Ive noticed we get many questions on here concerning issues that could be resolved or could have been avoided with basic care. Chameleons do require a little more attention than lets say a leopard gecko. Many chameleon purchases are a spur of the moment with no research at all. Buying from a source that sometimes has no idea themselves how to take care of a chameleon. Days, weeks, months later we start having issues then come to these forums for answers. Im not sure if it is some dont have time to research or maybe a lack of attention span to read all the way through a detailed care sheet. I am one also to have a very short attention span and retain very little. So i understand that sometimes a visual is better than a complete write up. My wife and i went through a made a basic care guide visually. In hopes that it will spark interest to read a little further.
Panther & Veiled Chameleon Care Sheet
Cage: You have many options here. You can fabricate your own, free range or buy a pre-fab screen cage. I personally like to graduate cage sizes as a chameleon grows. A chameleon 1-4 months a 16x15x20 screen is perfect. Allows them to hunt efficiently. From 4-8 months i will keep them in a 18x18x36 and then a minimum cage size for an adult should be 24x24x48' SCREEN. Put in as much rope, vines and live plants as you can. Live plants will help with the humidity among other things. Be sure to use non toxic plants. Basic chameleon safe plants schefflera, ficus benjimina, hibiscus and pathos. Replant all pots with plain top soil. If you dont want any bugs microwave or bake the soil. Put the cage as high up in the room as you can. Not near any vents, exterior doors, fans or windows.
Lighting 10-12 hours: You have many option here also. UVB is crucial, your chameleon will not live without it! A 5.0 reptisun, reptiglo, zilla tropical linear tube (length depends on cage size) and a regular house hold bulb for basking. The house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps. If you have live plants in the cage. You will want to put a 6800K plant light over the cage as well.
**Weather permitting take your chameleon outside as much as possible.
***Change UVB bulbs every 6 months.
Temps: Basking temp 90* ambient temps 72* measure by digital gauges. A 10-15 degree nigh time drop in temps is great. I dont recommend going below 50*. If temps get to low at night use a ceramic heat emitter. Absolutely no light at night.
Hydration: Couple of options here as well. Automated systems like a mist king, aquazamp, monsoon are great. You can get manual pump sprayers, battery operated sprayers and typical bottle sprayers. Misting sessions should consist of 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. Another great addition to add to complement your misting schedule is a dripper. It is very important that your cage dries out between watering sessions. Drainage is a great way to deal with excess water from misting.
Humidity: Fluctuating humidity is best. 50-80% is ideal.
Food (Feed appropriate sized insects. Size should be the distance between the eyes): Gutload feeders (24 hours before feeding). Gut load ingredients listed below. Fruits and veggies are a simple solution hydration and extra nutrient for most feeder like crickets, dubai, discoides, turkish red runner roaches. All of these should be considered your chameleons main staple diets. Silk worms and horn worms are great snacks. You can also wild collect feeders but be careful where you collect to make sure it is free of pesticides. Katydids, cicadas, moths, locust and bees to list a few they love.
**I do not recommend super worms or meal worms. Chameleons absolutely love them. Abused (using them as a staple) only problem is if they are fed off without properly gut loading. It is guaranteed your chameleon will refuse any other food. Then it is a matter of time before the animal refuses super worms. They are poor in nutrition kept in the bran food/bedding you typically purchase them in. You can use the same gut load ingredients listed below ot make these insect more balanced. I still strongly recommend if you do choose to feed these off to only feed at the end of a feeding as a snack only. Limit to only 2-3. This recommendation is from my personal school of hard knocks.
Supplements: Plain phosphorus free calcium every feeding and Reptivite twice a month. Panthers in general are sensitive to VitA sources we are able to provide in captivity. Providing a product with preformed VitA will solve this issue. You have to be cautious when using this. Any instance of a preformed vitamin, a animal can overdose leading to some serious health issues.
Gutload: Check out sandrachameleons blogs or ferretsinmyshoes for great ingredients to use.
Good luck!
Panther & Veiled Chameleon Care Sheet
Cage: You have many options here. You can fabricate your own, free range or buy a pre-fab screen cage. I personally like to graduate cage sizes as a chameleon grows. A chameleon 1-4 months a 16x15x20 screen is perfect. Allows them to hunt efficiently. From 4-8 months i will keep them in a 18x18x36 and then a minimum cage size for an adult should be 24x24x48' SCREEN. Put in as much rope, vines and live plants as you can. Live plants will help with the humidity among other things. Be sure to use non toxic plants. Basic chameleon safe plants schefflera, ficus benjimina, hibiscus and pathos. Replant all pots with plain top soil. If you dont want any bugs microwave or bake the soil. Put the cage as high up in the room as you can. Not near any vents, exterior doors, fans or windows.
Lighting 10-12 hours: You have many option here also. UVB is crucial, your chameleon will not live without it! A 5.0 reptisun, reptiglo, zilla tropical linear tube (length depends on cage size) and a regular house hold bulb for basking. The house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps. If you have live plants in the cage. You will want to put a 6800K plant light over the cage as well.
**Weather permitting take your chameleon outside as much as possible.
***Change UVB bulbs every 6 months.
Temps: Basking temp 90* ambient temps 72* measure by digital gauges. A 10-15 degree nigh time drop in temps is great. I dont recommend going below 50*. If temps get to low at night use a ceramic heat emitter. Absolutely no light at night.
Hydration: Couple of options here as well. Automated systems like a mist king, aquazamp, monsoon are great. You can get manual pump sprayers, battery operated sprayers and typical bottle sprayers. Misting sessions should consist of 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. Another great addition to add to complement your misting schedule is a dripper. It is very important that your cage dries out between watering sessions. Drainage is a great way to deal with excess water from misting.
Humidity: Fluctuating humidity is best. 50-80% is ideal.
Food (Feed appropriate sized insects. Size should be the distance between the eyes): Gutload feeders (24 hours before feeding). Gut load ingredients listed below. Fruits and veggies are a simple solution hydration and extra nutrient for most feeder like crickets, dubai, discoides, turkish red runner roaches. All of these should be considered your chameleons main staple diets. Silk worms and horn worms are great snacks. You can also wild collect feeders but be careful where you collect to make sure it is free of pesticides. Katydids, cicadas, moths, locust and bees to list a few they love.
**I do not recommend super worms or meal worms. Chameleons absolutely love them. Abused (using them as a staple) only problem is if they are fed off without properly gut loading. It is guaranteed your chameleon will refuse any other food. Then it is a matter of time before the animal refuses super worms. They are poor in nutrition kept in the bran food/bedding you typically purchase them in. You can use the same gut load ingredients listed below ot make these insect more balanced. I still strongly recommend if you do choose to feed these off to only feed at the end of a feeding as a snack only. Limit to only 2-3. This recommendation is from my personal school of hard knocks.
Supplements: Plain phosphorus free calcium every feeding and Reptivite twice a month. Panthers in general are sensitive to VitA sources we are able to provide in captivity. Providing a product with preformed VitA will solve this issue. You have to be cautious when using this. Any instance of a preformed vitamin, a animal can overdose leading to some serious health issues.
Gutload: Check out sandrachameleons blogs or ferretsinmyshoes for great ingredients to use.
Good luck!
