First Timer

[alonnamarie2216]

Ready for the basic newbie post?

Got myself a panther chameleon, from the (now known, dreaded) Petco.
I'm working on getting him more plants, I really DID not think it was going to be such a challenge with Spring/Summer here. And I'm still battling on what kind of soil to use? Also I see people talking about catch plates for water?

He/She does have a fake plant and some vines, but I know it's not good enough for him, as I know I wouldn't be happy with it!

I'm attempting to train cup feeding, but am losing. So basically I am free range feeding. (Also I'm learning real quick, store bought cricket keepers are the devil.) Also a little confused on how to feed mealworms, fruit flies, and the like other than crickets. I love my little one to death, but roaches aren't gonna happen. Not anytime soon anyways.

I'm still unsure of the sex, been trying to figure it out. I'm thinking female.
Have he/she/it (Utu!) in a fully screened beginner cage. Have the ZooMed UVB/Heating beginner combo light. Humidity is a little low from what it really needs to be, running about 55%. Temps are going fairly well, a tid low but just a few degrees. Good basking, mid, and low. Misting twice to three times with a spray bottle, and dripping from 'homemade dripper' (A cup with holes poked in it) twice to three times a day. Usually runs for 5 to 10 minutes over the plant. With a bowl that catches the water for now.

Right now, I'm worried about the fact that my little Utu shed about four days after I brought him/her home (two weeks ago) and has a piece of skin stuck on the head between the eyes. For about a week now. I've seen the little one trying to get it off but I think has given up. I don't want to stress my baby out by trying to help...

Also the past few days, we haven't been eating. First week home, we did fine. But now all of a sudden, it's pretty much nothing. Free ranging gets a bit hard to tell as we all know.

I'm also worried I may have stressed my baby out about four days ago, trying to lead him to the cup.

GAHHH it really is all killing me. I feel kind of like I am already failing him.
I have surfed and surfed and surfed the web. I am Googling something about him every single day. Needless to say, Petco was TERRIBLE at explaining how in depth chameleon care really is. I'm still up for the challenge (worried if Utu is female however, much harder to take care of when egg time comes around), just have so many questions that surfing just isn't answering.

I will attach some photos here in just a bit, if not tomorrow.

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[Gavinsons]

Do not use soil or anything else as a substrate that the chameleon might eat while catching iys food. I leave my cage bottoms bare with drain trays underneath to catch the excess water from my misters.

 

[MsCham]

I think what the OP was meaning was what soil for when the time comes to get real plants - just ensure that it doesn't have fertilizer in it (white dots) and get some large stones to put on top of it. This will keep your little guy from ingesting it accidentally. Make sure the stones are large enough he would never think of eating one though! (And if you are getting them from outside wash them thoroughly with white vinegar first then rinse off carefully!)

The piece of skin should be fine. It will come off with time. What you can do to help is increase the humidity in the enclosure, and ensure he has lots of plants and even a somewhat rough piece of wood that he can rub against to help the shed. I've heard if a tough piece of skin stays on a leg or a tail it can cut off circulation (not certain about my source on that one, but it somewhat makes sense?) but just based on the positioning of the piece of skin you described, it wouldn't be doing much.

Fruit flies, you just set free in the cage. You can really only do this obviously if you have a very tight mesh on your cage. But most fruitflies you get will be flightless. Mealworms, superworms, the like can all be fed from a cup - which can range from any 2inch high container that has a wide opening (for example - the container most crickets come in - keep one of these and use it). For superworms - they cant tollerate moisture well, so I'll put a piece of papertowel at the bottom. This also gives them something to try to climb around on, making them a more appealing target to your cham. I'll attach a link of a few DIY feeder cups that are absolutely gorgeous if you feel like you want to divert from any old cup.

Petstores really are dreadful for the species. Mine tried to sell me a glass terrarium that basically only would have been healthy for an arboreal frog for the size of it!! Luckily I had done my research beforehand. But like you, I didn't find out about breeders vs. petstores until after I got one and joined these forums. But so long as we can learn properly now, our little fellas will have a good home.

What I found helpful is the search option on the forums! Most questions I have can be found through here, and many of the senior members have blogs that lay out a lot of good, trustworthy info!

I'll attach a few links that I've found extremely helpful in my quest to debunk some things that I have heard!

Good luck!

http://www.flchams.com/safe_plant_list.asp
http://screameleons.com/how-to-handle-your-chameleon-properly/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/
http://www.reptileknowledge.com/care/chameleon-feeding.php

 

[happy]

i cannot seem to find the post or blog now, but one of the members... did use 50/50 soil sand in an experiment... seemed to work really well. Its what i use. I use the cheap bags of dirt from walmart. they are like $0.98(too cheap for fertilizers and insectisides, and a 50 lb bag of play sand. Mix it 1:1. drains really well, and does not inhibit root growth. depending on several factors, you may or may not need to cover the soil. I have a female veiled, so... i dont cover it. it's a 2 for 1. the container the plant is in, is large enough that she can use as an egg laying bin.


edit:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/cushcameleon/131-custom-plant-soils.html

 

[alonnamarie2216]

Happy - I feel like with that simply post you made my anxiety level of possibly having a female, shoot down to almost nothing. I was REALLY nervous about that! But it just seems so simple, the way you put it. Thank you!

MsCham - Thank you so much for all the info and such. I have the wire mesh, I'm assuming aluminum. It is pretty tight but I still feel as though the fruit flies will get through still. Without ordering online, right now my options for feeders are mealworms, superworms, crickets, and fruit flies. I think little dude/dudette ate two or three crickets today. I threw in some more early in the day, just doesn't seems to be eating the way he should, which is really starting to worry me. As stated before I am trying to cup feed, but basically free ranging so it's hard to tell. P.S. Somehow the crickets are finding their own way into the cup? Hahahaha!
I'm also including some pictures in hope of help on the sexing?

 

[MarieMc44]

Noobie

I am also a noobie Chameleon parent and absolutely adore my Spike, an Ambilobe Panther Cham. He's about four (4) months now and gets bigger with each passing week. I joined this forum because all the info is centralized and very helpful. I love seeing all the galleries; it gets me amped to see what his future holds for him.

Here's a before and after picture of Spike being outside for less than 30 sec. I hope that's normal coloring...

 

[MorganC25]

New too

I as well am new to the world of chameleons. About three months ago I got a male ambanja panther who was about five months at the time. He seems to be doing well, he has shed skin about three times, likes horned worms, and mainly LOVES to ride around on my shoulder for a couple hours. I have trouble with a proper watering system though, I don't have a lot of resources around me either. What should I do?

 

[alonnamarie2216]

I as well am new to the world of chameleons. About three months ago I got a male ambanja panther who was about five months at the time. He seems to be doing well, he has shed skin about three times, likes horned worms, and mainly LOVES to ride around on my shoulder for a couple hours. I have trouble with a proper watering system though, I don't have a lot of resources around me either. What should I do?

Sorry for such a late reply, what do you have as a watering system now?

 

[ridgebax1]

Welcome to the forums; first take all the information Petco gave you and throw it away. Here is a link to the caresheet for panthers: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/. From your photos I am leaning toward female but not a %100 sure. As mentioned, no substrate in the bottom of the cage. I had a fully planted cage and it was a giant pain in the butt so I would recommend keeping the plants in the pots. I also had a terrible problem with fungus gnats too. Live plants can help with humidity but becareful not to get plants that can be toxic to the cham. Panthers generally do not eat the plants but you cannot count on that. You do want to be careful that the cham cannot get to the soil. The little white beads are actually perlite and while not toxic could pose a problem for a baby in terms of getting an obstruction. Fertilizer pellets are more clear to yellow, perfectly round and usually translucent. You could cover the top of the plants with some sand then large river rocks on top of that.

You want to provide heat and UV lighting 12 hours a day. No night lights the chameleon needs total darkness to sleep so you don't need those red heat lamps. A regular incandescent or halogen light bulb will be fine.

You may eventually want to get an automated misting system. DO NOT get a Monsoon. They are crap. You would be better served getting a mist king or an aquazamp. Both of these are fantastic products. They will help with humidity and providing your chameleon with drinking water. People mentioning plates are most likely using them to catch overflow. They should be emptied daily to avoid bacteria. I actually put holes in the bottom of my cage and let the water drain into a catch basin under the cage. When I had a Monsoon I had quite a bit of overflow. Using the aquazamp/raindome combination I used MORE water but had less overflow because the mist was more efficient and the water stayed in the atmosphere and on the plants.

Happy is correct that using sand will improve drainage and if you have a female you will need to provide a laying bin for her to deposit her eggs, even if she is not with a male she will still lay eggs, just like a chicken. She is a little young for that yet but I think they can start laying as young as 6 months. There are ways to reduce her egg laying frequency with diet and temperature but I do not know what those techniques are because I have never had females.

There are some excellent resources on the forum regarding plants/enclosures/watering/feeding. Pigglett79 had a great blog about raising hornworms and silkworms; Sandrachameleon's blogs about feeders and gutloading are fantastic. It is best to give a variety of feeders. Crickets and/or Dubias can make up the staple part of the diet. Some chams do not seem to eat dubias as readily as other bugs. I think it is because dubias tend to cluster together and hold still so the cham just does not notice them. Calcuim and vitamins are important so check out the supplement schedules on the caresheet. Avoid the commercial gutload products like Flukers; they are not the best. The sponsers of the forums have good gutload products or you can make your own. Sandra has recipes on her blog. Also check out the sponsers for silkworms, hornworms, phoenix worms and butterworms. I would avoid superworms and mealworms as both are high in fat and little else nutritionwise. I think of them as McDonald's for reptiles.

Good luck.

 

[jcarlsen]

I as well am new to the world of chameleons. About three months ago I got a male ambanja panther who was about five months at the time. He seems to be doing well, he has shed skin about three times, likes horned worms, and mainly LOVES to ride around on my shoulder for a couple hours. I have trouble with a proper watering system though, I don't have a lot of resources around me either. What should I do?

I don't have one now, but I'm looking into one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090149782&pf_rd_i=desktop

 

[alonnamarie2216]

I don't have one now, but I'm looking into one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090149782&pf_rd_i=desktop

That is actually pretty nifty. Won't lie. I guess the only thing I worry about is the bacteria issue really. Any input from more experienced parents out there on this?

 

[LeeroyJenkins]

That is actually pretty nifty. Won't lie. I guess the only thing I worry about is the bacteria issue really. Any input from more experienced parents out there on this?

I can't see any problems with it as long as you clean it ever 4-5 days, surely some how or way things will get in it. If the water is constantly circulating I would assume bacteria would have a hard time surviving, given you clean it.

But if your strapped for cash, drip systems and timed misters work great as well.

 

[alonnamarie2216]

I can't see any problems with it as long as you clean it ever 4-5 days, surely some how or way things will get in it. If the water is constantly circulating I would assume bacteria would have a hard time surviving, given you clean it.

But if your strapped for cash, drip systems and timed misters work great as well.

Yeah right now I'm using the old pin hole in a plastic cup trick. But I do really like this. Downside of being you'd have to suspend it or put it on the bottom of the cage, where my litthe girl doesnt ventire very often. How would you go about running the cords?

 

[LeeroyJenkins]

How would you go about running the cords?

Personally Id run the cords threw the bottom of the cage since I dont use substrate in mine. Pop a hole threw and put in down lower, if that's a source of easy water when your not using a drip he/she will go drink from it if he/she is thirsty I'm sure. But its not a end all fix for watering, Id add that and still do all the other ways of watering. How old is your cham?

EDIT: You could also hang it from the side of the walls if you are considered your cham is using to many calories going down to get some water haha.

 

[Carlton]

Yeah right now I'm using the old pin hole in a plastic cup trick. But I do really like this. Downside of being you'd have to suspend it or put it on the bottom of the cage, where my litthe girl doesnt ventire very often. How would you go about running the cords?

I don't know how similar this is to the Chameleon Cantina that's been discussed recently, but another idea other keepers have been using. This is assuming your particular cham learns or is even interested in using it however. Don't assume every one of them will. Many chams don't ever use a dripper reliably either.