New Panther (and Owner) - Getting Darker and Recent Fall

[Stubbs]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Panther (Nosy Faly), Male, 5 months. Less than one week ownership.
• Handling - Handling: Never
• Feeding - Feeding crickets. 1 horn worm. About 10/12 medium crickets a day in the morning. Gut-loading with apples/ Nature Zone Total Bites.
• Supplements - RepCal calcium w/ d3 daily.
• Watering - MistKing mister, 4/5 2 minute watering sessions. Only noticed drinking once or twice?
• Fecal Description - Based on poop thread, looks normal.
• History - I noticed him trying to eat a fake plant in the cage, so took out the plant. Otherwise, i've seen him fall twice, but both times I was in the cage feeding/ cleaning.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Reptibreeze 18x18x36 screen cage.
• Lighting - Reptisun 5.0 ubv, 75 watt heat bulb. 12 hours on, 12 off?
• Temperature - Temperature gradient of around 85 basking spot, mid to low 70's lower in the cage. During the night, cage is around 70 degrees.
• Humidity - Humidity between 30 and 40 depending on how recently the mister went off. Have a ficus and umbrella tree to maintain humidity.
• Plants - Ficus/ Umbrella.
• Placement - Cage is in my room. No fans/ air vents nearby, but i'm in and out throughout the day. Top of the cage is around 5.5 feet.
• Location - East coast.

Hi everyone,

I got my first panther chameleon this past Tuesday and just want to make sure things seem ok (I'm way anxious and just want to make sure the little guy is ok). Better safe than sorry, right?

I've noticed he has gotten noticeably darker over the last few days and had fallen while climbing on the screen. I've had him for less than a week and know how easily they can be stressed. I try to keep interaction with the cage to a minimum to keep him stress-free, and haven't handled him or anything yet. Aside from the shipping and the inherent stress of a new environment, does anything seem apparently wrong? Like I said above, i'm a new owner, and there's a very good chance i'm just overthinking things, but would love for someone to help me confirm. Thanks everyone!

 

[alphakenc]

Hi Stubbs,have you try to gutload ur feeders with some fresh vegetables instead of the nature zone total bites(not sure meant for the chameleon nutritional needs)also will u add more branches for him to climb so he won't fall that easiy without any branches to give him more chance to explore

 

[ChamDE86]

He's not as light as he was a couple of months ago. My guy had the same issue, believing he could climb the walls and ceiling of his cage at 5-6 months old. I had to add more branches and vines for him to climb in order to prevent him from climbing the screen and falling. He looks fine in the photo you provided. Other than what was already pointed out, the only other issue I see is your supplements. You should have 3 different types of supplements for you chameleon.

-regular calcium WITHOUT d3 needs to be used at every feeding.
-calcium WITH d3 (which you already have) should only be used twice a month
-vitamin dusting twice a month.

 

[Stubbs]

He's not as light as he was a couple of months ago. My guy had the same issue, believing he could climb the walls and ceiling of his cage at 5-6 months old. I had to add more branches and vines for him to climb in order to prevent him from climbing the screen and falling. He looks fine in the photo you provided. Other than what was already pointed out, the only other issue I see is your supplements. You should have 3 different types of supplements for you chameleon.

-regular calcium WITHOUT d3 needs to be used at every feeding.
-calcium WITH d3 (which you already have) should only be used twice a month
-vitamin dusting twice a month.

Awesome, thank you both so much for your input! I'll put some more branches in ASAP and switch up the gut-load a bit. Also, I have the calcium w/ d3 and multivitamins, but haven't had him long enough to switch up his supplementation! Thanks again for the help!