New Panther Chameleon

Hi - just looking for any pointers or advice please

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? - Ambilobe Panther Chameleon, Not sure if male or female, 1 month or so, 2 days

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? - Handled yesterday for about 15/20 minutes, seemed very happy and active

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? - Locusts and silkworms - locusts twice a day, silk worms once a day. Using vegetables to gut load

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? - We have a Komodo cricket dusting which will be used on all feedings - we also have Nutrobal D3 which we were told to use twice a week (but I have seen a lot of people saying they use it twice a month!?)

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? - Misting in the morning at about 9am for 5minutes and then in the evening about 8pm for 5/10 mins - We also have a waterful to offer running water

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? - I do not know if it has been tested for parsites but fecal was brown with white urate - he has been twice since we got him!

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. - Nothing i am aware of.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? - Vivexotic Viva Chameleon Vivarium - wooden with glass fronting - Width 575mm, Depth 490mm, Height 915mm

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Arcadia D3 basking lamp - provides UVB, UVA visible light and infrared energy - Max 35 degrees C - light is on from 9am - 8pm

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? - from lamp to basking spot is 20cm, temp is 75 Fahrenheit - not sure about over night

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? - humidity is 78% - doesn't go below 60% generally. We mist twice a day and have running water from a waterfall - we have a thermometer which also measures humidity

Plants - Nope only fake plants

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? - The Vivarium is in the corner of our lounge it is about 5"2 at the top of the viv from the floor

Location - Where are you geographically located? - UK

This is the vivarium

Looks awesome - but please ditch the waterfall. For the little you get out of it, it's really not worth all of the daily sanitizing that's necessary for keeping it clean. I'm not sure if you put it in the for the relative humidity, or for your cham to drink out of, but it shouldn't be used for either, and there are much better ways to accomplish both. Putting a nice live plant in it's place would benefit you and your cham greatly.

Another problem I see is the lack of open sides for air ventilation, which is really important. I know that some people use glass cages, but they use glass cages that have screened lids, and are purposely designed for allowing airflow. It's also important for there to be a range in temperature within the cage. The basking spot being the hottest- the bottom being the coolest. You have to give your chameleon temperature options so he/she can regulate their body temperature. With your cage, I would drill a few good sized holes in the top and sides. You can cover the holes with circular air vents that you can find in any home hardware store - a shower drain cap would work just the same.

Speaking of temps, yours seem to be a bit low - unless that's the ambient temp in the cage. If the 75*F is ambient that's fine. The basking temp for a panther of that age should be around 80*F.

Not sure if you know this or not, but if your cham is indeed a female, within a few months you will have to provide an egg laying bin for her to lay eggs in... which she will do regardless of whether or not she's been with a male. You'll want to find out what you have as soon as possible. If you post a thread in the Chameleon Identification forum with a bunch of pictures, especially a close up of the base of his/her tail, more experienced keepers will be able to tell you for sure.


Hopefully that helps! Welcome to the forums, and to cham ownership!

You got one that's only about a month old? Did you buy from a breeder? It's somewhat unusual that they sell one so young. They're usually at least 2-3 months when they sell them.

Tyaeda beat me to it, but to reiterate his post...

Yes, D3 should be given about twice a month. Multi-vitamins about once a week, and calcium with no D3 every day.

Ditch the waterfall. They won't recognize it as a water source and won't drink from it anyways. They'll only drink from droplets coming off of plants, glass, etc.

Cage doesn't allow for any ventilation. Whereas you can use a glass aquarium, it should be reserved for advanced and experienced keepers. Lack of ventilation and constant humidity can cause the possibly lethal respiratory infection.

Basking spot temp should be more like 80F, 85F as an adult. 75F should be ambient temp. Nighttime temp can drop down to 60-65F.

And yes, if female, you will need an egg-laying bin for her, regardless of whether you have a male in her presence or not. If you post a picture, we may be able to determine its sex for you.


Usually, the biggest problems with chams are:
MBD from lack of supplementation and UVB lighting.
too cold/too hot.
maintaining humidity/dehydration.
respiratory infection.

Thanks for both your comments! I have now ordered a dripper and we are looking into the real plants - do you have advice on which plants to get?

we got him from a pet shop who gets him from a breeder so may be older?

I have posted a picture of Zig on the identification forum so hopefully someone will be able to tell me

hi there
i have the same vivarium as you but the next size up but i did have the same as you at first.they are better for us who live in the uk.
you need to make it more suitable tho.you need to cut a hole on the roof and fix some mesh to it.
these new vivexotic vivariums have new ventilation vents in the front top and bottom also it has 3 vents in the back.which is an improvement from the old ones.heres a link showing there improved ventilation http://www.reptilecentre.com/blog/2...iva-vivarium-ventilation-work-is-it-any-good/


heres what i did with the roof.





plants wise i have 2 ficus plants and a schefflera.
also your best having a bare bottom.when the reptile carpet get wet it could get mouldy.

This is Ziggy Hopefully you can tell me if we have a girl or boy!

a closer pic of his/hers back end would helps us try

I didn't see what your light timing schedule is, however 8PM seems a little late to be misting. Remember, they need to go to sleep in a dry cage, not one that has just been misted, which could lead to URIs.

I only use screen cages because here in Fl it's so humid and hot I need the airflow (I'm not saying not to use the glass cages, only that I don't have experience with them, and I know they are much more necessary in the UK). That being said, I have my lights on at 7AM, off at 6PM (depending on the season I'll run from 7-7 in the summer), and I have my misters go off 3 times. The first is at 10AM, 2nd at 2PM, and third at 4PM, though I'm thinking of tweaking that. I would consider moving your misting times a bit so that your cham can drink and dry out before bed.

Good luck!

absolutbill said:

I didn't see what your light timing schedule is, however 8PM seems a little late to be misting. Remember, they need to go to sleep in a dry cage, not one that has just been misted, which could lead to URIs.

Click to expand...

Definitely true about misting/drying before sleep and the potential for RI.

Another potentially helpful tip, is that unless you have your chameleon where he can see outside/natural light can get to him, time doesn't really matter, as long as it's at approx 12 hour intervals. They will adjust to your lighting schedule. For example, if you work the night shift and aren't able to see your cham while he's awake during daylight hours, you can slowly and gradually (30-60 mins a day) adjust the time to your desired schedule. However, if he can see outside/natural light, be consistent with that. They tend to follow the natural sunlight's schedule over the artificial one's anyways.

Is this picture any better?