My panther was already an adult when I got him but I’m guessing it’s the same as a Jackson’s or veiled, 12-15 small feeders daily. Really you want them to eat as much as they want. My current juvenile is eating 10-15 small crickets daily with a mixture of bsf, wax moths and/or bsfl on top of that.
Its ok ! I did the same for 6 months, then I realized I was saying it wrong. The local is the location where that chameleon's bloodline is from. There are lots, the most common ones we see are Ambilobe, Sambava, Nosey Be, and Ambanja.
Thank you @Gloriawood for getting this!
I am feeding him 5 Dubia roaches (they are small and he seems to be really hungry) and 1 hornworm per day. I believe he should be eating a bit more than this, but let’s see what @elizaann2 says. He should be eating at least 12-15 small feeders every day. Adding a variety of bugs would also be great, BSFL are excellent feeders because if you dont feed them off quickly enough they hatch into flys and then you have an enriching bug to feed because they have to hunt it down. These are my panther's favorite feeders besides superworms. I'm attaching a list of other great feeders for you to add a variety for your little guy if you would like. I have gut loaded the dubia roaches with spring mix, sweet potato, and apple. I would actually ditch the spring mix, keep the sweet potatoes and apples and then add collard greens or mustard greens. I've attached a list of great gut load items for you below. I think the hornworms that I ordered from TC insects are already gut loaded with the smelly light brown stuff they come with but I’m not sure. yes that is their food. No need to gut load these guys.Yep If you ever order silkworms, they will come with green smelly stuff, this is the silks gutload. I feed him in the morning around 9 when I get up. I use the misting technique and I have a humidifier. In the morning I turn on the humidifier for 20 mins and then mist the cage manually for 5 minutes. Then I turn the lights on. At night before I turn off the lights I mist for 5 minutes and I see him drink (which I heard may be a bad thing?) not always a bad thing. They tend to be shy drinkers though. If he is openly drinking, you may try running a dripper during the day to see if it helps with hydration. This is something that varies for everyone depending on where you live. Humidifiers, drippers, foggers and misting are all tools we can use to achieve the right humidity and hydration. It can take some playing around with to get it just right. There is no set in stone way to do it, it’s what works for you and where you live. Just monitor your humidity and his urates and adjust as needed. You want high humidity with low temps at night and then low humidity with higher temps during the day. I would recommmend using your humidifier at night not in the morning or during the day. My fog machines run 30 min on, 30 min off from 12-6 am. I mist at 7:30 am, this creates dew for my chameleon to drink if he needs. My lights turn on at 8 at which point my enclosure starts to dry out for the day. For a panther chameleon you want 50-60% humidity during the day. I install a dripper at 3 pm and let it run for about 10 minutes. My chameleons do not drink often so I know if I see them drink I need to adjust somehting, I'll add another dripper during the day or up my fogging. I mist again at 10:00 before I go to bed (I also manually hand mist). You want your urates to be nice and white, a little orange at the end is ok, poops you want to be moist and solid, nut not super squishy. (yuck). This schedule may not work for you knowing you live in a more humid state, but if your baby is dehydrated then I would suggest adding at least something similar to the above schedule. then I turn off the lights and turn on the humidifier for 20 mins. For his fecal droppings i think they look a bit like he’s dehydrated, I will send a picture when he poops today! I am using a live pothos plant and today I am changing him to a 2x2x4 today and getting a lot more sticks and live plants. great! Would love to see pics of the set up when it’s done! Agreed! Please share your creation when you are done. Besides seeing everyone's chams, my second favorite part is seeing the beautiful environments people create for their chameleons.He was in a temporary enclosure while we were waiting for this one to ship! The cage is all screen and I have it placed on a high table. He’s in my guest bedroom with the door closed and not in a high traffic area. Lastly, I live in Georgia! Oh and for supplements I have calcium without D3 and the reptile vitamins with D3! sounds like you are on the right path! perfection!!
. Oh also he ate from my palm today which is super huge I think!! He’s warming up to me for sure!
Awesome! So glad it seems to be going well. You can make a homemade dripper by poking a hole in the bottom of a plastic cup and setting it on top of the enclosure. And yes it is super huge he ate out of your hand! That’s awesome! It usually takes some time for them to get used to you and do that so yay!! My guy doesn’t like BSFL as much as dubia so he eats those lastThank you!!! I just put herbie to bed but will post his new enclosure in the morning! I think I need some more sticks for him! And I am still seeing him drink even after I installed the misters so I’m going to get a dripper like you suggested! And wow I am definitely underfeeding him, the pet store only had med to large crickets and he seems to be eating those fine, he does not like the dubia roaches because he saves those for last
as far as feeder size, as long as it is smaller than the space between Herbie’s eyes, you should be good. You can also order bugs online which was a life saver for me. They are cheaper and healthier than my pet store. I recommend dubiaroaches.com. They also have variety packs of bugs. There are some other site sponsors as well like rainbowmealworms but I was suggested dubiaroaches and have stuck with them since I was so pleased.
I order my bugs in bulk at dubia.com, Josh’s frogs and costal silks or framschamsThank you!!! I just put herbie to bed but will post his new enclosure in the morning! I think I need some more sticks for him! And I am still seeing him drink even after I installed the misters so I’m going to get a dripper like you suggested! And wow I am definitely underfeeding him, the pet store only had med to large crickets and he seems to be eating those fine, he does not like the dubia roaches because he saves those for last
