Enclosure for Panther Cham

[VincentChameleon]

I wanted to gather any feedback that I could on improving our cham's enclosure. Vin is approx two months old. We've got her in the medium ReptiBreeze 16" x 16" x 30" with, as the picture kind of shows, a cup for feeding just to make it easier on her as she transitions into this new environment. There is a branch which leads down into the cup, in which there is another small branch where she is able to hang out and hunt. I have one fake plant in there (the vine looking one) as well as a Jade plant and a Dracaena, which Vin absolutely loves to get her drinks from!

I've also got a water bowl, which I know panthers will not use, but I was hoping it might help keep humidity up? Is this false logic? Wishful thinking? Lol I am having the worst time with keeping humidity any higher than 40%. I originally had substrate at the bottom, which got us up to 50%, but I removed it shortly thereafter upon reading about the bacteria and illnesses that can result from it. I mist 4 times a day. Would some sort of fake moss help with this? I am just so paranoid about harboring bacteria. Any suggestions on this? More live plants perhaps? Are there any particular ones that are specifically known to help with humidity control?

The basking area gets up to 84 F and the ambient temp is around 75-76 F. I notice she primarily hangs up toward the top/upper third of the enclosure...should I try to get the basking temp up further? I've been keeping the basking lamp on 24/7 (which I just today learned should be shut off at nights) and I turn the UV light on around 8:00 or so after the sun has already come up and shut it off as the sun sets around 7:30. Is this an okay routine?

Perhaps of significance is the location of the enclosure: It is in a room that has full sunshine from approximately 7:30 AM until 7:30 PM in which the sun shines directly into the room from 7:30 AM - approximately 11:30 or noon. Is this an okay spot? It's the warmest room in the house (and the reason why I personally love it!) and is tucked away from all of the hustle and bustle of our other animals.

I am planning on getting at least one other live plant as well as another fake one that I can affix more towards the top of the enclosure, where she likes to hang out, just to make drinking a bit less energy consuming. Aside from that, any other suggestions to make this enclosure really top notch for Vin? Although I've been researching chams for years, she is my first and I want everything to be perfect (naturally!) Thank you!

 

[TheEricJ]

View attachment 109670

I wanted to gather any feedback that I could on improving our cham's enclosure. Vin is approx two months old. We've got her in the medium ReptiBreeze 16" x 16" x 30" with, as the picture kind of shows, a cup for feeding just to make it easier on her as she transitions into this new environment. There is a branch which leads down into the cup, in which there is another small branch where she is able to hang out and hunt. I have one fake plant in there (the vine looking one) as well as a Jade plant and a Dracaena, which Vin absolutely loves to get her drinks from!

I've also got a water bowl, which I know panthers will not use, but I was hoping it might help keep humidity up? Is this false logic? Wishful thinking? Lol I am having the worst time with keeping humidity any higher than 40%. I originally had substrate at the bottom, which got us up to 50%, but I removed it shortly thereafter upon reading about the bacteria and illnesses that can result from it. I mist 4 times a day. Would some sort of fake moss help with this? I am just so paranoid about harboring bacteria. Any suggestions on this? More live plants perhaps? Are there any particular ones that are specifically known to help with humidity control?

The basking area gets up to 84 F and the ambient temp is around 75-76 F. I notice she primarily hangs up toward the top/upper third of the enclosure...should I try to get the basking temp up further? I've been keeping the basking lamp on 24/7 (which I just today learned should be shut off at nights) and I turn the UV light on around 8:00 or so after the sun has already come up and shut it off as the sun sets around 7:30. Is this an okay routine?

Perhaps of significance is the location of the enclosure: It is in a room that has full sunshine from approximately 7:30 AM until 7:30 PM in which the sun shines directly into the room from 7:30 AM - approximately 11:30 or noon. Is this an okay spot? It's the warmest room in the house (and the reason why I personally love it!) and is tucked away from all of the hustle and bustle of our other animals.

I am planning on getting at least one other live plant as well as another fake one that I can affix more towards the top of the enclosure, where she likes to hang out, just to make drinking a bit less energy consuming. Aside from that, any other suggestions to make this enclosure really top notch for Vin? Although I've been researching chams for years, she is my first and I want everything to be perfect (naturally!) Thank you!

No need for the water bowl. It just harbors bacteria. No need for any type of substrate either. It can cause obstructions, damage their tongue and harbor bacteria.
Full darkness at night.
Your warm room should be fine as long as the sun isn't shining through a window directly on the Cham. That can get extremely hot and leave him no way to escape it.
Your UV routine sounds fine.
I have a schefflera aboracola and pothos which are Cham safe and help with humidity.
I skimmed through this really quick but I'll try to take time later to go back. Hope this helps!

 

[sgiac801]

quick note

Hi there,

Just a quick note- jade plants are totally safe to use although I wanted to give you a heads up that they are broken easily when climbed on. I wanted to warn you incase it gets destroyed! I would recommend an older plant that is more established and tree-like, so your cham can use it to climb on rather that just being used for decoration.

 

[repdog]

So far yes get rid of the water bowl. If you use an automatic mister your humidity will be fine. I have mine set to run every hour for 45 seconds. Plus I have a dripper going at the same time. Your temps are good.
Yes all lights off at night. Mine are on right now from 5:55am to 7:30pm. Then I have moon lights that come on until 10pm. Once the normal daylight is less then yes I change my lights to go with the sun. The room you have it in is fine you just might want to change your lights to go with the light in the room. Your cham will be awake anyways. I have the sun coming in the window with my reptiles and 5:55am it is bright in there already.
More plants that are tree like is best for your cham. They will tend to sleep in the tree as well as hide under the leaves for shade if the cage is to warm.
I would also add a ton more vines for them to climb on. Make it a highway of vines. I just added two more more vines to my cage and he used them right away. They tend to get bored with the same thing.
If you have a female make sure you have a laying bin ready and a spot for it in the cage.

 

[Devokid]

You need WAY more plant life/vines/branches for her to climb on. You pretty much need to fill it top to bottom with foliage, especially the top.

With that in place, I really wouldn't worry about humidity as long as you are getting her enough water. I would get an automatic set up of some kind. A dripper or rain maker works the best. You want to make sure that the cage dries out before it comes on again (rain or mister) because too much water can lead to respiratory infections as well as other microbial problems.

 

[Devokid]

Yes all lights off at night. Mine are on right now from 5:55am to 7:30pm. Then I have moon lights that come on until 10pm. Once the normal daylight is less then yes I change my lights to go with the sun.

Most of what he says is true, however all lights off includes moon lights. These tend to be too bright, unless you have a really nice aquarium lighting set up. Then the moon light in its proper phases would be fine, albeit unnecessary. Also, I would set your lights to be on for ~11 hrs regardless of what it does outside. If the ambient light is different, so be it. The duration of daylight changes much more in the Northern US than it does in Madagascar. I would always try to replicate the environment that your panther has evolved to live in as much as you can.

 

[VincentChameleon]

Thank you all so, so much! I am headed out to get some more vines and tree-like structures this afternoon!

 

[Revival]

You need WAY more plant life/vines/branches for her to climb on. You pretty much need to fill it top to bottom with foliage, especially the top.

This! Get some vines and use some plant wires from home depot to attach them to the screen. You cham will love you for it. We have ours going in a swirl counter clockwise and our cham loves it. Its like his highway when going up or down.