Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my 1.5 yr. male panther has just decided not to eat. both crickets and worms. he thought does drink and shows a normal color? can anythign be wrong?> also he is sleeping during the day. and his eyes are sinking in. anyone got any advice, besides taking him in to the vet? Please let me know Thanks

You have two options...take him to a vet...or potentially, watch him become even sicker.

If his eyes are sunken...he is dehydrated. You may be seeing him drink...but it still may not be enough.

Do you see him sitting with his mouth open? Or do you hear popping or crackling when he breaths?

My cham had two back to back respiratory infections, and was extremely dehydrated.

I had to force feed him, and force him to take water as well...and there is no way for me to know if his dehydration led to his illness, or if his respiratory infection led to his dehydration.

You really need to get him checked out by a vet. Sooner rather than later. Once you've done that, you can also try fluker's repti-aide, for insect eating lizards. It helps to get nutrition and fluids into the lizard in times of stress.

Good luck to you and your cham....

like icequeen said, there are options. The vets is the frist choise, secondly is watch it get sicker. chameleons dont really get better on their own.
sunken eye does mean dehydrarion, you say that you see him drink, but do you keep your himidity 70% and above.. even is your cham drinks loads of water, without himidity, it can still become dehydrated. sleeping throught the day isnt a good sign, it is also a side-effects of the horrible MBD. get it to the vet and get him diagnosed porperly
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Jamie whitehouse

Yes, something is definitely wrong! He's definitely in trouble and probably has been for a while. We need a lot more specific information on your setup, temps at day and night, humidity, type of lighting, gutloading, dusting, supplements, how you water, amount of stress around the cage, before we can even take a guess. A vet who doesn't treat chams or herps very often will most likely give you a broad spectrum antibiotic (usually Baytril) without knowing exactly what the problem is, may inject calcium, and may not be much help unless you can give them very specific info on how you care for him. All these symptoms can result from stress, dehydration, infections, parasites, vitamin or mineral deficiencies, a lot of things.

Why are you asking for advice besides to take him to the vet? I am just curious as to what is behind that request.
Yes, something is definitely wrong with your chameleon, but this forum is a dangerous place to get advice to stake your chameleon's life on. You had better do something quick when a chameleon has sunken eyes and sleeps during the day. That something quick is get him to a vet ASAP.
Are you not able to get to the vet? No reptile vets in your area? Are you just trying to get second opinions while waiting for your appointment?
Bill

all of this has happened in about 2 to 3 days. he usually eats like a pig. he has the normal lighting of a heat lamp. 40 watt and uv bulb as well. he doesnt look like or feel like he has lost any weight. i see him drink the water as it drips in his cage. he goes up and drinks the water. that is why i was asking what could be wrong? if he drinks he shouldnt be dehydrated? also the humidity doesnt seem that bad. i was just asking for some advice to see if anyone has heard of anything like that, that is all. i have a vet. appointment,just asking if something could be done till the time i can take him there

Sunken eyes tell you that the chameleon is in poor health. It could be dehydration or a multitude of other things. If he is drinking and the humidity is up then it probably is not dehydration. The reason experienced people fall on the old "go see a vet " line is because nothing can match seeing the chameleon yourself and holding it and a live discussion about the husbandry. The problem on this forum is that we all have to make assumptions based on the information given and if we guess wrong you could make the problem worse. It is just that sunken eyes could be a sign of a chameleon that is well on it's way out with an upper respitory infection and say you treated it for dehydration by increasing the humidity. Depending on your housing conditions this could make the situation worse.
This is, by no means, a criticism of you asking a simple question, by the way!
Bill
PS. I would call your vet and let the office know that this is an emergency and get in ASAP. Chameleons go down hill fast and your symptoms are very worrying....

Hi,

I know you said you have a vet appointment but didn't say if it is a Herp vet or not. I don't know where you live but go to the link below and see if there is one listed in your area. If one is far away find a good friend who might help get you there. This is an emergency and needs to be treated like one...the cham can't wit a few days to see the vet. Also, you may want to post here as to where you live to see if anyone knows of a vet in your area.

I really hope this helps and please keep us posted of the outcome!!

lele

here are someother links as well:
http://www.anapsid.org/societies/index.html - on this one scroll down to a Herp Societies and Rescue to see if there is one in your state.

http://www.herpvetconnection.com/ - this one has state listings as well

Melissa Kaplan's Vet listing:
herp vet listing