shower for a while to rehydrate him if he's got sunken eyes and loose skin for instance...a nice rainy day with some warmish water...would anyone else try this?

As for calcium...I don't know...Your setup sounds good, and he looks pretty healthy. Perhaps it's the compact UV...I heard they are a bad idea and can actually be harmful...see this thread http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm
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[mcfluffin]

[kinyonga]

You said..."every 10 days or so i will give him some waxworms dusted in either calypso calcium or repton powder"...most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous so I dust with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings.

You said..."his tongue fell out a long way before he finally retracted it" and "seemed to miss his food on a few occasions"...this might be due to a calcium imbalance (or maybe dehydration). A vet could tell you if your chameleon has a calcium problem.

The compact lights have been causing photo kerato conjuctivitus and other problems.

[Dennis]

Take the tongue thing serious! This appears a lot with semi-adult panthers when they got a lack of vitamin B. I dont really know Repton powder,please check the ingredients. I had the same probs when using a mineral/vit-complex without vitB. Cant explain this in detaill but in short,the muscles in the tongue need a vit B complex to work right. A overdoze of vit B doesnt do the job now,it has to be given constantly! Best would be to visit a experienced vet. Please do this quick,in most of the times it gets worse and the worst case scenario is a swallowed tongue that needs to be amputated! Untill you visit a vet,try to offer him food from a very close distance,dont let him shoot long distances..

[ukscott1972]

Thanks for all the comments. He seems to be fine and back to normal now, it was just for those few days. From what i can tell i would have to say dehydration may have been the problem. He very rarely drinks so i now drip some water right in front of him to encourage him to take some.
I will keep a constant watch on him to make sure he has fully recovered.