New setup advice

[RPCV]

I've been planning for about a month. Trying to edumacate myself lurking on this site and talking to a breeder that has been too generous with her time. This has made me realize that there is a wealth of knowledge and expertise out there and I have a lot to learn.

Planning on having a 3 month old Panther delivered next week if the weather holds. Here is what I have going; please evaluate and let me know if I'm missing anything or messing this up.

- Enclosure; I have the option of a 29 gallon glass aquarium (till he grows a bit) or a 30x18x48 all screen enclosure. Not sure whether to start him in the aquarium or larger set-up. If I went with the larger then I guess I would have to cup feed. The glass is probably better for size and maintaining humidity but I'm concerned about lack of air movement. Thoughts?

- Lighting; Repti-sun 5.0 24 inch plus 40w basking for small enclosure & 100w basking for large enclosure (8.5" dome). Current basking temp 90 degrees in small enclosure with ambient temps about 80 degrees. Gets to 67 over night.

- Large Pothos plant set in the middle of a twig plant holder. Probably going to get some kind of dracaena to go with it. Two fake vines and plenty of sticks.

- Rep-cal with D3 & herptivite; plan on alternating days of dusting with no supplements one day a week

- Cricket keeper; using vegetable and fruit scraps and having our baby share some of his gerber for gut loading (start with 1/4 crickets & house fly as snacks). Figure the cham can also give some of his crickets to the baby so we can teach sharing.

- Little dripper and hand mister (considering humidifier if I go with screen enclosure during the winter)

- Thermometer and hygrometer

Am I on the right track here? Want to make sure it's good to go before critter arrival. Advice is appreciated and a big thanks for all those that take their time posting to help us newb's out.

 

[pssh]

Temps are too high. You want 70-75 ambient, and 80-83 basking. As for supplements, you want to use a calcium without d3 five times a week, a calcium with d3, two to four times a month, and a multivitamin once a month. My crickets wont touch baby food. Gutload with high calcium low phos veggies, greens, and fruits. Heres a link, but stay away from broccoli, spinach, and tomatoes:

http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_ratio.html

Pretty much all of sandrachameleon's blogs are amazing, so check those out too.

As for air movement, you can use a small computer fan positioned so that it draws air out of the enclosure, not blowing into it though. Section off the bottom half of the big enclosure if you want to use a screen enclosure. What is the humidity like right now?

 

[RPCV]

Thanks - looks like I have one more supplement to pick up.

Running about 40% Rh in the basking area; 50% ambient and 50% over night. This is in the glass aquarium which I set up and have been monitoring for a couple days.

 

[pssh]

Sounds good. What is it like in the screen one?

 

[RPCV]

I have not set up the screen one to check (it is being delivered on Monday). Was all set to go on the aquarium until I read another thread about respiratory infections. That gave me second thoughts. I have a strong microbiology/ventilation background but know nothing about cham. susceptibility.

No gerber. Too bad. Still gonna have the cham share its crickets. It'll be fun.

 

[pssh]

well, if you dont mind spending a little more money, they have these screen tops that you can put ontop of 10,20,and 29 gallon enclosures that make it taller, and the chams spend most of their time in the upper areas.

 

[RPCV]

Was thinking about that but did not seam practical given that I'd use it for a few months then have to sell it or let it collect dust.

 

[pssh]

Was thinking about that but did not seam practical given that I'd use it for a few months then have to sell it or let it collect dust.

Unless you get another baby Or you can get some geckos!