Dark panther chameleon

[jadelync]

Hello all,

I am a new panther chameleon owner, and we're trying to get all this down.

We redid out guys cage on Sunday because the initial set up wasn't the best. It was a very stressful day for him, as changes like that are.
Monday he spent most of the day up in the top corner of the cage super dark colored. We left him alone and only went in to turn his lights on and off. I did peep at him after the mister went off in the afternoon and he turned a very light green/blue color.

If we're in the room he tends to stay dark. If I stick my head in right after the sprayer goes off he's lighter. He did eat yesterday, and I caught him drinking some water when I snuck in quietly. He moves around and explores his new cage/plants.

Do you think the dark color is mostly just scared and stress from new owners?

 

[Gingero]

Definitely the most likely explanation for his darker colors. Usually takes a week or two for them to get settled in and sometimes months before they get used to you. You may want to look into getting an outlet timer for your lights so that you don't have to worry about manually turning them on and off.

Have you had your husbandry reviewed? Might be helpful if this is your first chameleon. Answer the questions below in as much detail as possible and post pics of your chameleon on enclosure top to bottom.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• 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?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

 

[salty dog]

It might be dark from getting the corona virus, wash him thoroughly with soap and warm water

 

[salty dog]

Then your hands.... and the crickets/ feeders......

 

[jadelync]

.

 

[Sammy Grigio]

Can you post some pictures of him and his set up please?

 

[jadelync]

Definitely the most likely explanation for his darker colors. Usually takes a week or two for them to get settled in and sometimes months before they get used to you. You may want to look into getting an outlet timer for your lights so that you don't have to worry about manually turning them on and off.

Have you had your husbandry reviewed? Might be helpful if this is your first chameleon. Answer the questions below in as much detail as possible and post pics of your chameleon on enclosure top to bottom.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Ambanja panther chameleon, male roughly a year old.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We've handled him once to change his cage.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? He's currently eating dubia roaches. 1-3 a day, some days he won't eat especially after the cage change.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Before we changed everything and he was eating better we would give him calcium once a day (one bug). We've given him Heptativite once so far.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Auto mister goes off four times a day for 30 seconds. Depending on humidity we might manual spray him
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No tests as of yet. Usually a dark brown with a bit of white on the end
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. None right now

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Large reptibreeze
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Will attach photos of lighting
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these tempsBasking spot is about 85 and the room temp stays about 70-72
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity is hard to keep up where we live but it's usually around 40-50, goes up after a misting.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? We just put a live pothos plant in his cage sunday, there is still a couple fake vines in there for hiding
• 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? his cage is in a closed off room on a table, highest part of the cage is a little of 5 feet, just taller than me, i'm 5'2. There's a heating vent kind of next to it ground level, doesn't hit his cage. Window on adjacent wall.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? We are in Cleveland OH

*EDIT* the picture of him is the only recent on i have, it's a bad picture. I'm currently at work and can't snap a pic of the whole cage and him atm. 75 watt bulb with the basking spot a good 8-10 inches away and not directly under.

 

[Redman]

It might be dark from getting the corona virus, wash him thoroughly with soap and warm water

This is soooooo wrong. I think you and I could be friends. LOL

 

[jadelync]

Here are some photos, all taken within a few minutes of each other

 

[Sammy Grigio]

What part of your house is the cage located? Is it in a drafty place by chance?

 

[jadelync]

What part of your house is the cage located? Is it in a drafty place by chance?

It’s in our spare bedroom. It has wood floors so we put down rugs to help with the cold. There’s only one window that’s pretty well sealed. It’s definitely a colder room on the house, unfortunately

 

[jadelync]

I can’t help but keep stressing over my chameleon ?

 

[kinyonga]

Please answer the questions Gingero posted in her thread so we can see if your husbandry is ok. It might help your stress.

 

[jadelync]

Please answer the questions Gingero posted in her thread so we can see if your husbandry is ok. It might help your stress.

I filled out the questions above. Did they not post?

 

[jadelync]

General picture of his cage, no more glass on the bottom

 

[kinyonga]

I filled out the questions above. Did they not post?

There's a blank post that maybe is where you were trying to post them.

 

[jadelync]

There's a blank post that maybe is where you were trying to post them.

It’s on comment #7 my answer are in bold

 

[kinyonga]

Oops...I missed that. Sorry.

For supplements the two you have are good but you need one more. See the following...
I dust with RepCal phos free calcium at all feedings but 4 a month...lightly. I dust every second week, once during that week lightly with RepCal phos free calcium/D3 powder and on alternate weeks, one day in that week I dust lightly with herptivite.

I feed/gutload the crickets with dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, escarole, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, carrots, and a very little bit of apple, pears, melon, berries.

I use the long linear reptisun 5.0 tube light for UVB and a regular incandescent household light bulb of the wattage that produces the right basking temperature for basking.

 

[Gingero]

Hi there. Just wanted to say that it is totally normal to be stressing over a chameleon. We are all guilty of being helicopter parents especially when first starting out Ask lots of questions, do lots of research and it'll get better.

Have you considered feeding him other bugs besides dubias? Dubias are great, but variety is even better.

Make sure you're dusting all the bugs with the supplements, not just 1 bug. Here is a video that goes into more detail:




30 seconds is pretty short to mist a chameleon. Are you seeing him drink in that time? Usually 2-3 minutes 2x/day is recommended but it depends on the environment you live in, and your chameleon's drinking response. The longer misting sessions could also help increase your overall humidity levels.




I'd see if you could raise your basking temp a bit more closer to 90.




Also didn't see any responses from you about gutloading, so wanted to include this video too. Gutloading ensures our chameleons are getting the micro-nutrients they would normally get in the wild.




Hope this helps!

 

[jadelync]

Hi there. Just wanted to say that it is totally normal to be stressing over a chameleon. We are all guilty of being helicopter parents especially when first starting out Ask lots of questions, do lots of research and it'll get better.

Have you considered feeding him other bugs besides dubias? Dubias are great, but variety is even better.

Make sure you're dusting all the bugs with the supplements, not just 1 bug. Here is a video that goes into more detail:




30 seconds is pretty short to mist a chameleon. Are you seeing him drink in that time? Usually 2-3 minutes 2x/day is recommended but it depends on the environment you live in, and your chameleon's drinking response. The longer misting sessions could also help increase your overall humidity levels.




I'd see if you could raise your basking temp a bit more closer to 90.




Also didn't see any responses from you about gutloading, so wanted to include this video too. Gutloading ensures our chameleons are getting the micro-nutrients they would normally get in the wild.




Hope this helps!

Thank you for all that info!

We have added crickets to his food now too, and his food is gutloaded. We have supplements, he gets calcium every day, but we've only given him a herptivite once so far (we've had him two weeks) We need to look into calcium with D3.

I have a temp gun on its way to us to help with getting the heat right in his cage. When i get the room temp up high enough I think the basking temp is higher. Will know once we get that thermometer.

When the sprayer goes off he usually turns the lightest we ever see him. I will adjust it to spray a little longer. We've been manually doing it between.

He does seem to be doing better, but I'm sure we're going to keep stressing over him while lol.

Thanks for all the help