Why is my panther going to the bottom of his cage?

[Jessb]

Hello! My husband and I have a male panther chameleon, about 8 months old and he’s been exploring the bottom of his enclosure a lot recently. He seems to be at the bottom most of the day just climbing around like he’s looking for something. He has live plants- an umbrella tree and a butterfly fern so theres plenty of foliage. Theres also a pothos on either side of the cage. Basking temp measures at 85 and we have the 5.0 uvb light. Don’t have a misting system but we hand mist morning and night, sometimes once in the middle of the day. He’s in a XL reptibreeze.
Hes also not been eating as much but I chalked that up to him getting older. He doesn’t have any signs of dehydration as far as I can tell- no sunken eyes, he’s not lethargic, etc.
What else should I look for? He looks healthy at a glance, he just seems to want to climb around the bottom of the cage.

 

[Beman]

Hello! My husband and I have a male panther chameleon, about 8 months old and he’s been exploring the bottom of his enclosure a lot recently. He seems to be at the bottom most of the day just climbing around like he’s looking for something. He has live plants- an umbrella tree and a butterfly fern so theres plenty of foliage. Theres also a pothos on either side of the cage. Basking temp measures at 85 and we have the 5.0 uvb light. Don’t have a misting system but we hand mist morning and night, sometimes once in the middle of the day. He’s in a XL reptibreeze.
Hes also not been eating as much but I chalked that up to him getting older. He doesn’t have any signs of dehydration as far as I can tell- no sunken eyes, he’s not lethargic, etc.
What else should I look for? He looks healthy at a glance, he just seems to want to climb around the bottom of the cage.

Can you post a picture of your entire enclosure and of your chameleon please?

 

[Lpsouth1978]

IME, this is pretty common as they start to mature, they start to really explore their territory regularly. My guy is about 16 months and patrols the entire cage several times a day. He just sits and basks for a while, then he climbs all over his cage from top to bottom, front to back. The he goes back to basking for a while and repeats his patrol.

 

[Jessb]

Can you post a picture of your entire enclosure and of your chameleon please?

Sure. I just took these for that purpose. He’s still hanging out at the bottom. I would open the cage and get a better picture, but he tends to try to climb on out when the door is open if he’s near it.

 

[Jessb]

Sure. I just took these for that purpose. He’s still hanging out at the bottom. I would open the cage and get a better picture, but he tends to try to climb on out when the door is open if he’s near it.

I tried to add 2 but only one showed up, so here is Gideon!

 

[Beman]

Sure. I just took these for that purpose. He’s still hanging out at the bottom. I would open the cage and get a better picture, but he tends to try to climb on out when the door is open if he’s near it.

Enclosure looks great. So in your case it is like @Lpsouth1978 said. He has hit maturity and is trying to find a girlfriend and check out everything in his territory.

 

[Jessb]

He actually does have a girlfriend he’s already mated with. She laid eggs last month. Their cages are next to each other, but there is a piece of black corrugated plastic between their cages. Could he maybe sense she’s there?? He definitely can’t see her.

 

[Jessb]

Enclosure looks great. So in your case it is like @Lpsouth1978 said. He has hit maturity and is trying to find a girlfriend and check out everything in his territory.

He actually does have a girlfriend he’s already mated with. She laid eggs last month. Their cages are next to each other, but there is a piece of black corrugated plastic between their cages. Could he maybe sense she’s there?? He definitely can’t see her.

 

[Beman]

He actually does have a girlfriend he’s already mated with. She laid eggs last month. Their cages are next to each other, but there is a piece of black corrugated plastic between their cages. Could he maybe sense she’s there?? He definitely can’t see her.

oh wow... He is young so I did not expect that.

I doubt he can sense her it is more visual when they can see each other but he is now actually reaching maturity so the hormones are kicking in.

 

[Jessb]

oh wow... He is young so I did not expect that.

I doubt he can sense her it is more visual when they can see each other but he is now actually reaching maturity so the hormones are kicking in.

Ok, thank you for all the help! It makes me feel a bit better knowing that’s it’s probably just him maturing.