Color change a week ago. Normal or unhappy?

[jenfur427]

I have a female panther, I've had her for about 3 months, I think she's about 6 months old? She's always been a pale peach color, but starting about a week ago, she's turned red and brown, even when sleeping. IDK if she's unhappy or what? I would think mad about something except she's these colors all the time, even when sleeping.

Cage is 36x36x18 for now, lights are T5 about 3 months old, basking area is 95. She gets calcium without D3 6 days a week and I alternate with D3 and a multivitamin every Sunday. Still active like normal, eats gut loaded dubias and BSFL with the occasional hornworm. I thought maybe she was mad about my male panther, but I rearranged the cages and put her back in her original spot and moved him into the office so she can't see him at all. Any ideas? Thanks ya'll.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon -female ambilobe panther, had about 3 months
• Handling - once every few days, does walk onto my hand when she wants to come out
• Feeding - gut loaded Dubia, BSFL.
• Supplements - see above
• Watering - dripper all day and sprayed twice a day, she will drink from a syringe too
• Fecal Description - normal, once a day or so
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

 

[AnamCara]

I will say my girl Mona went through a variety of colors in her life. She ranged from bright pink, to peach, to brown, to green and even some blue colors as she got older. Even her Pajama colors changed as she aged. Has she shed recently? Her colors will mute as she goes into a shed. Mona seemed to change colors after every shed.

 

[skywes13]

You have an incredibly beautiful little girl! She is just maturing into her true coloration, nothing to be concerned about. If she were to be turning something like a dark brown color then that would be concerning.

However, I do have one extra thing to add, her basking temperature seems quite high. Do you ever catch her with an extra pale color & her mouth open? That is a sign of overheating. I believe I read on the Chameleon Academy website that high basking temps for female chams is especially dangerous because it increases the chance of large clutches of eggs & therefore increasing the risk of egg binding. Also, it has been said that lower basking temps can extend the lifespan of your chameleon. On the Chameleon Academy website they suggest a basking temperature of 85-90 degrees for panthers. Besides that little tweak, it seems like you are taking amazing care of your cham!

 

[AnamCara]

You have an incredibly beautiful little girl! She is just maturing into her true coloration, nothing to be concerned about. If she were to be turning something like a dark brown color then that would be concerning.

However, I do have one extra thing to add, her basking temperature seems quite high. Do you ever catch her with an extra pale color & her mouth open? That is a sign of overheating. I believe I read on the Chameleon Academy website that high basking temps for female chams is especially dangerous because it increases the chance of large clutches of eggs & therefore increasing the risk of egg binding. Also, it has been said that lower basking temps can extend the lifespan of your chameleon. On the Chameleon Academy website they suggest a basking temperature of 85-90 degrees for panthers. Besides that little tweak, it seems like you are taking amazing care of your cham!

Good catch. Yeah that basking temp is way to high. You want to keep it 79-82 ish.

 

[jenfur427]

Thank y'all! I'll raise her lamp up a bit, originally had it at 90 but she was always crawling upside down under the lamp so I didn't know if she wanted it hotter. Never with her mouth open or extra pale. Whew! I was worried I was doing something wrong!

 

[jenfur427]

@AnamCara @skywes13 so am I aiming for 79-82 or 85-90? My house is always around 77 during the day and 75 at night.

 

[AnamCara]

Get something like this:

https://www.chewy.com/zoo-med-repti...QR8QWzfmxmrnz-KEg2u38MaLD44PTL6xoCis0QAvD_BwE

That way you can dial in / control the basking spot temperature perfectly.

 

[AnamCara]

This is the one I use

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HXM5UA...abc_0M8J346EEJ6NJSQMSXHN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[skywes13]

@AnamCara @skywes13 so am I aiming for 79-82 or 85-90? My house is always around 77 during the day and 75 at night.

I'd say 79-82 sounds right. I was just quoting the panther caresheet from the cham academy.

 

[AnamCara]

@AnamCara @skywes13 so am I aiming for 79-82 or 85-90? My house is always around 77 during the day and 75 at night.

79-82. And with a girl you want to feed slightly less than you'd feed a male. Those two factors help control egg production to lessen the amount of eggs, and therefore stress, on your girl. I have a female now and I have her basking temp at 79 and she gets 5 adult crickets or equivalent volume of other feeders 3 times a week and she has never laid eggs. It's not super normal for them to never lay, but the less often and smaller clutch size the better.