Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys i have a panther that is a little over a year old......close 2 feet long with tail very healthy looking......usually a very nice dark blue with light blue and a little red......he's in a screen cage with 2 uvb lights (*coils and one 100 watt heat bulb) for over 8 months now nothing has changed.....i feed him crickets 3-4 times a week.....he eats a fuzzy every week or 2......he has a big dripper all day going and i spray the cages atleast once sometimes twice a day.......he has 3 real plants (bought at a reptile store and chameleon friendly and some vines and branches....well this morning i went down to see him just hanging by his tail with his head in the soil and a bright orange color and barely moving.......usually he would open his mouth and hiss at me if i have to get him out but nothing today i actually thought he was dead but he moved his legs a little.....any body know what i can do?? any help or have any ideas why this may be happening?? thanks!
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17 BP
2 GTP
3 Chameleons
6 Beardies
1 Crested
2 Huskies
1 blue and gold macaw
1 african grey
1 patternless albino Burmese
2 Reticulated pythons (*purple and lav. albino tiger)
1 savannah monitor ("Spike"
6 treefrogs
2 Brazilian Rainbow boas *(GF named them prince and princess)
1 live in gf lol
= Busy House

Get him to the vets ASAP.

There has been some problems with some compact and some tube lights lately (I'm only mentioning it because you mention coil lights)....see this site for details...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

It's really hard to say, other than that he's in serious trouble. You need an experienced herp vet NOW, but much as I hate to say it, may be too late. When chams lose "control" of their color change or show really odd colors it often means they are close to death and/or suffering from unusually or extreme stress.

You didn't mention the humidity level in the cage, the temps (basking spot and cool spot), temps at night (no lights on at night, right?), what you gutload and dust with and how often. Chams are so good at hiding problems until they are overwhelmed that it is very difficult to know what the trouble started out being.

Chronic low level dehydration can cause kidney damage which is not reversible. Chronic nutritional deficiencies or overdoses can have long term effects that you may not have time to correct. Hope you can get him to a vet. Keep us posted! We hope he'll pull through!

hey guys......shortly after i posted i had called our herp expert here and they thought maybe dehydration but weren't sure either..... but about an hour after he had died so..... thanks for trying to help.....but i think it was like you said something was obviously really wrong and it was just too late..... maybe it was too much gutloading at twice a week but i didn't think that was a problem.....or maybe the lights.... i really hope now tho b/c i have my veiled and jacksons under the same lights.....and maybe stress b/c i have a reptile room with lots of animals but i made sure he can't see any other ones at all.....his cage was sucken into a wood cubboard so he couldn't see any of the other chams..... but they were in the same room so i don't know.....so i'm not too sure but thanks again for those that replied.
brent
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17 BP
2 GTP
3 Chameleons
6 Beardies
1 Crested
2 Huskies
1 blue and gold macaw
1 african grey
1 patternless albino Burmese
2 Reticulated pythons (*purple and lav. albino tiger)
1 savannah monitor ("Spike"
6 treefrogs
2 Brazilian Rainbow boas *(GF named them prince and princess)
1 live in gf lol
= Busy House

This is the time to review your husbandry...what BRAND of lighting? What are your humidity levels? Chams from about 9 months to 1 year old don't need calcium supplements more than once a week (unless they are breeding females), and vitamin dusting more than once a month to 6 weeks. You can overdose them, especially if your lighting is not perfect. Your feeder gutloads are important too, and most commercial gutloads are not worth much at all. There is a good gutload recipe on adcham.com to give you an idea what you should be doing. At the minimum, give your feeders fortified multigrain cereals, fresh fruit and dark green veggies. I also give them bee pollen which seems to help. So sorry you lost him! Without a necropsy you really won't know what happened.