Constructive criticism wanted...am I doing this right?

[Jennyontheblock]

For a male panther: I have a dragonstrand large breeder cage that I fitted with a screen bottom for drainage. 3 sides are solid. Mistking goes off at 8am 3min, 11am 10min, 1pm 5min, 2pm 3min, 4pm 10min. Lights on timer for 12hrs 8am-8pm. Have a T5 5.0 Reptisun and grow bulb. Temps 95 at basking, 70 at bottom of cage. Humidity gauge set half point and goes down to 40 when dry, 60 -70 when misting system is going. I have many live plants, natural branches also. Live stuff prepped to eliminate pesticides, bugs.

Feeding crickets fed repashy bug burger, carrots and kale. Dusting w repashy calcium plus each feeding.

Are my humidity dips ok? Cage seems dark to me? I have more water in the reservoir than usual, fyi. This is a test run to see how much water is put out.

How do I train panther to eat from a cup?

Thanks for your wisdom!

 

[Virgil1972]

I would lower the basking spot to 90 degree F. That can be done by lowering the basking spot or raising the light. I would also try to get the humidity higher and add more cover for hiding. Some more live plants would help with both humidity and cover. Getting an ultrasonic humidifier would also help get is up. You don't really want the humidity dipping below 50% so you don't really need to raise it that much. Does your calcium powder contain D3? A good supplement schedule is calcium without D3 every feeding, calcium with D3 every two weeks, and a multivitamin every two weeks.

 

[listen2justin]

speaking from personal experience, i ran a similar misting schedule with my Mistking and i had to change it because mold started forming after less than two weeks! I just changed it a couple days ago to 3 sessions to see how this works out. I basically got rid of the middle short sessions. I've read everywhere on here to allow dry time in between sessions and 2 hours wasn't enough for me so i change it to 4-5 hours between sessions. My cage, like yours, is all live plants and natural branches. the plants help keep the humidity up. i posted a pic of my cage here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/intruders-bugs-and-mold.155971/#post-1332701

as for training to feed from a cup, i got mine at 4 months from the Kammers and they told me they only free ranged crickets for him. the problem was my girlfriend only agreed to give me my xmas present on the condition of no bugs running around so as soon as we got him i fed him in a cup then later on a bowl with a stick attached for the bugs to crawl on. you can kinda see it towards the top left of my cage pic. point is Chamnewton didn't have a problem eating out of them the day i got him. he eats all the food everyday. food is food as long as he can see it. haha.

Nice set up tho. i agree with Virgil, provide more cover in leaves. my dude finds the thickest/most dense spots to sleep and rest in. GOOD LUCK!

 

[absolutbill]

The only thing I would add is that your first misting and your lights go on at the same time. Just my 2 cents, but I'd let the lights go on, and start the misting 1/2-1 hour later. Think about if you'd like to be woken out of a nice sleep by getting rained on. With as much as you mist and having 3 solid sides I'm a bit surprised that your humidity dips as low as it does, but as long as it goes up to 70 when the mister is running then you should be fine. Keep an eye on your cham during sheds, and make sure there are no retained sheds - that will indicate you need to up your humidity at the low points. Also, adding a couple more live plants will help with humidity levels. Good luck!

 

[Decadancin]

The only thing I would add is that your first misting and your lights go on at the same time. Just my 2 cents, but I'd let the lights go on, and start the misting 1/2-1 hour later.

This is exactly what I would say! Let your chameleon warm up in the morning and then allow some misting for drinking and such. Most of the time my veiled isn't even near the top when the lights first go on and would get little if any benefit from the early misting.

 

[Jennyontheblock]

Thanks everyone! I am prepping more plants and have adjusted the misting to go at 9am the first time. He actually shed today and it's completely gone. Yesterday his skin looked wrinkly so I was freaking out about my humidity and added the 1pm misting, thinking he was dehydrated. I want to add tillandsia air plants and other epiphytes, can't find a source to say they are safe. I have more pathos in the meanwhile. He's a Kammer baby and didn't seem to know how to get food out of the clear deli container on day one. I will try other methods once he is acclimated. Crickets can't seem to make it past the metal break in the screen thankfully. Will post pics updated pics

 

[listen2justin]

Thanks everyone! I am prepping more plants and have adjusted the misting to go at 9am the first time. He actually shed today and it's completely gone. Yesterday his skin looked wrinkly so I was freaking out about my humidity and added the 1pm misting, thinking he was dehydrated. I want to add tillandsia air plants and other epiphytes, can't find a source to say they are safe. I have more pathos in the meanwhile. He's a Kammer baby and didn't seem to know how to get food out of the clear deli container on day one. I will try other methods once he is acclimated. Crickets can't seem to make it past the metal break in the screen thankfully. Will post pics updated pics

I've read that sometimes if the bowl is clear they have a harder time, i didn't experience this issue tho. My bowl now is a white translucent plastic, so even if he's below he can see the shadows of the bugs moving.

As for the tilandsia, i have a few of those in mine and i've read on here that they are safe. i did a search one day and on one thread, a guy even said ALL tilandsia are safe. they do add aesthetic value and make their homes look awesome!

 

[Andee]

He's too young to have a 90 degree basking range it should be around 85 degrees.

 

[Jennyontheblock]

He's too young to have a 90 degree basking range it should be around 85 degrees.

I was going by my care sheet...says 88 -93. It says 90 directly under the bulb, figure it's not quite 90 where he typically basks a few inches away.

 

[Jennyontheblock]

I've read that sometimes if the bowl is clear they have a harder time, i didn't experience this issue tho. My bowl now is a white translucent plastic, so even if he's below he can see the shadows of the bugs moving.

As for the tilandsia, i have a few of those in mine and i've read on here that they are safe. i did a search one day and on one thread, a guy even said ALL tilandsia are safe. they do add aesthetic value and make their homes look awesome!

Will give the a non clear container a try and the air plants too.

Anyone have orchids in theirs?