New owners - Say hello to Jeff boy!

[craigo]

Hi all , my names Craig and my partner is Jen.

We picked up our first ever male panther chameleon (Jeff) from Repxotics on Saturday 8th March.

Just wanted your opinions, constructive criticism, advice, tips etc on how the enclosure and the boy himself is looking.

A little info:
- Reptibreeze XL.
- Real plants which are; devil's ivy, prayer, china doll, umbrella. (A few fake hanging plants also).
- UVB - Arcadia T5 HO 6% (also have 12% but unsure if needed).
- ZooMed ceramic heat dome with incandescent white 60w bulb and a microclimate dimmer thermostat (29c basking temp).
Hydration - auto mist system, 30mins before lights turn on and 30 mins after lights turn off. DIY dripper during the day. (Humidity during day is 60%, night is 75+).
- Daily feeding - crickets/locusts/morio worms dusted in ZooMed repti calcium without D3. ZooMed Reptivite with D3 will be given twice per month.
- Lights are on 12 hours a day.

Couple of questions:
- Age guesstimate? (Shop wasn't really sure but said around 5 months?).
- Does he look healthy?

Many thanks,

Craig, Jen & Jeff boy.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and warmest welcomes to you, your partner and your beautiful boy! Give me a minute to go through everything.

 

[elizaann2]

See my responses in bold

A little info:
- Reptibreeze XL. Fantastic! Bigger is always better so if down the road you want to give your boy even more space you could purchase a second enclosure and attach it together to create a 4x2x4
- Real plants which are; devil's ivy, prayer, china doll, umbrella. (A few fake hanging plants also).
- UVB - Arcadia T5 HO 6% (also have 12% but unsure if needed). Fantastic list of live plants, I recommend all live plants if possible. They help create more gradients for your chameleon both with temperature and humidity. Plus..if your boy accidentally ingests any of the fake plants, it could cause impaction. Im attaching a list of safe plants for your convenience.
- ZooMed ceramic heat dome with incandescent white 60w bulb and a microclimate dimmer thermostat (29c basking temp). Good, I would suggest adding a separate thermostat on your basking branch to ensure that your dimmer does not malfunction. What kind of UVB light do you have for your boy? Will you share a pic?
Hydration - auto mist system, 30mins before lights turn on and 30 mins after lights turn off. DIY dripper during the day. (Humidity during day is 60%, night is 75+). 30 minutes is a LONG time. I would suggest doing no more than 3-5 minutes as lights go on and off. The DIY dripper is fantastic! Do you fog at night? I'd strongly suggest this, chameleons get their hydration in the wild from the fog banks that come in in the early mornings. Use the dripper every few days to see if he rushes to drink, if he does you need to adjust somehting in your hydration schedule for him, if he ignores it he is hydrated. Also monitor the poop and urate, if the urate is white at the end, he is hydrated. Poop should be firm and hold shape but not hard.
- Daily feeding - crickets/locusts/morio worms dusted in ZooMed repti calcium without D3. ZooMed Reptivite with D3 will be given twice per month. Perfect!! I'm attaching a document with other great feeders. Morio worms are high in fat and should be considered a treat bug


Couple of questions:
- Age guesstimate? (Shop wasn't really sure but said around 5 months?). Hard to say, chameleons grow at different rates depending on the amount of food they get and the environment he was raised in. I am guessing around 8 months or so, he looks less than a year old to me.
- Does he look healthy? Yes, a healthy panther will be active and very routine, he will patrol his enclosure daily. Pay attention to his schedule and know it well, if something is ever off with him, your first signs will be his schedule will be off like getting up later in the day, going to bed earlier, hiding when he does not usually hide etc. Chameleons do not close their eyes during the day so keep an eye out for that, this is also a red flag that something is wrong.
- Lights are on 12 hours a day. Perfect!

My questions for you:
- Has he ever been tested for parasties?
- What are his day ambient temps?
- What are his night temps?
- What is his basking temp?
- What brand and type of UVB light are you using? What is the measurement of the nearest branch directly below his UVB light?

Some great resources for you:
Chameleon Academy - website, podcast & youtube channel
Neptune the Chameleon - website, & youtube channel
Panther care sheet

I've also attached a check list on things you need to make sure is set up for your chameleon. Let me know what questions you have and welcome to the chameleon club! They are SOOOOO fun to have!

 

[MissSkittles]

I just wanted to pop in and say welcome to the forum. Jeff is a good looking guy.

 

[BleuSaphir]

He’s beautiful!

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Thanks for posting pictures of Jeff-Boy your male Furcifer pardalis. Jeff-Boy is a great looking chameleon. Have you got close up pictures of him?

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich