Incoming panthers help?

Hey all, I'm new here and wanted to join in since I will be getting a panther couple that are each a year old in about 3 weeks. I have had geckos, snakes, and an iguana, but I've never tackled chameleons, so I know I'm in for a challenge.

I've been preparing a lot for their arrival since I'm extremely picky about taking care of pets, but I have a bunch of questions concerning the panthers I'm buying. I'm buying them from a local breeder who is selling his year olds cage and all. I'm getting a male and female each with their own 2'x2'x4' aluminum cages, lighting (heat and UVB) and plants. After strenuously asking him every detail about their daily lives, I wanted to know how drastically I could change many of their routines:

First off, he actually has their day light off from about 3PM to late night, and then their day kicks in after midnight. Would it be stressful to shift their circadian rythm to a regular 9PM -8AM? If so, is there a slow way to do it? (I have snakes and such that are already on this rythm, and don't want conflicting lights, including my own to bother them ).
Second, we are both in Arizona, and although the breeder keeps his house temperature around 75, I'm struggling to keep mine below 82 . It is summer right now, but every where I look people debate at proper temperature for panthers, and 82 is either fine or extreme. I want to make absolutely sure an ambiant 82 (humidity not accounted for) won't harm them for the summer.
Finally, food. He says hes been feeding the male 4-5 superworms (hes picky) every 3 days, and the female superworms or crickets similarly. Apparently they are both healthy, but I definitely feel that I should be feeding them more. Is it ok to step their intake up a bit, and if yes, how much?

That is all, so sorry for the loooooong post. Again, I'm extreme about making everything perfect, especially for 2 panthers, so any help would be extremely appreciated!!!

I have never heard of such a thing with the lights!!! They are not nocturnal, so why do that? i don't get it. Most of us are on a 12 off 12 on schedule or similar. Chameleons sleep at night and I cannot see his reasoning for this. So are they sleeping during the day then? Did he ever supplement the feeders with calcium and without, and a multivitamin? Did he say what reasoning is for the lights? I live in Florida and I know of people who keep their chameleons outside and they withstand the temps here so I would say 82 would be ok. Usually you try to have your ambient inthe 70's and your basking in the 90 degree range for an adult panther. Are you sure these chameleons are "healthy"? I feed my adult panther every other day about 6-7 feeders, so for me I think he is underfeedng them. How much do they weigh? Ask him. My adult panther weighs 250 grams but he is a good size one.

I know, the light thing is very bizzare. I have no idea why he does it, besides out of having a strange preference. I figured it wasn't a big deal, I just didn't want to subject the panthers to a weird change in day. I think I'll ween them off of it 2 hours at a time unless I can just go for it immediately.
Ya, food wise I think I'm going to move them to 6 every other day just because thats what seems better, unless someone thinks a lot more, and give them a calcium and vitamin supplement on top of that.
I am not sure on their weight as I didn't ask, but when he took the male out he was very colorful, semi-aggressive to the breeder by displaying bright red color on his chin, and was not bones. The female I' am unsure about, but she was a regular brown/gray with a little pink, and seemed regular sized too.

carol5208 said:

I have never heard of such a thing with the lights!!! They are not nocturnal, so why do that? i don't get it. Most of us are on a 12 off 12 on schedule or similar. Chameleons sleep at night and I cannot see his reasoning for this. So are they sleeping during the day then? Did he ever supplement the feeders with calcium and without, and a multivitamin? Did he say what reasoning is for the lights? I live in Florida and I know of people who keep their chameleons outside and they withstand the temps here so I would say 82 would be ok. Usually you try to have your ambient inthe 70's and your basking in the 90 degree range for an adult panther. Are you sure these chameleons are "healthy"? I feed my adult panther every other day about 6-7 feeders, so for me I think he is underfeedng them. How much do they weigh? Ask him. My adult panther weighs 250 grams but he is a good size one.

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Always looking for an excuse to toss around your monster?

But to the OP, I would say that there are a lot of chams out there to choose from. I know what you mean about being painstakingly attentive to details, I am the same way.

What did you ask this guy about how he raised his chams? All those questions Carol noted are extremely important and can help you evaluate how much time/effort/cost are going to be going into those 2 guys. Chams are not cheap, especially during the initial start up phase. I can imagine that you will be giving this guy a decent chunk of change for all his gear+chams, but with the oddities you posted in their captive lives they may be needing vet trips for more than regular check-ups (just my speculation) that crap adds up too fast.