New panther chameleon owner!

[richardschris]

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself, my name is Chris and I live in salt lake city Utah.
I have been wanting a chameleon for years now and was never able to get one until now! I have been preparing for this day for a long time, I have been browsing these forums and many other sites to get me ready for the day that I would finally get my chameleon.

I'm going to detail my setup and everything that I have done to get ready for my new little guy and please critique it as much as you want, I want to be able to raise him the best way possible.

Cage: Size-18x30x36 at full size, I have it sectioned off right now until he gets bigger.

Foliage- I have 2 live plants in the cage. One is an scheflera and the other is an hibiscus, I covered the soil with rocks so he cant get down there and eat dirt. I also have some fake vines twisting through the enclosure.

Lighting- one 22" reptisun 5.0 HO, one 70 watt basking bulb and one 22" 6500k bulb for the plants.

Water- I have a little dripper setup as well as the exo terra monsoon.( I know its not the best but I got a brand new one for 50 bucks, so I couldn't pass it up.)

Temp and humidity- basking spot is around 86-88 F. ambient temp is low 70s. Humidity stays in the 80s for the most part lowest I have seen it go was 49 and that was before I got my lights arranged the right way.

Food- I will be mostly feeding dubias and crickets that I am gutloading with fresh vegetables and bug burger. I am going to try sandras gutload on my next day off. I will also be dusting with calcium without d3 and twice a month with d3.

So thats my setup please let me know if you have any questions for me. I am going to be picking up my chameleon in about an hour and will post pics as soon as I can.

Thank you everyone!

 

[dom1959]

congrats!
welcome to the addiction

 

[szpond]

Although I am not a panther owner (one day...), I'd like to welcome you to the forums and congratulate you on your new family member.


We love photos here!

 

[richardschris]

I just got back from picking up my new baby cham!

Here are some pics but they come with a price lol. I have a couple questions.

First. Could you guys help me identify which sex this guy is, the man helping me was pretty sure it was a male, but I know you guys are better at this.

Second. How long should I wait before I try feeding him and what would be the best way to do it? Cupfeed or freeroam?

 

[carol5208]

I think that is a male also. Welcome to chameleon ownership! Feed him right away! He may not eat for a few days. Some do and some don't. Cupfeeding you can kinda get an idea of how much he is really eating. Free ranging is good as they have to hunt but a lot of times the feeders will hide and you don't know how much they are eating.

 

[Ninkylou]

Congratulations!! He is sooo tiny and so cute. Have fun watching him grow. I can spend hours just watching them.

 

[juice28]

in my unprofessional opinion, i second it as a male.. as far as feeders with my little guys, i do both they arent too keen on cup feeding yet but they notice the food in it so i put a bunch in a cup and let some loose

 

[richardschris]

He wouldnt eat anything tonight, I'll try again in the morning. Hopefully by then he'll be hungry and willing

 

[richardschris]

So I got up this morning and saw the little tike climbing around his cage and I figured I would try to feed him again.
SUCCESS! I put some roaches on leaves that were close to him and he shot and ate them, he ate about 4 roaches and wouldn't try for anymore, im assuming that he is full.

 

[Twigcham]

Chameleons never over eat so when they stop it usually means that he is full. When you first get a chameleon he usually never eats for a couple of days unless he is comfortable so good for you I got my panther a month ago and he ate right away so that was good