What colour should a baby panther chameleon have?

[hejfisken]

I got my new panther as a month-old baby. He started out in his new home with bright colours. these have slowly darkened day after day and now a week later ha is almost black with white dots on the sides. I have not seen any signs of illness, except that he´s often walking around the little terrarium and (i think) trying to get out. He often looks up and sometimes try to climb up the glass. If i put my finger in he will immediately climb up on it.

I have seen him eating (the tank have a lot of fruitflies walking around and i have only seen him shooting about 5 flies), drinking and pooping (the brighter dot is a bit yellow - undernourished?) I spray the terrarium at least 5 times a day.

I thought he would like a bigger tank so today i putted him in one measuring three times bigger. He got brighter and the markings looked as a "normal" baby panthers markings. I will try to have him in this tank a while and it wont surprise me if he will darken after a few days.

Both tanks are about 50 cm high. The last one is just a bit deeper and wider.

The climate is all right i think, 25-27 degrees, 60-70% humidity.

What I am wondering about is why he starts with a bright colour and in the ending has a darker one. Shouldn´t it be otherwise? It is hard to think that this is his "thrive-colour"..

Excuse my grammar, I am from Sweden

Thank you!

 

[melrito]

at one month of age, baby panthers don't generally show much (if any) color other than black/brown, gray, and white. The temperatures are ok that you have for ambient temperature, but do you have a basking spot for him? Also, in a glass terrarium it's not generally necessary to mist as frequently, so 5 times a day sounds like a lot to me. It would be better to mist heavily once or twice a day to be sure he has opportunity to drink. The terrarium should hold humidty for the rest of the time, but not stay wet (this will lead to fungus/mold growth and potential respiratory problems for your cham).

Do you have foliage/plants for him to climb on? Chameleons are arboreal and they won't generally walk around the bottom of the terrarium provided they have climbing areas.

The poop being yellow is a sign of dehydration, so be sure to provide him with a heavy misting so the leaves don't dry out before he can drink... and if you see him drinking, you can continue to offer water as long as he continues to drink. You might also want to set up a dripper for him (buy a dripper, or poke a pinhole in the bottom of a plastic cup and fill it with water). Underneath, put an appropriate sized collection container and be sure that this water drips onto a leaf and collects a bit so he can drink from it.

Fruit flies are good for a small panther, but you can also offer him small (1/8") crickets or small silkworms.. this will give him some variety.

 

[suzi]

IMO you should be spraying 5 to 8 times a day when they are that little, they can get dehydrated easily. Light mistings. The basking spot should be between 80 and 82 and ambient temp around 70. That may be what you have, I don't know celsius the color is normal for a baby

 

[sandrachameleon]

I got my new panther as a month-old baby. He started out in his new home with bright colours. these have slowly darkened day after day and now a week later ha is almost black with white dots on the sides.

Hello
They will go darker on occassion. Its nothing to be concerned about so long as it continues to drink and eat. Dark colours ALL the time may suggest stress (does it have places to hide?).
Is 27C the basking temp, or ambient? I'd say 20C is a better ambient. 25-27 is fine for the warm zone so long as it can move to a cooler zone as needed. Babies do dehydrate and overheat more easily than older bigger animals.

This picture shows the general colour of baby panthers, but I've certainly seen individuals go much darker (and lighter). If it would be helpful, I could dig up a photo of one that is darker coloured.

 

[hejfisken]

Thank you guys! awesome info

I don´t really know how to explain it, but the terrarium was first used as a fishtank. The glasslid is only covering half of the tank, and the uvb and baskinglamp is at the part where there is no glass. In this way i can give him a better ventilation and the uvb wont go through any glass. This also makes the water to vaporize/evaporate/transpire(google translate ftw) much faster, which makes me spray more often on that side.

While the water v/e/t in about an hour on this side, it stays over two hours on the other half side where there is glasslid and a bit colder and darker.

I have lots of plants and hidings.

The thing with the food is that he does not take it immediately as i give it to him. Therefore i see the fruitflies as the best i can offer because they can be in the tank/terrarium all the time and he can eat whenever he desires to.

Thanks for the picture, Sandra! He have this colour sometimes, but most often he is darker and sometimes have very marked/clear lines..

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Time to offer him more than just Fruitflies. I really only use those for the first few weeks. Get some pin head crickets. They can be gut loaded and offer better nutrition for a growing baby than a ff. Also good options are baby newly hatched silkworms or baby hornworms. For those you will only want to hatch out what he can eat in a two or three day period. After that the worms will grow too large for him. Calci worms are a good alternative also.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Time to offer him more than just Fruitflies. I really only use those for the first few weeks. Get some pin head crickets. They can be gut loaded and offer better nutrition for a growing baby than a ff. Also good options are baby newly hatched silkworms or baby hornworms. For those you will only want to hatch out what he can eat in a two or three day period. After that the worms will grow too large for him. Calci worms are a good alternative also.

I continue offering fruit flies through until at least the end of the second month, and indeed for as long as the chameleon will accept them as food. But it is a good idea to offer additional prey, like very small crickets, very small silkworms, etc

 

[hejfisken]

Thanks for the comments!

I have some crickets eggs that will hatch anytime soon. How old should they be when I offer them to the chameleon? About two weeks have I heard. True?

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have some crickets eggs that will hatch anytime soon. How old should they be when I offer them to the chameleon? About two weeks have I heard. True?

yes a one to two week old cricket would work for a young chameleon. Its more about the size of the cricket than the age of the cricket.

 

[hejfisken]

He seems very slow if not tired. Is it normal that baby chameleons more easily fall asleep than adults?

He was sleeping a few hours ago, about two hours before the light went out for the night.

Also, I watched him try to catch a fly. It took 20 minutes from seeing the fly 10 cm away to try catching it. He missed, haha At least he tries! Maybe it was because I was in the room, and he got disturbed due to that..

 

[Tyler8989]

is your chameleon still alive? there were a lot of things that should have been mentioned in your post, such as, are you using a good UVB bulb PLUS basking bulb...I think i just had a problem with my year old male not getting enough UVB and him getting darker and sleepier during day.
I look forward to hearing if anything got solved.