Panther Update

[Jberd70]

This journey started a few months back when my son said he would like a chameleon. After hours of research I started piecing things together for a house and for the best possible start I could give him. I decided on a Tamatave ambilobe Panther. He is about 3-4 months old and just shed his first skin with us yesterday. We have only had him a little over week but so far so good. I have a mistking set up and running for 30 seconds every 2 hours for 12 hours everyday. Is this to much or not enough. It does dry out between mistings so I thought that it would be plenty? I have been feeding about 8-10 crickets once a day in the morning before I go to work. Is this ok or should it be changed?

 

[foshizzle11]

Hi Jberd, sounds like you are starting off well and welcome to the forum....I just started a few months back and this place is great for resources and research.

I think the misting schedule would depend on the humidity in the home for the chameleon and maybe adding a dripper for drinking I think is recommended as well. Those are cheap, like $15 for a little dripper from the LPS.

do you use supplements like calcium for the crickets you are feeding? Make sure you do and know what you need for the kind of chameleon you have.

Here is a good link:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/supplementation-mbd-1-a-2451/

a must read for anyone starting out for food and supplements.

Anyway, if you over mist the cham can have issues with respiratory infections which can be costly I believe and not ideal.

 

[NHenn]

Congrats on your Panther!

Sounds like you have things handled and are providing him a great home. As for misting, I would cut back the amount to maybe every 3 hours so it runs 4 times a day. Also be sure that the last mist of the day is prior to the lights going out so there is plenty of time for the enclosure to dry out before the night.

Upper Respiratory Infections are no fun and can be hard to get rid of so just make sure the cage is kept clean and dries out between mistings and before lights out.

Also, please post some pictures of that beautiful Tamatava!

 

[carol5208]

As stated, I would cut back on the amount of times the mister goes off and let it run longer also. Do you see your chameleon drink when the mister goes off? Sometimes it can take them quite awhile to get stimulated to drink so 30 seconds may not be enough. Also at his age, I would be feeding him double the amount of what you are feeding now. If you don't see him eating them all, you can always cut back on the amount. At that age they will usually eat quite a bit more than you are feeding. The younger chameleons can pound down 25(appropriately sized) crickets or more in a day easily.

 

[Jberd70]

Foshizzle11,

I am using a dripper throughout the day and shut it off at night. Yes I am supplementing calcium. I dust twice a week with d3 and twice a week without d3. The other three days I just feed crickets. I do also gut load my crickets with carrots, flukers, apple, and seaweed.

Nhenn,

My last misting is 3 hours before the lights go out and yes it does dry out. The one thing I am going to do is add a drain in the catch pan to elimate the little bit of water that I clean up at the end of the day.

Carol5208,

He does eat just about all the crickets throughout the day. I will try to add a few more to see if he consumes them. I tried to feed him meal worms but he does not seem interested at this point. I do see him drink but not very often. I will try to let them run longer and only 4 times a day.

 

[NHenn]

Great, glad we could help out.

One more comment about your supplementing schedule. I would change your schedule to Calcium with D3 only twice a month. 2 times a week is too much imo. Calcium without D3 can be used for every feeding if you want. I would look into a multivitamin as well which can be used twice a month.

 

[Jberd70]

OK, so calcium with D3 is only needed twice a month.

Thank you, I will change to that schedule.

 

[Jberd70]

A few pictures.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/att...little-baby-pasky-2014-02-02_09-02-21_225.jpg

https://www.chameleonforums.com/att...t-before-purchase-2014-01-24_18-19-14_895.jpg

 

[Jberd70]

What multivitamin would you recommend?

 

[Zephalia]

I use Herptivite.

 

[NHenn]

He looks great! Love the live ficus as well in his cage.

I personally use Repashy Calcium Plus so I don't need to add in calcium with D3 or a multivitamin as it is an all in one supplement so I can't offer an opinion on what multivitamin to get.

 

[Jberd70]

Nhenn,

Thank you and I will look into this as well.