Newbie panther owner - would appreciate some feedback!

[SeattleStar]

We live near Seattle and just got a 3-4 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon four days ago. He belongs to my daughter who is 10. He is eating and drinking and pooping but we are new to reptiles, want to do right by this little guy, and have lots of questions!

She handles him 3-4 times per day and he seems to enjoy climbing all over her. He is pooping 1-2x/day, generally in the morning, and the droppings are a mix of white and dark. We feed him six small crickets per day, dusted with calcium (no D3). This is the amount our breeder told us he was previously eating. Is it enough? He eats them all. Should we put in more at some point because he is growing and, if so, will he self regulate or possibly over feed? We have purchased Rep-Cal herptivite and ExoTerra calcium with D3 but given him neither yet. I’m not sure how often to give at this age? I don’t know when/if he last received either. We feed him in the afternoon when my daughter gets home from school but he was fed in the morning at the breeder – does this matter? We bought Repashy SuperLoad Insect Gutload for the crickets but I don’t know if it’s working, we would appreciate advice about that. Would fresh produce be better, or in addition? How many crickets should we buy at a time, maybe 40, to allow ample time to gut feed without running to the pet store every few days?

He is in a 30x16x16” zoo med Reptibreeze screen cage which is placed on top of a small end table. We have a combo dome lamp with the following bulbs: Reptisun 5.0 13 watt mini compact fluorescent and Flukers 150 watt incandescent basking bulb. The lights are both scheduled to be on 8am to 8pm although there is ambient light in the room until 9:30pm (he is in my daughter’s room). The temperature is about 82 degrees 8” from the top of the cage and 75 degrees 18 inches from the top. We can’t get the humidity about 30-35% despite frequent misting, though it is on the top of the cage. Right now we are hand misting 4-5 times per day but we have a repiterain mister coming next week. How often should we set that up? Should I set up a drip system until the mister comes? Should the gauge be placed anywhere in particular? There is one live pothos plant in there along with one fake plant and various sticks and vines.


Any feedback and advice is very welcome for us newbies! Thanks!

 

[Jared910]

We live near Seattle and just got a 3-4 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon four days ago. He belongs to my daughter who is 10. He is eating and drinking and pooping but we are new to reptiles, want to do right by this little guy, and have lots of questions!

She handles him 3-4 times per day and he seems to enjoy climbing all over her. He is pooping 1-2x/day, generally in the morning, and the droppings are a mix of white and dark. We feed him six small crickets per day, dusted with calcium (no D3). This is the amount our breeder told us he was previously eating. Is it enough? He eats them all. Should we put in more at some point because he is growing and, if so, will he self regulate or possibly over feed? We have purchased Rep-Cal herptivite and ExoTerra calcium with D3 but given him neither yet. I’m not sure how often to give at this age? I don’t know when/if he last received either. We feed him in the afternoon when my daughter gets home from school but he was fed in the morning at the breeder – does this matter? We bought Repashy SuperLoad Insect Gutload for the crickets but I don’t know if it’s working, we would appreciate advice about that. Would fresh produce be better, or in addition? How many crickets should we buy at a time, maybe 40, to allow ample time to gut feed without running to the pet store every few days?

He is in a 30x16x16” zoo med Reptibreeze screen cage which is placed on top of a small end table. We have a combo dome lamp with the following bulbs: Reptisun 5.0 13 watt mini compact fluorescent and Flukers 150 watt incandescent basking bulb. The lights are both scheduled to be on 8am to 8pm although there is ambient light in the room until 9:30pm (he is in my daughter’s room). The temperature is about 82 degrees 8” from the top of the cage and 75 degrees 18 inches from the top. We can’t get the humidity about 30-35% despite frequent misting, though it is on the top of the cage. Right now we are hand misting 4-5 times per day but we have a repiterain mister coming next week. How often should we set that up? Should I set up a drip system until the mister comes? Should the gauge be placed anywhere in particular? There is one live pothos plant in there along with one fake plant and various sticks and vines.


Any feedback and advice is very welcome for us newbies! Thanks!

Here's some tips I think most others on here would agree with;
1. Handle much less often, even if he seems "fine" with it, these animals do not like being held and 3-4 times every day is excessive and will cause stress.
2. 6 crickets is not enough. This is one reason why it's recommended to feed in the morning. You can hand feed a certain amount and then just leave a bunch in the cage to let him hunt during the day. He wants to be eating much more than 6 a day. Also, definately use fresh produce over the store bought, use melon, oranges, pears, kale, dandelion greens, etc.
3. Cage seems good with the amount of foliage, but I would definately work on letting him get higher ip towards the top, there's a lot of wasted space where he could be walking around at the top.
4. 30% humidity is very low and will cause problems, the mister should help a lot, and there's a lot of posts you can find on here with people recommending misting schedules, but generally do a few longer ones during the day to give enough time to drink (3 minutes), as well as a few shorter ones just to moisten the cage and keep the humidity up (1 minute).

These are just a couple things I thought I would mention, let me know if you have any questions and I'm sure other more experienced members on here will chime in.

 

[Nursemaia]

I think it needs much more foliage and climbing branches. It should look like a jungle. Plus adding more live plants will help with humidity

 

[nino]

We live near Seattle and just got a 3-4 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon four days ago. He belongs to my daughter who is 10. He is eating and drinking and pooping but we are new to reptiles, want to do right by this little guy, and have lots of questions!

She handles him 3-4 times per day and he seems to enjoy climbing all over her. He is pooping 1-2x/day, generally in the morning, and the droppings are a mix of white and dark. We feed him six small crickets per day, dusted with calcium (no D3). This is the amount our breeder told us he was previously eating. Is it enough? He eats them all. Should we put in more at some point because he is growing and, if so, will he self regulate or possibly over feed? We have purchased Rep-Cal herptivite and ExoTerra calcium with D3 but given him neither yet. I’m not sure how often to give at this age? I don’t know when/if he last received either. We feed him in the afternoon when my daughter gets home from school but he was fed in the morning at the breeder – does this matter? We bought Repashy SuperLoad Insect Gutload for the crickets but I don’t know if it’s working, we would appreciate advice about that. Would fresh produce be better, or in addition? How many crickets should we buy at a time, maybe 40, to allow ample time to gut feed without running to the pet store every few days?

He is in a 30x16x16” zoo med Reptibreeze screen cage which is placed on top of a small end table. We have a combo dome lamp with the following bulbs: Reptisun 5.0 13 watt mini compact fluorescent and Flukers 150 watt incandescent basking bulb. The lights are both scheduled to be on 8am to 8pm although there is ambient light in the room until 9:30pm (he is in my daughter’s room). The temperature is about 82 degrees 8” from the top of the cage and 75 degrees 18 inches from the top. We can’t get the humidity about 30-35% despite frequent misting, though it is on the top of the cage. Right now we are hand misting 4-5 times per day but we have a repiterain mister coming next week. How often should we set that up? Should I set up a drip system until the mister comes? Should the gauge be placed anywhere in particular? There is one live pothos plant in there along with one fake plant and various sticks and vines.


Any feedback and advice is very welcome for us newbies! Thanks!

 

[nino]

Sounds like your doing good.what I did to keep the humidity up was cover the back and one side with a thin rubber material I got from wall mart its black used for kitchen cabinets. Like a liner. And coconut husk on the bottom of the cage also get the drop pan holds water. And real plants u can find a list on here that will keep it wet and humidity up. Good luck.

 

[Nursemaia]

Don't put anything on the bottom of the cage. No substrate at all. Chams have been known to eat it on accident and have it cause an impaction. It can kill them

 

[Scottsquatch]

You say the highest point he can get is 82F? I would make some adjustments to get it up to 86. Also as recommended, use something to close in two of the sides. That will really help keep the humidity up with the addition of a few more live plants. Good luck!

 

[Whyte Monkee]

Really cut back on the handling. 3-4 times a day and you just got him, that is way too much.

I just got a panther a few days ago and I haven't handled him once, I don't plan to until after the first 1-2 weeks so he can settle in. Even after I still wont handle him very often.

When you do handle, avoid going in and grabbing the lizard. The proper way to handle them is to let them crawl up on you by putting your fingers/ hands underneath their front legs.

Watch it's body language, if it doesn't like something it will show you (run away, puff up, get really dark, gape its mouth). This will avoid stressing it out a lot which will make it susceptible to sickness and might cause it to lose its appetite and could eventually lead to it dying. Give it time, it will get used to you, start with hand feeding and it will progress from there.

Also feed it as many different bugs as you can, and as much as you can until it is about 1 year old (then cut back or it will get fat)!

I highly suggest that you check out the care sheet for panthers on this website it is the best that I've seen

Here is a link to it.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/

I also highly suggest that you get some meters/timers if you don't already have any. That way you can keep things automated, and keep track of the temp, humidity, etc.

I got mine from neherpetoculture.com, and there are some good products at joshsfrogs.com as well.

Utilize the "Resources" tab on this website it will help loads.

Good luck!

 

[kinyonga]

There's less concern about overfeeding it if it's a male. Give it as much as it will eat in a minute or so at each feeding until it's nearing maturity.

Dusting at almost every feeding with a phosphorous-free calcium powder will help to make up for the poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects. Dusting twice a month lightly with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder ensures that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest of it from its exposure to the UVB light. D3from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues but D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it at will. Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A is also recommended. PrOformed sources will not build up in the system like prEformed sources can and it leaves it up to you to decide if/when your chameleon needs some prEformed. Panthers seem to need it more than veileds from what I've read.

I feed/gutload crickets, roaches, superworms with greens such as dandelion greens, kale, endive, escarole, collards, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a bit of fruit such as berries, melon, apples, pears, etc.

Hope that helps!