Picky Panther Chameleon??
- Thread starter catyspringer_
- Start date
catyspringer_
Member
really? I would love to see pictures!!
catyspringer_
Member
oh my gosh she's beautiful!!! where do u purchase your roaches or any other bugs?
catyspringer_
Member
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thanks, of my 3 female nosy be, she is has shown the most color for sure lol. I got mine from Joe's Bug'z. I'll pm you with a link and a "review" in a few.
Getting there! A rod across the top to suspend some pothos pots from will help fill in the top areas. Try to think something like this. This pic is from the original build out but gives the idea of how I went with Blue lightning's enclosure.
Paige21. Chameleon
Member
More foliage, have you tried dubia roaches???? I would also get a better light fixture.
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
@catyspringer_ , I just read through again now work has slowed for the moment. So beyond what I typed earlier my replies to the specifics will now be red. If some of this comes off as harsh, please know I do not intend it to sound harsh in any way.
Chameleon Info:
I just really want my first cham to be very healthy and make sure I'm doing the right things, ya feel?
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Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Nosybe Panther Chameleon, male, around 10 months old, he's been in my care for about a week and a half
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? frequently- How frequently is frequently? He is still trying to adjust to a new environment and the two of you need time to build some trust with each other.
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? small crickets, mealworms(recently liked), and hornworms-still trying to expand his tasteWhat amount? 3-4 crickets or mealworms What is the schedule? I feed him once during the day How are you gut-loading your feeders? Fluker's Cricket Quencher and zoo med cricket block. How small are the crickets? Mealworms are not a good one to use due to high chitin, try to use superworms instead if you can. I use @Matt Vanilla Gorilla dry gutload personally but as mentioned by others there is cricket crack and bug buffet which are better use then the fluker/ zoo med ones. There is also a recipe on one of the fb groups that is suppose to be pretty good too. If you want to use water crystals as a source of water, home depot sells a bag of it for around $9 or you can order it online from several places too. I offer a "slurry" of blended squashes with some dry gutload sprinkled on top (to help soak up any extra water due to some drowning bugs
) and water crystals. I've also started giving probiotic yogurt, activia blueberry for me, to my bugs once a month at the suggestion of @Matt Vanilla Gorilla. Roaches don't need anything sprinkled on top but I've had crickets and supers drown in it too so I sprinkle a bit of dry on top and shake the excess off. No drownings since doing this lol. Walmart has a bag of mixed greens (collard, mustard, turnip) I use too. - Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with Zoo Med ReptiCalcium "with D3" and what is the schedule? when I feed my cham - This was touched on already a little but, Calcium with out D3 every feeding with a tweak one day a week. I do my "other" dustings on Sunday's to make it easier for me but what ever day works for you best is good of course Two days of the month you need to use a multivitamin like reptivite that also contains no d3. Two days of the month you use the calcium that has d3. So for me, Sunday 1 is reptivite, Sunday 2 is calcium with d3, Sunday 3 back to reptivite and so on. I also sprinkle bee pollen powder in with what ever else is being dusted so they get bee pollen at each feeding too. A lot of people use repti-cal but, I've switched over to sticky tongue farms indoor and outdoor for my calcium dusts.
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Misting bottle right now, "Little Dripper" should be here soon How often and how long to you mist? throughout my day and until I see water dripping off the leaves/sticks Do you see your chameleon drinking? In the beginning no, But now I have to sit there with his tongue for 5 min on the squirter nozzle. Do you have "small tree" that you would still be able to reach him if he went to the top? If you do, you can connect one of these type of sprinkler heads to you hose with a couple of other connectors to simulate rain into the tree. https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-4-Pattern-Plastic-Shrub-Head-54011/100124745 . You'll build trust with your boy with the trip outside and let him get a good drink and natural d3 at the same time.
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Looks like a slug when fresh Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? no
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Not that I know of
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Custom made wired cage.
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zoo Med Tropical UVB and Heat Lighting Kit; when I wake up: turn on lights(around 7-8am), when I go to bed: turn them off(around 9-10pm) This was mentioned but I'll be more specific here. T5ho fixture with either a reptisun 5.0 for "thinner" foliage or 10.0 for a denser planted enclosure. Arcadia t5ho 6% or 12% would also be a good bulb to use in the same respect to thinner or denser foliage to uvb %. You'll want to get a timer so he has 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark too, unless you're able to manually do it for 12 hrs and 12 hrs. A standard br30 bulb around 65 watts, maybe higher depending on your house ambient temp, would be good for basking bulb.
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?I dont know what you are asking here What is being asked here is what is the basking temp you're making available to him, what is the cage ambient temp range outside of the basking area, what are the temps under the basking bulb top to bottom of the cage, are you using a infrared thermometer or analog to measure temps with, what is the temp of the cage at night while he's sleeping.
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?I dont know what your asking here. Here it is asking are you measuring humidity with analog (the simple dial kit petsmart offers in the reptile area would be an example of analog) or digital hygrometer. The rest pertains to misting and live plants as far as creating and retaining the humidity level.
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No You've already started to correct this. Live plants will help you retain humidity in the cag e along with giving your boy a more natural environment to live in.
- Placement - Where is your cage located? Side of my room. Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? fans, yes At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? are you asking how far is the top of your cage to the room floor? Correct, basically is your cage sitting directly on the floor or is the top of the cage more towards the ceiling.
- Location - Where are you geographically located? North Fort Myers, FL-warm subtropics
I just really want my first cham to be very healthy and make sure I'm doing the right things, ya feel?
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dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Dubia are illegal in Florida. Discoid is the closest to dubia we are allowed here lol.
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thank you sir!
Syreptyon
Chameleon Enthusiast
As others have mentioned, this is an improvement, but it still needs tons of work. The foliage you added honestly didn't add too much for the chameleon to actually use. Since they are arboreal reptiles, you need to be providing them with horizontal branches/perches/walkways of your choice. He currently only really has that one vine to use and it is positioned at a steep slope. Just keep thinking, "horizontal, horizontal, horizontal!" This is how chameleons like to be positioned. Your cage is huge, which is awesome, but that means you're going to need significantly more to fill it than you currently have. The best thing you can do at this point is go buy or find (and sanitize) a bunch of sticks (like, lots of them) to attach horizontally in the enclosure. You can use things like zipties, thumb tacs, and garden wire to fasten them to the enclosure.
As it is, your chameleon can't get near enough to his lights to bask appropriately or access the UVB. You will need a branch situated around 8-10" or so below the basking spot for him to get what he needs (in addition to the many other perches that are important to add). The extra plants you added are nice, but they are too small to be functional. The best use of plants is as things for him to climb upon, which means you should be seeking out tall plants like ficus or schefflera, or a vining plant like a pothos you can hang.
Finally, and I hope someone already mentioned this but I need to run and can't double-check, the lights you're using are inadequate. The dual-dome comes with a compact fluorescent light which is no good for many reasons, including that it doesn't distribute UV light well at all. Especially in a cage as big as yours, you need a long, linear model of UVB instead of the compact one.
As it is, your chameleon can't get near enough to his lights to bask appropriately or access the UVB. You will need a branch situated around 8-10" or so below the basking spot for him to get what he needs (in addition to the many other perches that are important to add). The extra plants you added are nice, but they are too small to be functional. The best use of plants is as things for him to climb upon, which means you should be seeking out tall plants like ficus or schefflera, or a vining plant like a pothos you can hang.
Finally, and I hope someone already mentioned this but I need to run and can't double-check, the lights you're using are inadequate. The dual-dome comes with a compact fluorescent light which is no good for many reasons, including that it doesn't distribute UV light well at all. Especially in a cage as big as yours, you need a long, linear model of UVB instead of the compact one.
