My male regularly goes on walkabouts, and definitely appreciates having space. The only time I ever catch my female moving is when there's food to be had, and then she makes a beeline for it... and stays wherever she last ate!
My girl panther comes running as soon as she sees pretty much any bug. This past weekend she was in her outdoor wire cage and actually shot her tongue through the cage to snag a roach before I could get it to her :D
Dubias are still an iffy proposition with my boy panther, though.
I'm in the process of buying a house, and one of my big reasons for doing that is planting a garden so me and my bugs can eat healthier and cheaper! Fresh strawberries, anyone? :p
Are there any good LED bulbs that also provide UVB? I have been using mercury vapor bulbs for UVB, but I'm sick of them randomly burning out all the freakin time.
I used to keep dart frogs and learned from experience after doing many tanks - foam something removable, not the cage itself. Egg crate / light diffuser is ideal because it's light weight, easy to work with, and the it holds the foam really well.
Leif's got some healthy weight on him :) My Toby will actively hunt crickets throughout his cage. ANYthing else usually takes persuasion and patience to catch his attention.
I'm firmly against pet store "rescues", it only teaches pet stores that they can keep animals in deplorable conditions and they'll still sell. If they lose money and don't move the "product" (because that's what they are in a store) they'll either stop selling it or change the husbandry until...
Shed's aren't a bad thing, by any means. I've seen mine go through an "explosive" shed like that, as someone else described it. It's pretty cool looking.
I typically give my chams a nice, long, warm shower or two around shed time. However with yours being so new to you I'd agree with the...
My tool of choice is a paint can stirring stick / shim, or maybe two of them if the cham is feeling super pissy. It's good that you don't force handling on your girl, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!