New owner questions and worries

[ferretinmyshoes]

Dooley1 for multiple generations of captive bred carpets.
Seeco for multiple generations of captive bred K. multi.
Chuck G for parsons - multiple healthy adults and recently hatched captive bred babies doing great.
Laurie for several generations of quadrocornis and deremensis.
Several people have hatched cb melleri too.
And over in Europe there are successful breeders of other unusual species, even namaquensis.

You sure are pretty judgmental for someone doing the same as the rest of us. What success can you claim?

 

[Zerah Morris]

Kudos my friend. Time has done you well

 

[Zerah Morris]

Mine

Here is the group I left with. All still healthy and some breeding successfully. I added 3 parson females. Three batches of eggs all infertile

https://www.chameleonforums.com/sunday-morning-chams-13006/

 

[Kath44]

I don't believe you're at all helpful to op, or in fact this forum.
To come and just try to score points isn't clever.

As for the enclosure the op has at the moment, it has airflow, as it's a exo terra and I believe many have kept chams successfully in these. The only thing I'd say is its a shame they don't make them bigger.
Welcome to the forum op. Promise we are all not like the score pointing simon cowell wannabe!
Kath.

 

[Zerah Morris]

hostile

and truly moderator if you re-read. I was attacked for giving my opinion, because it was not presented in the way another felt it should have been. I came here with nothing but love for a forum I enjoyed and I needed some gestation period updates. Thats all. But you put me in a corner and well Ill never be a tobacco worm.

 

[Carlton]

GET HIM OUT of the glass enclosure, they become "snowblind" from all of the reflected light and develop a kind of conjuntivitis which hurts their eyes ,not to worry they recover from that with no lasting effects, he MUST BE in a screened in cage

Well this is news to me! I have never heard of glass reflections causing conjunctivitis before. I have heard of some CF bulbs causing eye problems. Glass reflection can cause stress because under the right light conditions it seems to produce what looks like a constant rival, and because the cham doesn't understand why it can't get past an invisible barrier to the room. It can end up pawing at the glass or displaying at the rival for hours on end. It also varies. Individual chams who are more reactive in general may be bothered but other mellow ones may not. You'll just have to be aware of this until you get to know him.

No, it is not a complete MUST to use a screen cage. Many keepers especially over across the pond use these modified glass/screen enclosures successfully.

This setup seems small for him and needs a lot more live foliage for cover. One reason I don't use formed backgrounds is that they seem to take up space that could be filled with live foliage and more perch space. My preference of course, but as chams are arboreal it just seems more appropriate to provide shrubby living quarters instead of rock walls.

 

[Carlton]

Lol that was funny. As for the origin thread starter, I impulse bought myself. I was able to research here and correct my horrible living condition for my Jackson. Initial start up is speedy, but worth it. Your guy will be just fine. Just try and follow what has been said to you on here. Everyone is right in there own way. They all just said it differently. Sad fact is, tons of people impulse by these beautiful creature. Just try to quickly fix all the bad, because losing such a beautiful panther would be tragic. Best of luck! AND welcome to the forums!

The majority of cham keepers most likely did impulse buy their first one especially years ago before web search engines started providing almost instant husbandry information. What they did afterward to make sure they were being responsible speaks volumes and in the end, matters most.

OP, you and your beautiful panther are very welcome!

 

[Carlton]

Take panthers and veiled out. What ya got? Dead bodies.

I'm sure Mike are Chris can give insight as to the number of species imported annually.

Except that, in the OP's case we ARE talking about what appears to be a healthy cbb panther! A very different situation than a miserable recent import of any species.

 

[sharlaxle]

Ok so skipping over the death/dying /we are killing our pets... Awo128 welcome to the forum
As you can see we are passionate about our chameleons, and we all have at one time or another come asking for help and opinions.
I do want to say I'm glad you found us, it shows you really do love your little guy ( by the way whats his name?) and we are happy to have you here.
I did see JannB gave you her care sheet. Many of us use it. As to the enclosure there is an ongoing argument over screen vs glass. For some of us up in the frozen north we have to use glass in the deep winter or we would never keep our little ones warm enough.
As for this question
Eyes
This morning when waking up I saw him doing this funky eye manoeuvre. He seemed to pull his eye in and roll it, you could see a sort of reddish internal lenses?? Wipe across his eye….only did it a couple of times before getting up and about.
I assume this normal morning behaviour?
Also when I first turned the lights on in the morning his belly/lower half was quite red and coloured as he woke up he went back to his usual green…normal?
Well chams do clean their eyes by bulging them out in an alarming way, then they go back to normal. Without seeing it, it is hard to say whether this is what your little guy is doing or not.
As for the color change, you will see several pictures of chameleons when they are sleeping. They can have amazing sleeping colors that can be quite a change from their awake colors. I call them their jammies, but that's just me. We try to keep an eye on a chameleon who is always dark colored though, he may be stressed, or feeling ill.
So that's my two cents, and I just wanted to welcome you to the forums.

 

[symphonica]

Let's try not to seem cliquey to the newcomers. We were all newcomers once. And back from where this thread has strayed, to the original topic at hand...

Although I disagree with impulse purchases, what's done has been done and all you can do now is do your best to rectify the problem areas to try to care for him properly from here on out.

The pet store clearly wanted an eye-catching set-up, without necessarily thinking about what is best for that cham. I can't speak for all pet stores because there are some where the employees are knowledgeable and truly care about the animals, but remember, they do have money as a motive.

 

[Lathis]

AWO128:

Don't get discouraged by our squabbling. Obviously, we have a passionate group here. Occasionally, tempers will flair and disagreements happen - that's nothing to do with you

Camimom, Jannb, symphonica, and others have given you great advice for moving forward. Be sure to read the caresheets in detail and check out all the great references here:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

People here are more than happy to help you work through any questions at all. You have a handsome little guy there! Don't hesitate to ask questions and do TONS of reading.

Welcome to the forum!