Panther Chameleon Oddity

[michaels2408]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Ambilobe Panther Chameloen, purchased from Liddy at Kammer. He is one of Line Drive's baby boys.

Handling - 2-3 times a week for no longer than 2-3 minutes at a time. He will take crickets from the hand without any fear.

Feeding - 1/4 -1/2" crickets from Carolina Crickets.com They are being fed Repashy bug burger, and being dusted with Repashy Superfoods calcium plus. He is eating 10-15 crickets a day.

Supplements - Repashy Superfoods Calcium Plus

Watering - Using a Exo Terra Monsoon. It is set to come on 1 hour after the lights kick on and mists for 30 seconds every 2 hours. I also have a dripper setup to slowly drip water onto the fake foliage. If we spray water right in front of him, he will drink immediately.

Fecal Description - looks kinda like bird droppings. solid black with a west white side. Never tested for anything.

History - We have had him for almost 3 weeks. He has never had a problem eating or drinking. Does not hiss or try to bite us. If we open the cage he will come to the door looking for hand fed crickets. His colors seemed a little dull, but he went through his first shedding about 3 days ago.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Zoo Med 16x16x30. Screen. Had a bigger cage, but he seemed to have trouble hunting, so we moved him into a smaller one.

Lighting - Zoo Med 75watt basking, Zoo Med 75watt nighttime moonlight, Exo Terra Repti Glo 5.0 UVB

Temperature - 90-95 F 6 inches under the basking lamp. 80-70 F throughout different places in the cage. UVA and UVB are on for 12 hours, then moonlight is on for 12 hours.

Humidity - Using Monsoon to spray 30 sec every two hours. Plus dripper slowly drips into foliage. Spraying starts 1 hour after lights come on, and stops 1 hour before lights go off and moonlight comes on. Humidity stays between 55-80 throughout the day and in various spots of his cage.

Plants - All fake plants provided by Kammers.

Placement - Cage is in our bedroom. We do not use the ceiling fan. vents are on the other side of the room. We are careful not to turn on bedroom lights once his night has started.

Location - Savannah, GA.


Current Problem - He will rub his eyes against the sticks and vines with a water droplet, and it will 'pop out' showing red and become much larger. Then after a few seconds he blinks and it pops back in. I am new to chameleons and he has done this several times.

 

[carol5208]

sounds like he is just cleaning his eyes out. you may get some negative feedback on the basking temp as not everyone basks as high as the Kammers but just keep doing what you are doing! i have a kammer cham also!! oh, are you leaving a light on at night, you said a moonlight? if so, that is not necessary.

 

[ataraxia]

Im with carol..

I do have a question though. What is the temperature in the room where the cage is at?? Also what are you using to test temps?

 

[michaels2408]

sounds like he is just cleaning his eyes out. you may get some negative feedback on the basking temp as not everyone basks as high as the Kammers but just keep doing what you are doing! i have a kammer cham also!! oh, are you leaving a light on at night, you said a moonlight? if so, that is not necessary.

I was nervous that the room was getting too cold at night time, so I am running a nighttime bulb to keep the temp in the cage a little higher than room temperature.

 

[michaels2408]

Im with carol..

I do have a question though. What is the temperature in the room where the cage is at?? Also what are you using to test temps?

Our thermostat is set to 70, but its an old house on a stem wall, with a drafty crawlspace. It gets a little cooler than I would like. That is why I run the night time heat lights. I started with an infrared (package claimed chameleons didn't see the wave length). That bulb burnt out quickly, so I bought the moonlight bulb. I use several basic thermometers. I have a Exo Terra digital I plan on installing. Right now its 70 in the house, and 75 where he is sleeping with the moonlight bulb turned on.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Nightime temps into the 60's are fine with panthers. You can certainly keep it warmer, as you have, but its not a problem either way.

The eye agitation is not an issue unless you start to see extended closures, and/or extended mis-shapen eyes.

OBTW folks, 90-95 in the basking area is just fine, as the owner has a clear temperature gradient established.

 

[Canny Chams]

Although they can be comfortable in the 60s at night, i see no problem with having a moonlight bulb, i think it just gives them the option to have a warmer night space, i live my night bulb on in the summer when its in the mid 70s, better to keep them comfortable

 

[Mueller23]

As far as your temperature, I've heard that chameleons can handle temperatures above 50, but in the 60's is good AT NIGHT. Having the day and night temperature differ, is actually good for your chameleon. I too used to use the moonlight and stopped. I now notice my chameleon is much more active, like the moonlight was keeping him up or something. Also, using a space heater inthe room for like an hour a day may keep your room hotter. I put one on in the mid afternoon, and my room is much warmer, thus my chameleon is much more active.

Your eye problem is probably just something inside his eye. I had the same problem very recently, and I gave in to buying some generic reptile eye drops from Pet supply Plus. It was like $4.00, but totally worth it. Showers also help some people think (warm water and let the mist hit your chameleon for 10-20 mins.).

Some people believe that Chameleon eye care health is closely related to Vitamin A in the body. At the same time I started using the eye drops, I began using a different dusting powder for my feeders called "Repashy Calcium Plus." It is like $5.00 and very usefull! It seems to really work for him!

 

[mcleodschams]

Although they can be comfortable in the 60s at night, i see no problem with having a moonlight bulb, i think it just gives them the option to have a warmer night space, i live my night bulb on in the summer when its in the mid 70s, better to keep them comfortable

agree with keeping them warm at night esspecially with high basking temps but a heat emitter would be more benificial for the chams sleep habits

 

[michaels2408]

eye problems

Thanks for all the information and help. I sure do appreciate it.