Free Ranging in captivity vs in the wild.

[Jhlamotte95]

Hello Chameleon world,

I have owned my Male Ambanja Panther Chameleon for 6 going on 7 months now, and I always let him free range an stretch his legs.

I’ve heard all this stuff from vets and some people on here the dangers of free ranging ( Gets cold fast, can hurt his or her self, get lost etc.). Personally I don’t care ( I mean I do of coarse but not to the point where I am afraid to let my Panther roam for an hour or two) because watching him sit in his cage an scratch and climb to get out when he gets bored of his current territory (His cage) is torture for me.

So, long story short does anyone on here know how far or how much a Panther travels in the wild??

 

[kinyonga]

Maybe this will help...
http://www.sebastiangehring.de/gehringetal2008.pdf

 

[snitz427]

I dont think an hour or two of free ranging is going to hurt your cham so long as temps are comfortable. I do it whenever possible - but they do eventually need to go home unless yoy have free range lights and misters.

 

[Jhlamotte95]

I dont think an hour or two of free ranging is going to hurt your cham so long as temps are comfortable. I do it whenever possible - but they do eventually need to go home unless yoy have free range lights and misters.

I agree 100% my Cham Rango always goes back after a little adventuring. He’s chill never really dark colors always flashing yellow, orange and spots of Red when he gets to explore.

 

[nightanole]

My last oust (lives on same islands as panthers). Was 100% free range as soon as he was big enough to not get lost. At worst during the first few months he would crawl along boxes and fall in, etc, but he never lemming off anything. After a few months he learned to go back to his sleeping stick under the UVB light by the end of the day. So his routine was wake up and heat up under the basking/UVB, go look out the window 8ft away and mean mug the neighbors, then do a complete patrol around the room looking for rogue chams entering his territory, then go back to the basking/UVB and repeat 3-4 times during the day.

And the local cooling myth doesnt work either, since most panthers/veilds rarely see day temps over 75, and most night time temps are way below what a "house" would get.

 

[Sammy Grigio]

"Mean mug the neighbors" . So accurate hahaha.

 

[Jhlamotte95]

Maybe this will help...
http://www.sebastiangehring.de/gehringetal2008.pdf

Thank you it sounds like they don’t travel much, so that’s good. I’m probably giving my little Rango the right amount of exercise maybe a little less BUT maybe a little more.

 

[Jhlamotte95]

My last oust (lives on same islands as panthers). Was 100% free range as soon as he was big enough to not get lost. At worst during the first few months he would crawl along boxes and fall in, etc, but he never lemming off anything. After a few months he learned to go back to his sleeping stick under the UVB light by the end of the day. So his routine was wake up and heat up under the basking/UVB, go look out the window 8ft away and mean mug the neighbors, then do a complete patrol around the room looking for rogue chams entering his territory, then go back to the basking/UVB and repeat 3-4 times during the day.

And the local cooling myth doesnt work either, since most panthers/veilds rarely see day temps over 75, and most night time temps are way below what a "house" would get.

True It does get up to 90 in Ambanja but I always keep his room around 73 coldest- 80 warmest never mind his perching spot.