First Chameleon, Cage Question

[blazarino]

Hello all,
So I will be purchasing my first chameleon this weekend. He is a 4 month old Ambanja. I already have a umbrella plant, a pothos, an 18" aquarium light fixture, and a metal dome fixture for a basking bulb. I will be purchasing a reptisun 5.0 UV bulb, a bulb for basking, some climbing vines, a thermometer/humidity gauge, calcium w/o D3, calcium w/ D3, multivitamin, spray bottle for misting, and last but not least a cage. My question here is what size to get. The options I am looking at are the Zoo Med repti-breeze 16x16x20, the 16x16x30 and the 18x18x36. I would really like to be able to get the 18x18x36 so I could possibly use it as a female cage in the future and so that I could wait a little longer until I upgrade to a larger cage (24x24x48 at least). Also my umbrella plant will fit really nicely in a 18x18x36, not that that should be a deciding factor.

I heard from a few sources that the 18x18x36 could be too large for a cham as young as 4 months and he will not grow as fast because he will have to expend more energy to find food and more of the supplements will be shaken off feeders because they will be climbing around the cage more. I would like to get some other opinions on this and in general what size cage people recommend for a 4 month old panther. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks to everyone on this forum! I have learned so much already just from reading through the forum over the past few months.

 

[Gensen]

Good luck w/ your selection

Hello,

I know how excited you must be I am currently waiting on my baby, he was born June 10'.
I can tell you that I got my kit from my breeder I purchased from and the cage size they sent me and recommended is
24"LX12"WX24"H so you can use that as a comparison to select your cage size. I got my Cham from Kammerflage they are very good and quite reputable so I trust what they gave me.

Good luck to you and enjoy!

 

[laurie]

Hello and welcome, it sounds like you have done your research and are starting off great. At 4 months old a panther can go into a 18x18x36 cage imo. I would just make sure he eats and if you are worried then cup feed him. That is fun to do with for first cham anyway. You put the food in a cup maybe 6' tall and hold it out to your cham or clip it to a branch. Your cham will go to about full grown in the next 6 or 8 months so that size cage won't last long for him anyway. Your instincts are great, ask questions and you will learn to trust yourself more. I think you will do great!

 

[ghettomike]

I say get your full size cage now and if its too big you can buy some screen (its real cheap) and screen off the top half of the enclosure, then you only need to buy one.

 

[nosymitsio]

According to screameleons site 20"x18"x12" is perfect up untill 9months old and you shouldnt deviate from that.

 

[blazarino]

I am thinking I should just go with the 18x18x36. I know it will be a little big right now but I will cup feed/hand feed it a portion of its food to make sure that it is getting the proper supplaments and can find it's food. The reason I am going to go with the larger cage is because I will be moving in May (he will be about a year old then) and I will be building a big cage after that. I figure I can keep him in an 18x18x36 up until that point while I would need to upgrade to a larger cage much sooner then that if I went with anything smaller. What do you all think?