# My Panther Chameleon wont eat.....



## chris1978 (Nov 19, 2008)

My male Panther Chameleon seems to have stopped eating. He is around 8-9 months old, he is housed in a large flexarium with heat provided via a 150watt spot which I position at one side, and a 75watt blue spot that I position above, I also use a heatmat beneath. I have a 10 UV tube running the length of the enclosure positioned on the top.
The temperature is maintained in the mid-80's in the top of the viv dropping to the mid-high 70's at the bottom, temp is regulated by a night and day stat allowing a 10 degree drop at night. Water is fed in via a dripper and I mist his cage most days.
He fed well for the first few months accepting crickets and mealworms happilly and Morio-worms as he grew larger.
As he got bigger his appetite seemed to drop and he only seemed to want food evey two to three days, but he still fed well when he was hungry so I didnt worry.
But the last few weeks he seems to show no interest in food, and if he does eat he will only have maybe one or two crickets/morios at the most, I havent seen him eat now for over a week and he looks to have lost weight.
I have tried tubbing the food and placing it right under his nose and even hand-feeding but he shows little interest.

Any advice??


----------



## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

chris1978 said:


> My male Panther Chameleon seems to have stopped eating. He is around 8-9 months old, he is housed in a large flexarium with heat provided via a 150watt spot which I position at one side, and a 75watt blue spot that I position above, I also use a heatmat beneath. I have a 10 UV tube running the length of the enclosure positioned on the top.
> The temperature is maintained in the mid-80's in the top of the viv dropping to the mid-high 70's at the bottom, temp is regulated by a night and day stat allowing a 10 degree drop at night. Water is fed in via a dripper and I mist his cage most days.
> He fed well for the first few months accepting crickets and mealworms happilly and Morio-worms as he grew larger.
> As he got bigger his appetite seemed to drop and he only seemed to want food evey two to three days, but he still fed well when he was hungry so I didnt worry.
> ...


I keep Yemens, and haven't kept panthers, but usually they prefer more humid environment, that cannot be provided with a flexi..... maybe a bit of humidity would bring his appetite back... i think you can get sides for them, or else try a new viv... maybe... not sure this will solve your problem, but might be worth a shot


----------



## Camuk (Mar 4, 2008)

Our lad is going through the same thing. He is just about coming into breeding mode and I spoke to our local shop and he said this is normal. Try maybe some fruit or a slightly varied meal.


----------



## cham25 (Jan 7, 2008)

photos would really help here mate, you said "you spray him most days", it is very important that they get a good misting twice a day wether running a dripper or not. Your animal may well be mildly dehydrated as this will affect his desire to feed. Whats the humidity in the enclosure?

They do have funny cycles between being in breeding condition where they can lose a bit of colour and drop on the amount of food they consume.....get some pics up of the male and its enclosure and i can get a better idea of what may be the problem.


----------



## chris1978 (Nov 19, 2008)

Camuk said:


> Our lad is going through the same thing. He is just about coming into breeding mode and I spoke to our local shop and he said this is normal. Try maybe some fruit or a slightly varied meal.


Im fairly new to Chameleon keeping but given their design everything points to them being predators, I didnt think fruit or veg formed any part of their diet? I could be wrong of course.

Here are a few pics of his enclosure and a couple of him taken today, I did wonder if humidity was a factor, I can build a frame to cover alot of the flexarium, what would you guys recommend, I was thinking the base, back, sides and top, I would leave a gap on each side for access for the spotlights.
I use a heatmat as well to help boost the ambient temperature in the enclosure but I have heard that mats are not good for Panthers due to the fact they only absorb heat through their top side - any thoughts on this? Also would you advise putting the UV strip light inside the enclosure? I place it on top at present incase he grips it and burns himself.


----------



## Tropical (Mar 18, 2010)

I have no advice for you my friend but i have to say your chameleon is a beautiful colour.I have two nosy mitsio panther chameleons myself. And was going to purchase a flexarium today to seperate them because they are now getting older etc. Anyways would you recommend the flexarium Chris1978?


----------



## jadeladine (Aug 25, 2008)

Tropical said:


> I have no advice for you my friend but i have to say your chameleon is a beautiful colour.I have two nosy mitsio panther chameleons myself. And was going to purchase a flexarium today to seperate them because they are now getting older etc. Anyways would you recommend the flexarium Chris1978?


 
Why do you have 2 panthers living together at all?? This is VERY bad. They will stress each other out and you may end up killing 1 or both. Ide say you need to seperate them ASAP


----------



## jadeladine (Aug 25, 2008)

chris1978 said:


> My male Panther Chameleon seems to have stopped eating. He is around 8-9 months old, he is housed in a large flexarium with heat provided via a 150watt spot which I position at one side, and a 75watt blue spot that I position above, I also use a heatmat beneath. I have a 10 UV tube running the length of the enclosure positioned on the top.
> The temperature is maintained in the mid-80's in the top of the viv dropping to the mid-high 70's at the bottom, temp is regulated by a night and day stat allowing a 10 degree drop at night. Water is fed in via a dripper and I mist his cage most days.
> He fed well for the first few months accepting crickets and mealworms happilly and Morio-worms as he grew larger.
> As he got bigger his appetite seemed to drop and he only seemed to want food evey two to three days, but he still fed well when he was hungry so I didnt worry.
> ...


He looks chubby and healthy to me lol. Gorgeous. Deffo should be spraying his viv at least twice every day though! Have you got a hygrometer that you can manage the humity too?? Humidity is very important with them x


----------



## Tropical (Mar 18, 2010)

jadeladine said:


> Why do you have 2 panthers living together at all?? This is VERY bad. They will stress each other out and you may end up killing 1 or both. Ide say you need to seperate them ASAP


I know ive ordered the flexarium they won't be together much longer


----------



## Nixehface (Sep 30, 2009)

jadeladine said:


> Why do you have 2 panthers living together at all?? This is VERY bad. They will stress each other out and you may end up killing 1 or both. Ide say you need to seperate them ASAP


If they are young chameleons then there is no need for them to be separated straight away..


----------



## Nixehface (Sep 30, 2009)

chris1978 said:


> My male Panther Chameleon seems to have stopped eating. He is around 8-9 months old, he is housed in a large flexarium with heat provided via a 150watt spot which I position at one side, and a 75watt blue spot that I position above, I also use a heatmat beneath. I have a 10 UV tube running the length of the enclosure positioned on the top.
> The temperature is maintained in the mid-80's in the top of the viv dropping to the mid-high 70's at the bottom, temp is regulated by a night and day stat allowing a 10 degree drop at night. Water is fed in via a dripper and I mist his cage most days.
> He fed well for the first few months accepting crickets and mealworms happilly and Morio-worms as he grew larger.
> As he got bigger his appetite seemed to drop and he only seemed to want food evey two to three days, but he still fed well when he was hungry so I didnt worry.
> ...


He may possibly be bored with the food you are giving him... maybe try something he hasn't eaten before to spark up his interest?
Also, panthers don't really eat fruit and veg.. that's generally more the Veiled cham.
He will start eating less as he gets older but has he been pooing normally? Normal colours? Is he still active and always on alert?

On a different note, he is very beautiful!

Also, I think most people use a 5.0 uv tube for panthers because they are from heavily planted areas... not sure if that has anything to do with it though!


----------



## GAD58Y (May 12, 2008)

it looks like your chameleon has some sort of mouth infection,may be this is stopping him from eating.
i would also change the way you are heating his viv,one clear white bulb on top of your viv will be fine for heating,i would also start to feed him every other day now,as he is nearly an adult.


graeme


----------



## chris1978 (Nov 19, 2008)

Did notice his mouth didnt look right, will monitor that.

He looks fine from the side, its when you look at him from birds eye view he looks a little slender.

The two spot-lights are generally not on at the same time, I use a 150watt daylight spot during the day and a 75watt blue spot at night. 

I have been generally only feeding him every 2-3 days now he is larger, have not offered locusts yet so will give that a try.

Wouldnt have thought using a UV 10 would present any problems, dont really think you can provide reptiles with to much UV especially considering his enclosure is deep so he can easilly escape the UV rays if he wants.

I have found the flexarium to be good but they do present several problems:

1) The net material its made of is not heat resistant and if your spot bulb gets to close it will burn holes in it.

2) The heavy ventilation of the enclosure makes it difficult to maintain humidity and ambient temperature, I plan to build a wood frame to cover pretty much all of it except for the front and a couple of small gaps at the sides to allow access for spot lights.

3) The zip is useless, always sticks or breaks.

4) Visability through the net isnt fantastic, so if you want to use it as a display viv not recommended.

What is good about it is:

1) Fairly large enclosure at a very reasonable price.

2) Very light and easy to move around.

3) Material is flexible and makes fixing branches and decor in place easy.

4) Plenty of ventilation which replicates the the natural environment of many Chameleons, as I say the only problem with this is maintaining heat and humidity.


----------



## jadeladine (Aug 25, 2008)

chris1978 said:


> The two spot-lights are generally not on at the same time, I use a 150watt daylight spot during the day and a 75watt blue spot at night.
> 
> Wouldnt have thought using a UV 10 would present any problems, dont really think you can provide reptiles with to much UV especially considering his enclosure is deep so he can easilly escape the UV rays if he wants.QUOTE]
> 
> ...


----------



## chris1978 (Nov 19, 2008)

The blue bulb only provides a very dim light and is barely noticeable. I use a night and day stat to regulate the temperature - would a infared bulb on 24/7 be the answer?


----------



## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

chris1978 said:


> The blue bulb only provides a very dim light and is barely noticeable. I use a night and day stat to regulate the temperature - would a infared bulb on 24/7 be the answer?


have you monitored the night time temps, I use red light only during really cold months for one of my yemens, as his viv is colder than the rest (its a flexi coincidentally), I am not sure what temps panthers want but yemens are happy with above 63F, I aim for 68F, but add red light when its below 63....,(for my yemens) heat mats totally no use as chams are arboreal.

you may find that adding side protection from draughts retains heat enough and no need to ever use night heat again? get a decent thermometer, check humidity levels, and see how it goes, try not to let advice from forum users worry you too much, some can be scare mongering or ald advice, whilst there is also a lot of very good advice also on here, sometimes you need to filter what advice you listen to.... like I said, i am no expert on panthers, more on yemens, so that means you shouldn't really listen to me I guess.....:lol2: but you may find what i say useful....

ps, if ever you want to build your own viv and use a similar mesh to flexi mesh, there are alternatives online (I don't have any links i'm afraid, but I have bought online before) that is very similar quite strong, and instead of black mesh its white mesh so easier to see through, I use it on the front door of one of my vivs due to poorer air circulation through that room, this then means the viv is better ventilated.... and the cham is happy...
i think i just googled viv mesh.... might be worth a try

ps I only use 5% UV, but thats for yemens


----------



## chris1978 (Nov 19, 2008)

With the warmer weather temperatures and the fact I keep other reptiles in the same room the night-time temp in the room is not dropping below 70 so I may just remove the night/blue spotlight and the heatmat, I only use the mat for increased ambient temperature but I understand they are not ideal due to Chameleons absorbing heat through their backs.

Yesterday I tried him on locusts for the first time and as soon as they were in the cage he was stalking them and I witnessed him eat 5-6 of them and this morning I couldnt find any still present in the cage. I have found they may be a good alternative to crickets due to their more noticeable colour and the fact they are better climbers and jumpers and spend more time in arboreal positions where as crickets will often gather at the base of the cage.


----------



## Camuk (Mar 4, 2008)

Thats fab news. Our panther can be a right funny man about eating so we now have a breeding colony of dubai roaches for live food and just got the first lot of silkworms in to try next week.


----------



## chris1978 (Nov 19, 2008)

Im now misting his cage twice daily, that and the warmer weather lately seems to have made all the difference as he is now feeding well - Im offering locusts every other day and he loves them.

Has anyone tried using roaches as Chameleon food? I plan to start breeding them as a cost-saver with my lizard collection as I get through loads of crickets and locusts per week, but I'm concerned that they wont be suitiable as they dont really climb and Chameleons tend to hunt their food in the upper regions of their enclosure.


----------



## mr stroudy (Mar 11, 2008)

Roaches are good if they eat them mine wont


----------



## SDC (Oct 24, 2013)

Ours wouldn't eat dubias. I'm considering getting some banana roaches but they're expensive.

The night light will be bothering him, they have a light sensitive spot on the top of their heads. Ours doesn't even like the room light being on once he's gone to bed.


----------

