New Ambilobe Panther owner looking for right setup

[Steve A]

Great thank you! I tried putting crickets in this feeder bowl that they supposedly can’t climb out of. (Has a mesh cylinder coming from the middle up to a chain with like a cap on top so they can’t climb around it) well they just hopped out onto the screens and hid lol he did walk around and pick some off though. Once I have the bigger cage done I can hang that from around the middle so they’re not close to screen.

But mainly was asking as they’re juveniles eating just crickets you guys just dump in cage and let them hunt for them? Don’t see much another option. Was thinking today a deep cup maybe I put ‘em in maybe will keep them a bit better and zip tie to a branch or something.

I used to dump crickets in and let them do their thing. It turned out to be a mistake. Cleaning requirements drastically increase, to say the least. It's highly recommended on here to NOT let crickets roam.

we usually runs cricket runs or screen feeders. I am using this screen feeder that I got from Frams chams. It uses magnets to stick onto the enclosure. You put it high up in the enclosure to where your cham wont have any issues seeing the crickets climbing to the top of it but obviously to where the bottom part is still reachable. I'll share a pic of how mine is setup soon.

keep in mind SOME crickets (sometimes more than some lol) will get out and this is usually okay as long as its not all of them. My little guy will hunt them if they get out. Sometimes he doesnt get them and for some reason they end up down on the bottom in the tub I have capturing water lol. Just keep things clean and it should be okay.

crickets wont stay in a cup unless its real deep. And then you might find it hard to get the set up right (I went through this!). Ultimately this window feeder is what I went with. Only took my little guy 1 day to learn to feed from it.

 

[Steve A]

Great thank you! I tried putting crickets in this feeder bowl that they supposedly can’t climb out of. (Has a mesh cylinder coming from the middle up to a chain with like a cap on top so they can’t climb around it) well they just hopped out onto the screens and hid lol he did walk around and pick some off though. Once I have the bigger cage done I can hang that from around the middle so they’re not close to screen.

But mainly was asking as they’re juveniles eating just crickets you guys just dump in cage and let them hunt for them? Don’t see much another option. Was thinking today a deep cup maybe I put ‘em in maybe will keep them a bit better and zip tie to a branch or something.

So this is how I have it set up. Notice you can see him and he can easily see them climbing up. He's far away from it but he has branches that are really close to the feeder so he can also look down into the bottom.

 

[CryptKeeper]

So this is how I have it set up. Notice you can see him and he can easily see them climbing up. He's far away from it but he has branches that are really close to the feeder so he can also look down into the bottom.

Ah yeah that’s nice! Ima see how my feeder I bought works with the new cage. It’s too big for the smaller cage it just touches the screened walls and they jump right onto that

 

[CryptKeeper]

Anyone a pro with mistking? I’m setting up the timers according to the website and I see no mention of this second timer next to the time counting down from 99.

And when setting the 9 settings I couldn’t set any to not go on. I just set the extras to go on for like 5 seconds.

Also how many times a day you guys misting with mistking? And for how long?

I set it to mist 5 min before lights come on for 1min and 5min before they’re off for a min before mister comes on. Then throughout the day like every 2-3 hours I have it set for 30 seconds idk if that’s too much or what.

 

[Gingero]

In the picture you posted it’s set up for 99 hours 24 minutes and 19 seconds.

Hours : Minutes : Seconds

If you don’t want it to go off at all, then all 3 of those numbers need to be set to 00:00:00

This is one of my oldest videos I have on YouTube. I hope it helps you out:

How often you mist and how long you mist is dependent on your species requirements and natural humidity of where you live. Someone in a drier climate will mist more often than someone in a humid climate. Most people mist 2x a day once in the morning before lights turn on for 2-3 minutes and once after lights turn off for 2-3 minutes.

 

[elizaann2]

I get my crickets from Josh's Frogs, I get about 1,000 at a time

BSFL, dubia, wax worms, super worms and horn worms I get at dubia.com and order those in bulk (1,000 bsfl, 100 wax, 100 supers, horn worms I get off and on but not constantly)

Silkworms I get from costal silks and my next batch I want to try Frams Chams.

 

[CryptKeeper]

In the picture you posted it’s set up for 99 hours 24 minutes and 19 seconds.

Hours : Minutes : Seconds

If you don’t want it to go off at all, then all 3 of those numbers need to be set to 00:00:00

This is one of my oldest videos I have on YouTube. I hope it helps you out:

How often you mist and how long you mist is dependent on your species requirements and natural humidity of where you live. Someone in a drier climate will mist more often than someone in a humid climate. Most people mist 2x a day once in the morning before lights turn on for 2-3 minutes and once after lights turn off for 2-3 minutes.

Awesome thanks so much! And yeah it’s humid here in summer. I’m on Long Island NY. So I’ll play with it. They don’t need much humidity during day right? More so just spots to drink from? So hand misting could work for that. Do they ever drink from a bowl or anything? Or just the leaves and wherever water pools?

 

[CryptKeeper]

In the picture you posted it’s set up for 99 hours 24 minutes and 19 seconds.

Hours : Minutes : Seconds

If you don’t want it to go off at all, then all 3 of those numbers need to be set to 00:00:00

This is one of my oldest videos I have on YouTube. I hope it helps you out:

How often you mist and how long you mist is dependent on your species requirements and natural humidity of where you live. Someone in a drier climate will mist more often than someone in a humid climate. Most people mist 2x a day once in the morning before lights turn on for 2-3 minutes and once after lights turn off for 2-3 minutes.

Figured I did something wrong haha. I don’t have the new cage done yet so haven’t used the mister yet just tried to setup the timer. I’ll watch your video then ask any other questions I have. Appreciate it!

 

[CryptKeeper]

I get my crickets from Josh's Frogs, I get about 1,000 at a time

BSFL, dubia, wax worms, super worms and horn worms I get at dubia.com and order those in bulk (1,000 bsfl, 100 wax, 100 supers, horn worms I get off and on but not constantly)

Silkworms I get from costal silks and my next batch I want to try Frams Chams.

Question about what he can eat at this age. Can it be anything that’s the size of the distance between eyes? Or just crickets now since he’s young? He seems bigger than he described though and eats 3/4” crickets no problem. Issue is they just hide in the cage and once he’s in bigger one they’ll really hide. I have a feeder with like a mesh cylinder coming from the middle up for them to climb and a cap sorta thing to stop them from crawling up the chain. But they just jump off into the foliage and hide all day until they die lol. He does get a couple here and there but he doesn’t seem to hunt. Just when one goes by him or he sees them. Seems like he’d eat more but doesn’t see them ya know. I try my best to get them to go near him but obviously doesn’t work and stresses him out it seems when I’m in there messing around he walks away and hides.

 

[CryptKeeper]

Question about what he can eat at this age. Can it be anything that’s the size of the distance between eyes? Or just crickets now since he’s young? He seems bigger than he described though and eats 3/4” crickets no problem. Issue is they just hide in the cage and once he’s in bigger one they’ll really hide. I have a feeder with like a mesh cylinder coming from the middle up for them to climb and a cap sorta thing to stop them from crawling up the chain. But they just jump off into the foliage and hide all day until they die lol. He does get a couple here and there but he doesn’t seem to hunt. Just when one goes by him or he sees them. Seems like he’d eat more but doesn’t see them ya know. I try my best to get them to go near him but obviously doesn’t work and stresses him out it seems when I’m in there messing around he walks away and hides.

Dubai roaches can he eat at this age or any worms? He’s like 4 months I think. Hard to tell his size bc there’s no perspective here but he isn’t tiny. I want something to make sure he’s eating enough. Crickets I can’t tell bc they just hide or he eats em idk lol I’ve seen him eat a bunch but not today yet. And only saw him eat like 2 yesterday

 

[CryptKeeper]

I get my crickets from Josh's Frogs, I get about 1,000 at a time

BSFL, dubia, wax worms, super worms and horn worms I get at dubia.com and order those in bulk (1,000 bsfl, 100 wax, 100 supers, horn worms I get off and on but not constantly)

Silkworms I get from costal silks and my next batch I want to try Frams Chams.

Also do you gut load them? What do you use? I read the gut load only lasts like 24 hours

 

[CryptKeeper]

I get my crickets from Josh's Frogs, I get about 1,000 at a time

BSFL, dubia, wax worms, super worms and horn worms I get at dubia.com and order those in bulk (1,000 bsfl, 100 wax, 100 supers, horn worms I get off and on but not constantly)

Silkworms I get from costal silks and my next batch I want to try Frams Chams.

Ok I’m reading the orange cubes are garbage but repashy is good. I just don’t know if that’s all I need to use or do I need to give them separate water too or any other type of food to gut load

 

[elizaann2]

Question about what he can eat at this age. Can it be anything that’s the size of the distance between eyes? Or just crickets now since he’s young? He seems bigger than he described though and eats 3/4” crickets no problem. Issue is they just hide in the cage and once he’s in bigger one they’ll really hide. I have a feeder with like a mesh cylinder coming from the middle up for them to climb and a cap sorta thing to stop them from crawling up the chain. But they just jump off into the foliage and hide all day until they die lol. He does get a couple here and there but he doesn’t seem to hunt. Just when one goes by him or he sees them. Seems like he’d eat more but doesn’t see them ya know. I try my best to get them to go near him but obviously doesn’t work and stresses him out it seems when I’m in there messing around he walks away and hides.

I wouldn't feed your cham any bug that is bigger than the width between his eyes or even a little smaller. You can feed him any of the other typical feeders (see attached photo), just know that it may take him time to realize they are also tasty bugs to eat.

I think I know what you are talking about for your feeder run, I use a sunset chameleon feeder run and it works great for me. My crickets dont get out often and if I put a piece of apple in the bottom they really dont get out. (attached as well)

That actually makes sense, chameleons are more 'wait and pounce when something comes by' type of eaters, even in the wild. I'd try a different feeder run and see how that goes.

 

[CryptKeeper]

I wouldn't feed your cham any bug that is bigger than the width between his eyes or even a little smaller. You can feed him any of the other typical feeders (see attached photo), just know that it may take him time to realize they are also tasty bugs to eat.

I think I know what you are talking about for your feeder run, I use a sunset chameleon feeder run and it works great for me. My crickets dont get out often and if I put a piece of apple in the bottom they really dont get out. (attached as well)

That actually makes sense, chameleons are more 'wait and pounce when something comes by' type of eaters, even in the wild. I'd try a different feeder run and see how that goes.

Ahhh no mines different and they jump out easily into the foliage. Yours looks really cool. And I just got him some Dubias roaches large bc the mediums were tiny and seemed all dead. They were a tad too big. He ate one took him a little while to chew then he didn’t eat anymore so maybe too big. I bought meal worms and super worms too. The crickets just disappear I gotta get a different feeder like yours. Thanks!

 

[CryptKeeper]

I wouldn't feed your cham any bug that is bigger than the width between his eyes or even a little smaller. You can feed him any of the other typical feeders (see attached photo), just know that it may take him time to realize they are also tasty bugs to eat.

I think I know what you are talking about for your feeder run, I use a sunset chameleon feeder run and it works great for me. My crickets dont get out often and if I put a piece of apple in the bottom they really dont get out. (attached as well)

That actually makes sense, chameleons are more 'wait and pounce when something comes by' type of eaters, even in the wild. I'd try a different feeder run and see how that goes.

This is the feeder. But it’s too big for the cage it’ll lean against screen so they get out easy. And now my bigger cage I have so much foliage I think I’ll have same issue lol

 

[CryptKeeper]

Here’s the new build so far. Is that too many plants/foliage? Or more the better?

 

[Steve A]

This is the feeder. But it’s too big for the cage it’ll lean against screen so they get out easy. And now my bigger cage I have so much foliage I think I’ll have same issue lol

I had this one and sent it back. As you've mentioned, you need a pretty large enclosure for it to work (it would work with my current one but I dont like the design now that I've tried it), and the crickets literally just hop out all over the place... oh and despite that guard at the top they STILL manage to climb up the chain, climb right over and and just get to the top anyway!

I thought the idea was cool looking at it online. In person, it's expensive for what it is IMO, and it just does not contain crickets in my experience.

I've tried quite a few ways to contain crickets. As I've already mentioned, the best thing I found was Fram chams screen feeder. They still get out though but thats mostly because my screen isn't perfectly straight in some areas. Maybe some time I will replace that screen.

 

[CryptKeeper]

I had this one and sent it back. As you've mentioned, you need a pretty large enclosure for it to work (it would work with my current one but I dont like the design now that I've tried it), and the crickets literally just hop out all over the place... oh and despite that guard at the top they STILL manage to climb up the chain, climb right over and and just get to the top anyway!

I thought the idea was cool looking at it online. In person, it's expensive for what it is IMO, and it just does not contain crickets in my experience.

I've tried quite a few ways to contain crickets. As I've already mentioned, the best thing I found was Fram chams screen feeder. They still get out though but thats mostly because my screen isn't perfectly straight in some areas. Maybe some time I will replace that screen.

Yeah that thing does not hold crickets haha and now my larger enclosure I can tell it’ll do same thing. So thanks for the advice I’ll grab the one you have give it a try. Is it on Amazon?

 

[CryptKeeper]

Loving his new enclosure! Now gotta set all the digital timers and what not.

 

[Steve A]

Yeah that thing does not hold crickets haha and now my larger enclosure I can tell it’ll do same thing. So thanks for the advice I’ll grab the one you have give it a try. Is it on Amazon?

Unfortunately I don't think they use amazon. I just looked and didn't see it on there. The only screen feeder I see on Amazon..... let's just say I wouldn't suggest it. No way that thing contains any crickets. It's also like $34 anyway which makes it pointless.

The one I personally recommend is this one
https://framschams.com/products/scr...oard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web

The only other screen feeder I've tried is this one. Many recommend it. I personally did not like it because I don't like using the thumb tacks to secure the feeder. You HAVE to put holes in your screen to make this work basically. Not that they're big holes or anything....
https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery

Ironically..... now that I think about it. If you add more thumb tacks to the middle of that shooting gallery I think it would actually solve my problem of crickets getting out from the sides lol. But I really really really prefer using magnets.

It was a pain in the butt for me to have to use the thumb tacks since you are removing this every day, getting rid of uneaten cricekts,etc. And I personally remove it every day to clean it.

Both work.