Its a start, but what next for panther?

So I'm starting to pick up everything I need, I've got a ficus and an umbrella plant so far, and I just picked up a power sun uvb bulb.

Im wondering if I'll need an additional heat source, and has anyone used this bulb and been successful, let me know if this looks like the wrong product. What should be the next thing on my list?

Stuff I still need:
cage (going to build myself)
supplements (calcium w/o d3 and calcium with d3)
additional bulbs?
more plants
misting system
timers and temp gun
feeders
and eventually a panther chameleon :)


thanks for your help :)
 

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Welcome to the forums!

In terms of lighting you will need two separate lights. I am not familiar with the bulb you purchased but most people use either the reptisun or repti-glo 5.0 for uvb and a regular incandescent bulb for heat. I use a 40-60 watt incandescent bulb depending on the cage setup and how far your perch is from the light. You will need to use a thermometer to make sure your basking spot is between 85-90 degrees.

Good luck with the hobby! Keep asking questions
 
That bulb is just a basking bulb. Gonna need your uvb. And sre you going this weekend to the expo? Or did you go today?
 
Yeah I went today after I found out it was 3-days instead of 2, tbh it was kinda lame, only 2 vendors selling veilds and one adult ambilobe :/

sooo hold up, I spent 70 on a basking bulb?? Danggg I spoked to the guy and made sure I wasn't getting the wrong thing :(

then again he went to show me his panther chameleons, showed me a male ambanja and a male ambilobe and said they were a breading pair, that the ambilobe was female, lol
 
the bulb you got is a uvb bulb but, its not a good bulb for chameleons. that bulb is really strong and its better for big monitor cages or high heat desert setups. it will cook your chameleon
 
ok thanks for the solid answer! Ill see if I can swap it, I knew I should have gone with the tube setup. Just to double check, what if its spaced farther away from the cage? I don't wanna jeopardize my chances so ill go get the 5.0 tube
 
Yeah, from all the reading I have done on here, chameleons are so different from most other reptiles and the directions on most of the reptile suppliments and supplies do not apply for chameleons. I have found that everyone on this forum is great and there is a lot of experience on here so take what the senior members like Jann have to say and stand by it. The care sheets are also a great resource and have been compromised by very experienced chameleon owners. We are so lucky to have this community to come to and ask questions. Just remember that Zoo Med, Exo-Terra are companies that are out to make money. The people here that are just members are not trying to sell you anything. Yes there are sponsors that would love for you to buy from them, but even they are not like the big companies like Zoo Med and Exo-Terra. I have had great dealings with multiple vendors here and will gladly buy from them again.
 
thanks for your input :) Ive read all the care sheets of all the different species and have been on here lurking and doing my hw for the past half a year, and I won't be getting my cham for a few months, a local breeder is raising some awesome panthers that i'm waiting for so plenty of time to get everything right :)

anyone else think I'm missing something from my list thats a MUST HAVE for any owner?
 
The bulb you did get is a combo bulb for good heat and UVB but like Killer chams said its going to be way to strong for your chameleon. I would just buy a tube light UVB something like a Repti-Glo. As for a basking bulb a common household bulb, you don't need anything special.
 
Welcome to the world of Panther chams! They are awesome. Just going to run through my setup for you so you can use it as another check list, if you want :) I found out that you can never have enough. We planned for 6 months before we actually got ours. We have a 1 1/2 year old, so the cage is bigger than you would need for a baby. We have him in a 2x2x4 foot cage, with a reptisun 5.0 uvb bulb, and a 75 watt regular house bulb for heat (thinking about using a 60 watt now that the weather is warming up). We have a little dripper, a exo terra monsoon mister, which is perfect for the one cage, and a spray bottle to get the spots the mister misses. We have a nice tall umbrella plant with lots of vines and branches for climbing. We decided to leave the bottom of the cage empty of any substrate since I heard so many mixed reviews about it. We just wipe up the extra water with paper towels and it seems to work really well. If you can think of any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck with everything :)
 
Why get rid of the Powersun? I know a lot of people in Europe, including me using the Powersun for veiled and Panther chameleons, no problem at all!
 
Ya the thing with the power sun is kind of what is going on with the whole Screen cage versus glass/partial glass enclosures. Its not necessarily bad for chameleons and you def can keep a perfectly healthy chameleon under one. Many people have and are doing it right now. I personally do not like them and use two different lights. One repti-sun tube uvb and one regular bulb for basking this allows the chameleon to regulate his UVB intake and absorption. If you plan on keeping the power sun than you will need to make sure you take special care to as to how far and where you place the bulb, because it is pretty strong you may need to raise it back a little ways to get proper heat. Also, you are gonna have to take into consideration that any time he is going to go bask, he will also have to be taking in UVB. This gives him little choice of how much he wants to soak in because he will have to do that just to bask. Im not sure how but I would look into how often i would be giving the calcium with d-3 since he may not need it as much now. That I am not for sure about. Like i said it can be bad in some circumstances but it doesn't mean that you cant make it work and keep a perfectly healthy chameleon Like many people do that have been using these bulbs. Just be careful and take the proper precautions. Its probably not the best/most popular methods but that doesn't mean its wrong. I mean in the wild these chameleons are soaking up UVB and basking at the same time. Its not like they have a choice of different suns to go sit under like we provide in captivity. You just may have to do some research and make the adjustments accordingly. Good luck and its encouraging to see people coming on here for the right reasons and doing research before they run in to trouble. I guess after all this what im trying to get by is that I don't want to see you or other folks freaking out and wondering what they are going to do because they got a powersun and people are telling them its wrong. It can be done successfully but only if some adjustments are made.
 
thank you for taking the time to fill me in, that was very informative, I appreciate it :) Im gonna end up getting the more popular setup. and thanks video master for the heads up on the t5, I almost got that one too hahahah.. lighting is the one aspect I'm really trying to understand still, this is really helpful :)
 
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