New Chameleon..Few Questions

[joshuaseidman94]

So my uncle met a breeder and cut a deal with him. My uncle owns a gym and got a free panther chameleon in exchange for a free two year membership. I always had a love for animals and the minute I saw my uncles cham I knew I had to have one! I have had two lizards before as well as a number of amphibians and a reef tank and 75 gallon salt water fish tank. So i have a decent amount of animal experience as well as the non stop research i have done over the past two weeks. My uncle thankfully got me in contact with the breeder and i worked out a deal with him for what I think is a great price. I plan on getting my baby within the next two weeks. I just got a few questions.

1. I listed all my cage accessories below, am I missing anything?

5.0 UVB bulb
60 Watt basking bulb
18X18X24 cage (set up by breeder)
Misting machine
Multivitamin
Calcium w/ D3
Calcium w/o D3
Temperature and humidity gauge

2. Is it okay if my house goes down to 68 degrees at night?

3. I anticipate that the cham I am getting to be only a few months old, how often should I feed the little guy and how often should I dust his food with each supplements?

4. The breeder sent me a pic of 4 male chams, he told me i could choose whichever one I want. How do I know which to choose if I am looking for beautiful vibrant colors? Do I rely on luck and genetics from the sire?

5. What is a decent price range for a male Panther chameleon?

Thanks so much for all the help guys!

 

[Decadancin]

So welcome to the forums!

Here are your answers and comments...

Good job with the accessories. A couple things though... as for basking, you may need to have a few wattages for this unless you are able to move the light around to adjust the temp. I use anywhere from a 40 watt to a 75 depending on the season and the temp of my house. As for misting systems, save yourself the aggravation of Monsoon brand and check out the AquaZamp or MistKing systems (both available here through the site sponsors). You will spend about the same $$$ but not have the issues after a month or two.
18x18x24 is a good size to start with (depending on the age of your new cham) but you will have to plan on a much taller one soon for an adult panther. (Make sure to raise it up to make your new friend more comfortable. Don't keep it on the floor ) By "set up by breeder" I'm assuming you mean with vines and foliage, so I won't suggest you get that.
I also would suggest two temp gauges and hygrometers. You need one temp at the basking site and one somewhere else to monitor the enclosure. (For the small starter cage you can skip that, but in the larger enclosure it is a good idea.) I use two hygrometers just in case one fails.

As for the house going down to 68, that's no problem.
As for feeding, this is from the basic care sheet...https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/
Neonates: as many small crickets as they can eat several times a day
Juveniles 3-6 months of age: 10-12 small crickets daily
Juveniles 6-12 months of age: 10-12 medium crickets every other day
Adults over 12 months of age: 7-10 medium-large crickets every other day
Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks.
As for color, there is no guarantee. Male panthers will not disappoint you though. (By the way, we do require pictures from anyone we offer advice to )
As for price range, That can vary. I would be more concerned with who I was getting the chameleon from and how they were raised. The cost of vet bills from a poorly raised cham could be far worse than the initial price. If you want, check out some of the site sponsors here and see what they have in panther stock and check out some prices. (Don't go by the craig's list prices.)

 

[joshuaseidman94]

Thanks so much for all the information! I definitely will be posting pics as soon as receive the little guy! I have been researching prices on Web pages like chameleonsonly and they seem to ask for abt $350 for a male panther. I paid $265 for the cham + mister. As soon as I have the money I definitely will invest in a mistking. Herd amazing things abt it. As a college student though I gotta delay it a few months to save up. Thanks again for all the help