Help Identifying Hyde

I also wanted to add I did add some more vines, and am on my way to LLL to get more vines to keep on adding to her cage.
 
@MissSkittles @Beman Hi! I was wondering if either of you could review my most recent husbandry form to see what else I could do to continue to improve and give Hyde her best life. I've learned so much but know there is still so much more to go. Thank you!
 
chamoflage said:
@MissSkittles @Beman Hi! I was wondering if either of you could review my most recent husbandry form to see what else I could do to continue to improve and give Hyde her best life. I've learned so much but know there is still so much more to go. Thank you!
Click to expand...
I just looked it over and all looks great to me. :) @Beman may find something I missed.
I do have a couple of comments/questions/suggestions. You have a deep soil substrate...do you have a clean up crew too? If not, you should add some isopods and springtails to help keep things clean. It is a bit deep. Are you able to take a few inches of soil out? It would make it less work for your beautiful lady when she’s laying her eggs. They tend to dig all the way to the bottom.
Easy on the wax and meal worms. Instead maybe try some silkworms. Silkies are one of my favorite staple feeders. For a fun and stimulating treat, let some of your bsfl pupate into flies. My chams love hunting them down. You already said you’ll be improving your gutload. Try adding some squashes, sweet potato, bell pepper, etc.You could also add some bee pollen to your gutload if you wanted. I add it in when I make my bug burger. A small sprinkle is all that’s needed.
That’s all the feedback I can offer right now. As I said, you’re doing great! 😊
 
MissSkittles said:
I just looked it over and all looks great to me. :) @Beman may find something I missed.
I do have a couple of comments/questions/suggestions. You have a deep soil substrate...do you have a clean up crew too? If not, you should add some isopods and springtails to help keep things clean. It is a bit deep. Are you able to take a few inches of soil out? It would make it less work for your beautiful lady when she’s laying her eggs. They tend to dig all the way to the bottom.
Easy on the wax and meal worms. Instead maybe try some silkworms. Silkies are one of my favorite staple feeders. For a fun and stimulating treat, let some of your bsfl pupate into flies. My chams love hunting them down. You already said you’ll be improving your gutload. Try adding some squashes, sweet potato, bell pepper, etc.You could also add some bee pollen to your gutload if you wanted. I add it in when I make my bug burger. A small sprinkle is all that’s needed.
That’s all the feedback I can offer right now. As I said, you’re doing great! 😊
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I am always panicking and worrying that I'm not doing things correctly.

I do have a clean up crew, both springtails and a couple types of isopods :) I have some more dairy cow isopods that I want to start a colony for but haven't quite gotten that far with my research and getting setup so I don't forget to check on them.

I will re-measure soil to ensure that's the deepness but I can probably take some soil out, especially since the plants will be a bit more situated I should be able to remove some soil for her. I definitely have been wanting to get some silk worms but haven't found any locally (I will check online again to see if I can get my hands on some soon). How do you let the bsfl pupate into flies? Is there something specific I should do.

Do you have a recommendation on where to get bee pollen, like a particular brand?

Last question, does Hyde's neck look overly puffy? I wasn't sure if it was just the angle in pictures of a sign of edema (as I mentioned I'm still getting the hang of the lightly dusting of the supplements, I definitely have been improving over the last month or so but just want to be extra cautious).
 
I’ve gotten some beautiful silkies from site sponsors https://morifeeders.com/ and https://www.serenitysilkworms.com/ At some times you’ll find the silks are all sold out. My back up is https://www.ebay.com/usr/doossty66?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
For bsfl, I just give them some food every now and then and mist their soil and in time they just become flies. It may take a couple or few weeks, but they will get there. I don’t even feed them as larvae to my chams anymore as they really enjoy the flies as treats.
I’ve no idea what brand of bee pollen is best or even what I got last time. I just make sure it’s organic.
Yes, now that you mentioned it I went back and looked closer and your girl does seem to have some edema around her neck. She had it when you originally posted too. I’m wondering if it’s edema or fat. I don’t really see any cause for edema, although I’m not a vet and lack the experience of some other keepers. @kinyonga what do you think of this lovely ladies neck?
 
MissSkittles said:
I’ve gotten some beautiful silkies from site sponsors https://morifeeders.com/ and https://www.serenitysilkworms.com/ At some times you’ll find the silks are all sold out. My back up is https://www.ebay.com/usr/doossty66?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
For bsfl, I just give them some food every now and then and mist their soil and in time they just become flies. It may take a couple or few weeks, but they will get there. I don’t even feed them as larvae to my chams anymore as they really enjoy the flies as treats.
I’ve no idea what brand of bee pollen is best or even what I got last time. I just make sure it’s organic.
Yes, now that you mentioned it I went back and looked closer and your girl does seem to have some edema around her neck. She had it when you originally posted too. I’m wondering if it’s edema or fat. I don’t really see any cause for edema, although I’m not a vet and lack the experience of some other keepers. @kinyonga what do you think of this lovely ladies neck?
Click to expand...
Thank you I will definitely check those out and order some silkies for Hyde.

I just bought a bigger container of BSFL so hopefully I can have them turn into some flies for Hyde to hunt, I will follow your advice. I was super surprised with the wax moths (I just hadn't thought about them and didn't do anything special) but yes will definitely only do those as rare treats.

I'll keep an eye out for some organic bee pollen to add into my gut load along with the veggies you suggested :)

Thank you for the second set of eyes, when she got weighed at her last vet visit she was 75 grams and 9.4inches from nose to vent, about 13 inches from nose to tail, that was back in January. Have not weighed her again since, as I have mentioned she doesn't have the best people skills and I get nervous when taking her out, so the two of us are working on that so I can better monitor her weight and make sure she's happy and healthy :)
 
chamoflage said:
Thank you I will definitely check those out and order some silkies for Hyde.

I just bought a bigger container of BSFL so hopefully I can have them turn into some flies for Hyde to hunt, I will follow your advice. I was super surprised with the wax moths (I just hadn't thought about them and didn't do anything special) but yes will definitely only do those as rare treats.

I'll keep an eye out for some organic bee pollen to add into my gut load along with the veggies you suggested :)

Thank you for the second set of eyes, when she got weighed at her last vet visit she was 75 grams and 9.4inches from nose to vent, about 13 inches from nose to tail, that was back in January. Have not weighed her again since, as I have mentioned she doesn't have the best people skills and I get nervous when taking her out, so the two of us are working on that so I can better monitor her weight and make sure she's happy and healthy :)
Click to expand...
I hand feed silkworms to help build trust. It’s one of the very few (if not only) feeder I don’t mind holding on my hand.
 
See my feedback in bold. :)

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Species – Ambanja Panther Chameleon. Sex – Female. Age – Approximately 6 months and has been in our care for 4 months. You sure she was that young when you got her? She looks older and a bit hefty. Do you have any pics of her on your hand when you first got her so we can tell size?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Almost never. Hyde is particularly sassy when it comes to leaving the enclosure even to go outside. We have been working on our people skills so more field trips outside can happen and so it will be easier to take Hyde to the vet.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Once a day. For the last few weeks only about 6-8 insects a day, although this past week we have been switching to about 5-6 insects a day with the intent of going to every other day (which happens if I give her dubia roaches). Primarily feeding medium sized crickets with mixing in some hornworms, wax worms, mealworms and soldier fly larvae, tried dubia roaches but Hyde doesn’t seem to be a fan (will continue to keep trying though to see if I can get a better reaction). We have been gut-loading with cricket food and fruits and veggies and just purchased some bug burger to add more nutrients to my gut-load (as I have been reading so much on the forums about how much a quality gut-load can impact overall chameleon health). I would pull the wax worms as they are mostly fat. As she matures you will have to start cutting back her food. By about 6 months she should be getting about 5-8 small feeders each day. At about 7 months you want to slowly reduce by cutting down feeder amounts so that she is on a feeding schedule of 3 days a week with 3 feeders. You want them to be on this schedule by the time they are 9-10 months old.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Rep-Cal without D3 done every other feeding. Repti-Cal with D3 twice a month. Reptivite Vitamins without D3 twice a month. So you want to make sure all feedings are done with the right supplements. So change your calcium without D3 to every feeding that your not rotating in the other two at 1 feeding each week. We use the calcium to balance the phosphorus to calcium ratio of the feeders. So lightly dust all feeders given. Then rotate week to week between the D3 and the reptivite at one feeding so that each is given 2 times a month only.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? 4 minute misting session in the morning before feeding time along with having the fogger on high for at least an hour and then turning it off or down to low (depending on whether it is a bit drier out or not). After the 4 minute misting session the automatic mister goes off every 3 hours for a minute at a time (as I work during the day and want to ensure Hyde has ample opportunity to drink in privacy). Hyde sometimes drinks off the leaves and also sits right under the misters and foggers. We do have a little dripper which is not set up just yet, once we can get that sorted out and deal with the excess water I will reduce the automatic misters. No fogging during lights on at all. This is not something you want to add in with heat because it creates a recipe for a RI. So only at night should you fog and only when temps are below 67-68. Get a dragonstrand drainage tray for excess water.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Most recent droppings have been small (possibly due to the smaller amount of food going in) and looked a bit drier (I’m not sure they could have been older droppings and I just discovered them, Hyde doesn’t poop in the same place each time). I have been continuing to monitor them. Will include a picture of the last dropping I found. Always good to get a fecal done.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. No other known history, came from LLL, estimated that Hyde was 2 months old at time of purchase.

Cage Info:


  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen. 2 feet wide, 2 feet in length and 38 inches from top to soil, 4 feet from top to bottom. Approximately 10 inches of soil. Make sure your running a full bio active. @MissSkittles can give you details on if you need to add anything to the soil to make it hold a tunnel better for egg laying.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Lights on at 5:45am and lights out at 5:45pm. 1 ZooMed T5 HO 5.0 UVB Reptisun light on the right side of the cage and 1 ZooMed Reptisun UVA/UVB hood with a T5 HO 5.0UVB light on the left side of the cage, one ZooMed 100watt basking bulb (located closest to the front of the cage with a farther distance as to not burn Hyde), 75watt basking bulb (not sure of the brand but most likely ZooMed) located towards the middle of the cage with branches to reach up closer. These are some hot bulbs. Specifically the 100 watt... I would really consider dropping those back. I am betting temps are hotter then you believe. Make sure the UVB bulbs are over branches that are 8-9 inches below so she can access the UVB at the right UVI level.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Temp range 60-80 F. Lowest overnight temp is about 62 F. I have one thermometer on the basking spot underneath the 100watt bulb, planning on getting a second one for underneath the 75watt bulb, both hygrometers also measure temperature as well so I can monitor temperature in the top away from the basking bulbs and the lower part of the cage. What type of thermometer are you using? Ceramic heater located in the back top part of the cage that comes on intermittently throughout the night to maintain an ambient lower 60 F temperature (just for winter). This is really not needed. They need temp drops. Panthers can go all the way down to a 50 degree temp drop without any issues at all. And you really do not want to use this when your fogging at night. You want cold moist air that she breathes in not warm moist air.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Overall humidity around 55% throughout the day. We have 3 hygrometers (two digital and one analog), one located in the top portion near one of the misters, one analog hygrometer in the back middle of the cage, and the last one in the bottom of the tank. The top one typically ranges in the high 50% humidity and a high of 70% humidity (after misting and with the fogger on). The lower one will range in the low 60% humidity to 80% humidity after misting and fogging. See notes above on fogging.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? All live plants that are planted in the vivarium. Benjamin ficus, orchids, Spanish moss, umbrella plant, pepperomia, croton, moss on the ground floor and air plants. Careful with the spanish moss... This is a big impaction risk.
  • 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? Located upstairs in my room about 5 feet from the window. Not near any air vents or a high traffic area. Cage is raised up onto a table about 2 feet from the floor, the top of the cage is probably about 6.5-7 feet from the floor?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? San Diego, California
 
You said..."does Hyde's neck look overly puffy?"...yes it does look puffy. It could be fat or edema I think. Panther females are more prone to edema, especially when producing eggs. She's showing colors that she's producing eggs already.

Your supplements are good so that shouldn't be part of the reason for the puffy throat.

How many insects are you feeding her in a week?
 
Beman said:
See my feedback in bold. :)

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Species – Ambanja Panther Chameleon. Sex – Female. Age – Approximately 6 months and has been in our care for 4 months. You sure she was that young when you got her? She looks older and a bit hefty. Do you have any pics of her on your hand when you first got her so we can tell size?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Almost never. Hyde is particularly sassy when it comes to leaving the enclosure even to go outside. We have been working on our people skills so more field trips outside can happen and so it will be easier to take Hyde to the vet.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Once a day. For the last few weeks only about 6-8 insects a day, although this past week we have been switching to about 5-6 insects a day with the intent of going to every other day (which happens if I give her dubia roaches). Primarily feeding medium sized crickets with mixing in some hornworms, wax worms, mealworms and soldier fly larvae, tried dubia roaches but Hyde doesn’t seem to be a fan (will continue to keep trying though to see if I can get a better reaction). We have been gut-loading with cricket food and fruits and veggies and just purchased some bug burger to add more nutrients to my gut-load (as I have been reading so much on the forums about how much a quality gut-load can impact overall chameleon health). I would pull the wax worms as they are mostly fat. As she matures you will have to start cutting back her food. By about 6 months she should be getting about 5-8 small feeders each day. At about 7 months you want to slowly reduce by cutting down feeder amounts so that she is on a feeding schedule of 3 days a week with 3 feeders. You want them to be on this schedule by the time they are 9-10 months old.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Rep-Cal without D3 done every other feeding. Repti-Cal with D3 twice a month. Reptivite Vitamins without D3 twice a month. So you want to make sure all feedings are done with the right supplements. So change your calcium without D3 to every feeding that your not rotating in the other two at 1 feeding each week. We use the calcium to balance the phosphorus to calcium ratio of the feeders. So lightly dust all feeders given. Then rotate week to week between the D3 and the reptivite at one feeding so that each is given 2 times a month only.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? 4 minute misting session in the morning before feeding time along with having the fogger on high for at least an hour and then turning it off or down to low (depending on whether it is a bit drier out or not). After the 4 minute misting session the automatic mister goes off every 3 hours for a minute at a time (as I work during the day and want to ensure Hyde has ample opportunity to drink in privacy). Hyde sometimes drinks off the leaves and also sits right under the misters and foggers. We do have a little dripper which is not set up just yet, once we can get that sorted out and deal with the excess water I will reduce the automatic misters. No fogging during lights on at all. This is not something you want to add in with heat because it creates a recipe for a RI. So only at night should you fog and only when temps are below 67-68. Get a dragonstrand drainage tray for excess water.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Most recent droppings have been small (possibly due to the smaller amount of food going in) and looked a bit drier (I’m not sure they could have been older droppings and I just discovered them, Hyde doesn’t poop in the same place each time). I have been continuing to monitor them. Will include a picture of the last dropping I found. Always good to get a fecal done.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. No other known history, came from LLL, estimated that Hyde was 2 months old at time of purchase.

Cage Info:


  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen. 2 feet wide, 2 feet in length and 38 inches from top to soil, 4 feet from top to bottom. Approximately 10 inches of soil. Make sure your running a full bio active. @MissSkittles can give you details on if you need to add anything to the soil to make it hold a tunnel better for egg laying.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Lights on at 5:45am and lights out at 5:45pm. 1 ZooMed T5 HO 5.0 UVB Reptisun light on the right side of the cage and 1 ZooMed Reptisun UVA/UVB hood with a T5 HO 5.0UVB light on the left side of the cage, one ZooMed 100watt basking bulb (located closest to the front of the cage with a farther distance as to not burn Hyde), 75watt basking bulb (not sure of the brand but most likely ZooMed) located towards the middle of the cage with branches to reach up closer. These are some hot bulbs. Specifically the 100 watt... I would really consider dropping those back. I am betting temps are hotter then you believe. Make sure the UVB bulbs are over branches that are 8-9 inches below so she can access the UVB at the right UVI level.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Temp range 60-80 F. Lowest overnight temp is about 62 F. I have one thermometer on the basking spot underneath the 100watt bulb, planning on getting a second one for underneath the 75watt bulb, both hygrometers also measure temperature as well so I can monitor temperature in the top away from the basking bulbs and the lower part of the cage. What type of thermometer are you using? Ceramic heater located in the back top part of the cage that comes on intermittently throughout the night to maintain an ambient lower 60 F temperature (just for winter). This is really not needed. They need temp drops. Panthers can go all the way down to a 50 degree temp drop without any issues at all. And you really do not want to use this when your fogging at night. You want cold moist air that she breathes in not warm moist air.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Overall humidity around 55% throughout the day. We have 3 hygrometers (two digital and one analog), one located in the top portion near one of the misters, one analog hygrometer in the back middle of the cage, and the last one in the bottom of the tank. The top one typically ranges in the high 50% humidity and a high of 70% humidity (after misting and with the fogger on). The lower one will range in the low 60% humidity to 80% humidity after misting and fogging. See notes above on fogging.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? All live plants that are planted in the vivarium. Benjamin ficus, orchids, Spanish moss, umbrella plant, pepperomia, croton, moss on the ground floor and air plants. Careful with the spanish moss... This is a big impaction risk.
  • 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? Located upstairs in my room about 5 feet from the window. Not near any air vents or a high traffic area. Cage is raised up onto a table about 2 feet from the floor, the top of the cage is probably about 6.5-7 feet from the floor?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? San Diego, California
Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback. I think that this is on my original husbandry which I did make quite a few changes and updated the form, it's on the bottom of the first page. And added more current photos.

Some of the changes that I made were, in summary:
  • Hyde is on a MWF feeding schedule, we are now down to about 4-5 medium feeders a day and working on going down to 3-4 starting in May. She gets calcium no D3 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then alternating Fridays are D3 or vitamins.
  • Watering has been adjusted to 2-4 minutes in the morning before lights on (sometimes within a couple minutes of lights on) and 2-4 minutes after lights out, fogging now only happens between 11pm-5am when the cage is the coolest.
  • Cage is full bioactive with springtails, dwarf whites, orange powder and dairy cow isopods.
  • No more ceramic heater and I use a probe thermometer for her basking spot. Basking bulb was replaced with a 60watt incandescent bulb. And the UVB was moved to go horizontally across the cage and raised up to about 8inches from where Hyde can access it.
  • Added more plants and vines and removed the spanish moss and floor moss.
Please let me know if anything else is standing out to you. :)
 
kinyonga said:
You said..."does Hyde's neck look overly puffy?"...yes it does look puffy. It could be fat or edema I think. Panther females are more prone to edema, especially when producing eggs. She's showing colors that she's producing eggs already.

Your supplements are good so that shouldn't be part of the reason for the puffy throat.

How many insects are you feeding her in a week?
Click to expand...

I thought maybe because I previously was over dusting some of the supplements and hadn't raised up her UVB initially (it has been raised up for a few months now), and her plant kept growing so naturally Hyde kept climbing higher and higher. But now her UVB is raised up and I will be cutting back the ficus a bit more this weekend as it's popping out the top of the cage still, to ensure her levels are better. I wonder if that could have contributed to her puffy neck, or perhaps she is just a bit chunky. Welcoming all suggestions of course to ensure I am doing things correctly and giving her her best life.

I am currently dropping down the amount of bugs. We were on about 13-15 bugs per week as of last week. This week we are targeting about 12.

I thought she might be starting to produce her first clutch but as this is her first time I was a little unsure, I do have a sheet that I cover the bottom portion of her cage each morning to give her privacy, she does have plenty of soil in her bioactive cage (and will look into removing a couple inches of it) and it is damp enough to hold a tunnel but I am of course open to suggestions as I am still new and learning.

Thank you so much for your response.
 
chamoflage said:
Thank you for the feedback. I think that this is on my original husbandry which I did make quite a few changes and updated the form, it's on the bottom of the first page. And added more current photos.

Some of the changes that I made were, in summary:
  • Hyde is on a MWF feeding schedule, we are now down to about 4-5 medium feeders a day and working on going down to 3-4 starting in May. She gets calcium no D3 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then alternating Fridays are D3 or vitamins.
  • Watering has been adjusted to 2-4 minutes in the morning before lights on (sometimes within a couple minutes of lights on) and 2-4 minutes after lights out, fogging now only happens between 11pm-5am when the cage is the coolest.
  • Cage is full bioactive with springtails, dwarf whites, orange powder and dairy cow isopods.
  • No more ceramic heater and I use a probe thermometer for her basking spot. Basking bulb was replaced with a 60watt incandescent bulb. And the UVB was moved to go horizontally across the cage and raised up to about 8inches from where Hyde can access it.
  • Added more plants and vines and removed the spanish moss and floor moss.
Please let me know if anything else is standing out to you. :)
Click to expand...
Ugg sorry in the process of moving did not realize I grabbed an older one lol Just saw I was tagged asking :banghead:

looks good to me :)
 
Not a problem! I just wanted to make sure you saw that I did improve hahaha. Oh gosh moving is the worst. I hope everything goes smoothly! Thank you so much for your feedback!! 😊
 
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