My panther chameleon's background and symptoms:

• Had him since 2020 (he was 1.5 years old when I got him, now ~6 years old)
• Chronic respiratory issues since I first got him
• Has been seen by three different reptile vets
• Has undergone several courses of treatment including injectable antibiotics and human ophthalmology antibiotic drops for his nostrils
• X-ray showed enlarged esophagus compared to normal

Current status:

• Still eats and drinks normally
• Explores his enclosure regularly
• Lives in a dedicated room with his enclosure and tropical plants
• Has free range time in this room
• Gets natural sunlight during summer months in addition to his UV bulbs
• Has slowed down in the past year (expected with age)
• Occasionally shows closed eyes (which can indicate distress)

What the vets say:

• All three vets have reviewed and approved his husbandry setup
• They suggest it might be a genetic condition
• They're not concerned since he's eating, drinking, and staying active

My concerns:

1. Could he be in pain or discomfort despite normal activity?
2. Am I overthinking things since he's still active and eating?
3. Are the closed eyes something to worry about?
4. Is there something we might have missed?

I want to ensure he has the best quality of life in his senior years. Has anyone dealt with similar issues or have suggestions for things we haven't considered yet? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My baby panther chameleon hatched a week ago on October 25. But since then it hasn't been responsive at all to food, except for one time when I saw it shoot out its tongue (I'm assuming it ate something that time). A fruit fly will walk right by him and he just turns away like it's nothing.

Is there any advice to help diagnose why he ignores food? Is there something terribly wrong with my baby husbandry? He's getting thinner and I'm very worried that he's hungry and malnourished 😥

Enclosure

• 22W * 14D * 11H inch clear plastic bin w/screen mesh lid
• it was previously in a 24 * 24 * 48 inch screen enclosure but I was told this was way too big for a baby
• lots of plants
• plenty of small branches to climb around

Lights

• Dual Deep Dome
  • 40 W incandescent bulb
  • LED full-spectrum grow light
• Repti-Zoo UV-B T5 5.0
  • Raised to 6.5" above the branch directly underneath
• 80-85°F basking branch
• 70-75°F ambient
• 65-70°F at night

Hydration

• Misting in the morning and the evening
• Humidifier at night
• Dripper sometimes in the afternoon
• 50-60% daytime humidity
• 75-85% night humidity

Food (which he ignores)

• flightless fruit flies
• tiny crickets
• basically free-roaming, except when gathering in a banana dish
• the food population has not noticeably decreased, so I don't think he's eating away from my view

Noteworthy(?) behavior

• Not eating, ignores food
• Right eye is often closed
  • Sometimes rubs right eye on a branch
  • When the right eye is open, it has no reaction to my movement. As opposed to its left eye which looks at me when I'm around.
• Likes climbing to the top screen and stays there all day

Any advice to help the little guy would be greatly appreciated 🙏

This is Mr. Bojangles. We normally put crickets in a glass next to his water, and he eats those with no troubles. Hornworms, silkworms, and the occasional super worms are tong fed. I loathe the discoid roaches and cannot tong feed without dropping them and subsequently freaking myself out that they’re roaming in his cage. But if I just place them in the glass where I normally drop the crickets, he doesn’t eat them because the discoid roaches don’t move.

So… how do others feed roaches without just letting them go in the enclosure or tong feeding them?

Hi i was wondering how often and how to feed a panther cham as i know they eat locusts but I’m scared of locusts so can i let them free in the cage and then leave her to eat or would i have to hand feed and how often should i feed a female panther cham

I gave him his first dose of his medication, how often should I feed him while he takes this antibiotic twice a day. As usual, or not as often? Thank you!

My buddy hasn’t been eating at all recently, he spit out 2 horn worms that weren’t even that big and went all crazy it seemed, he spit those out right after ingesting them. I haven’t fed him horn worms or dubias since but I’ve tried extremely small superworms (his favorite snack) and he went for it fast and ate it without hesitation. Yesterday, he also drank plenty of water via my water dripper since he finds it difficult to drink from his own somehow so I have to manually give him water from time to time. He’s been a great healthy dude since I got him until these past 2 days. What’s good to bring in his little enclosure on our trip to the vet? Heating, Humidity, A hide? Everything I need to make him feel safe as possible please. Thank you! (this picture was taken the night before he acted strange, he is still a very bright and pretty green when he sleeps)

How long can you feel the eggs in your chameleon before they start to lay? My girl is probably around 8months old now. I’ve been able to feel eggs (feels like she’s full of jellybeans) for probably a month now. She is a veiled.

She has a lay bin and all of her husbandry is up to par. She is still bright and alert, gets feisty sometimes but not all the time. Still eating. A few weeks ago she started investigating her lay bin and laying around the bottom of her enclosure, but then stopped. She hasn’t done it since.

How long should I wait before worrying that she is eggbound?

No Cham yet, just trying to get things set up and let live plants fill in a bit first but ordered this bulb for heat lamp and not sure if it is correct. Seems kinda blue to me but not sure if that is normal? Also is it opaque enough? Got 75 watt because my house is about to get pretty chilly with winter coming and figured that would be a good place to start

Hello, I’m looking for an enclosure, I want a panther chameleon, I have done literally years of research on these beautiful animals and I am obsessed, though I haven’t gotten one yet! I’m just a little confused on the enclosures, I’m willing to spend more than what the reptibreeze screen cage I worth which isn’t that much in my opinion. I just want one where my buddy will be able to have a good amount of room, and I’ve seen enclosure here in Reddit that look bigger than the reptibreeze screen one. So if anyone can give me some names of even larger cages that are bigger than the reptibreeze XL screen enclosure.

I have a pretty new (about a month) carpet chameleon. She is captive bred and ≈9 months old. She is in a less than ideal cage (10gal class with screen top) while her better, PVC cage is shipped to me. Her humidity sits around 60% during the day and above 80 at night. She has a basking spot that’s 91° F and plenty of plants, sticks etc within her enclosure. She has a VORACIOUS appetite and great sleep schedule. My concern is that she went from being very active (walking around a lot) and usually green/blue) to commonly being dark green and almost black. I know this is usually a sign of stress or sickness. Her stool shows that she’s well hydrated and her crickets are supplemented. What could be causing her sickness?

This is my first chameleon, but I’m an experienced frog/amphibian keeper.

Just tryna guess how old he is, he’s about 5-6 inches idk how many months tho

Hi all, I took in a female veiled chameleon that needed rehoming about a month ago. The previous owner took good care of her and said she was a few years old. The previous owner observed her periodically lay eggs and always went as expected.

In the last week/10 days I have observed all the signs that my Cham (Beanz) was ready to lay eggs. I have read every forum to try and be prepared. She has sand/coco substrate with a small amount of soil at the bottom of her terrarium which I keep moist so that it holds shape (I keep isopods so her terrarium is bioactive?) - the same compound she layed in with her previous owner. She started digging a couple days ago, she dug a few test holes, I can see mounds in the terrarium but she is focusing on digging in the glass corner at the bottom of the terrarium. There were potted plants on one side of the corner she is digging in which I don’t know if that confused her?

I have covered that corner so she can feel private, she has been working on digging out the corner for 3 days. Do I just let her proceed? Is there a way to convince her to lay somewhere else?

I am really nervous to interfere with the substrate in the middle of this process but after she is done I am going to look into incorporating more soil into the substrate.

Looking to buy my first veiled chameleon and I would like to avoid the Petco and Petsmart stores but there are no good local pet stores or breeders in my area. There is a reptile show coming up, do I go there and try to find a chameleon or do I just order one from Flchams.com?

What should I look for at the reptile show? What questions do I ask? I know I want a male veiled. His cage is already setup and ready to go. TIA.