Outdoor time?

[Andie]

Can anyone give me some words of wisdom about this?

I have an 8 mon old, male Panther, who lives on a free range in my house. He gets lots of exercise on his FR, seems content and well fed. 2 trees, with a climbing ladder, basking bar, etc., facing 4 bay windows.

Out on my deck, I placed a very large parrot cage, that I've been keeping to use for my Panther, once the weather got warmer. It's a great cage for climbing, with powder-coated, smooth bars.

I put a big plant with lots of vines in it and twisted them all over so he'd have fun climbing. However, the first time I put him in there, I came out a bit later and he was dark from stress.

I really want him to have time outside each day.
Denser plants maybe? Could he be stressed because he's suddenly in a cage( even though it's large), and not used to that?

I don't want to do anything to stress him. I just want him to have a great time outside in nature.

 

[Lathis]

I'm sure it's overwhelming the first few times for a cham - it must be an almost incomprehensible change of venue! It could be that it's all the new stimuli - birds, wind, sun, planes, cars, etc. I would make sure there is at least one area of very heavily foliage where he can hide and has plenty of shade. Give him time - after a few times of being outside, I'm sure he will become more comfortable and start to love it. I like to give my guy "treats" when taking him outside - I use superworms - so that he associates it with good things. Having a hiding place, dripping water, and access to food will all help your cham identify the outside cage as part of his territory - ie, all his "stuff" is there, too.

 

[RobSquared]

Are you sure it was from the stress? A lot of times Chameleons will turn almost black to absorb more heat. It could have been the temperature and he was just trying to absorb the UVB's up from the natural sunlight. I know I do not have much foliage in my outdoor enclosure and they do just fine. Sometimes they get dark and sometimes they do not. My jacksons always get dark and every now and then my panthers do.

 

[sbristow]

Hi. I put my Panthers outside when it hits around 22 degrees Celsius and rising which isn't often in the UK. They really take to the garden and due to the size of their enclosure they have plenty of roaming. They do like the sun and will darken and flatten their bodies to absorb the heat and UV, they also feed readily and that will include any unfortunate insect that flies into the enclosure (Not stinging insects strangely enough) I also turn off the power on their indoor enclosure and ventilate it whist they are outside.

 

[Andie]

I'm sure it's overwhelming the first few times for a cham - it must be an almost incomprehensible change of venue! It could be that it's all the new stimuli - birds, wind, sun, planes, cars, etc. I would make sure there is at least one area of very heavily foliage where he can hide and has plenty of shade. Give him time - after a few times of being outside, I'm sure he will become more comfortable and start to love it. I like to give my guy "treats" when taking him outside - I use superworms - so that he associates it with good things. Having a hiding place, dripping water, and access to food will all help your cham identify the outside cage as part of his territory - ie, all his "stuff" is there, too.

Great advice. Thank you. I'll give it a shot.

 

[Andie]

Are you sure it was from the stress? A lot of times Chameleons will turn almost black to absorb more heat. It could have been the temperature and he was just trying to absorb the UVB's up from the natural sunlight. I know I do not have much foliage in my outdoor enclosure and they do just fine. Sometimes they get dark and sometimes they do not. My jacksons always get dark and every now and then my panthers do.

My guy has never really darkened when he's basking. If anything, his colors get brighter.
This was definitely stress coloring because the only other time he did it was the first day I put him onto his free range.
He wasn't dark all over. More like black, angry stripes.

 

[Alexander1]

My guy has never really darkened when he's basking. If anything, his colors get brighter.
This was definitely stress coloring because the only other time he did it was the first day I put him onto his free range.
He wasn't dark all over. More like black, angry stripes.

I have a veiled that did that a couple times when I first started taking him outside, keep an eye on it, he should be ok

 

[Andie]

Ok. One more question. Where I have him outside is not always sunny. Lots of trees block the sun, so should I be worried he's not getting enough warm sunlight?

I kept him out there overnight last night. Still spraying him 2-3 times per day and a dripper.
Is that enough? Will he get enough UVB?

Thanks all!

 

[Craigwyatt]

Are you sure it was from the stress? A lot of times Chameleons will turn almost black to absorb more heat. It could have been the temperature and he was just trying to absorb the UVB's up from the natural sunlight. I know I do not have much foliage in my outdoor enclosure and they do just fine. Sometimes they get dark and sometimes they do not. My jacksons always get dark and every now and then my panthers do.

I was getting ready to say something similar. I have some panthers outside now. One in particular is a cap est. During the part of the day where he is getting direct sunlight he is a beautiful white panther. But as soon as the sun starts going down he goes really dark. He's just trying to soak up the last bit of heat from the day.

 

[Andie]

Thanks all. OK. I had a bit of a panic this morning. Yesterday, after a mostly cloudy and 70's type day, I decided to bring him inside and under his lights. He had turned a dark color that I knew came from trying to absorb heat.
Today, since it's raining all day, I knew i couldn't put him outside.

I went to check on him and his eyes were closed. I freaked! He seems OK right now, but now I'm worried. He's never, ever done this before, and I know it can be a sign of something going wrong. If it continues, does anyone have ideas?
Could it be the stress? Something he ate?

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!