New Panther Chameleon Owner, Any Advice Helps!

[tonguegrab813]

Hello,

Glad to be back in the chameleon world. I have not owned a chameleon in ten years. My first chameleon (veiled bought from petco) died at 1.5 years old from parasites. I now got a panther chameleon and have learned much more. I got him this past sunday from a private breeder at a reptile show and am currently calling vets in my area and researching who to take him to for a check up/fecal test. He pooped two days ago and the urate was bright white but the poop did smell slightly. I also wasn't really in range to smell it until I grabbed it with the paper towel which might have crushed it a little and released some smell. Regardless a fecal test is in order as I just acquired him. I'd like to post some pictures of the enclosure and the chameleon to get some advice on the state of each. My current issue is water. I have seen him lick leaves before and I have even seen him drink from the dripper when it was turned up flowing a lot. My question on that is: if he drank from the dripper already does he know to just go there now? I turn the dripper to a much slower drip when I leave for the day so it doesn't flood but when I get home i turn it up more. How often should a healthy chameleon be drinking? He must be doing it when I am not home because his eyes seem healthy (please give advice per latest photos) and his urate is white. I mist about 3-4 times a day, once when I wake, once before I leave, once when I get home and once before bed. I take a could couple minutes to make sure its a "rain" effect causing leaves to drip on to each other. He released just a urate yesterday (unless the poop is hidden because I have been unable to find it). Is that normal? I am really dedicated to giving this Chameleon the best life possible so any advice helps.

Info
Panther Chameleon
Age: 5-6 months
Feeding Schedule: 5-6 crickets in the morning, 4-5 crickets at night daily. Gut feeding the crickets with fresh lettuce, carrots, potatoes and water. Dusting with D3 once a month(maybe twice what do you think at this age they need?), couple horn worms every other week (just got him but this is the feeding schedule I have created so far)


Attached are some recent photos of him and the enclosure. Any advice is really appreciated! Thank you and I am very happy to be a part of the chameleon community again.

 

[JuniorC]

Hello,

Glad to be back in the chameleon world. I have not owned a chameleon in ten years. My first chameleon (veiled bought from petco) died at 1.5 years old from parasites. I now got a panther chameleon and have learned much more. I got him this past sunday from a private breeder at a reptile show and am currently calling vets in my area and researching who to take him to for a check up/fecal test. He pooped two days ago and the urate was bright white but the poop did smell slightly. I also wasn't really in range to smell it until I grabbed it with the paper towel which might have crushed it a little and released some smell. Regardless a fecal test is in order as I just acquired him. I'd like to post some pictures of the enclosure and the chameleon to get some advice on the state of each. My current issue is water. I have seen him lick leaves before and I have even seen him drink from the dripper when it was turned up flowing a lot. My question on that is: if he drank from the dripper already does he know to just go there now? I turn the dripper to a much slower drip when I leave for the day so it doesn't flood but when I get home i turn it up more. How often should a healthy chameleon be drinking? He must be doing it when I am not home because his eyes seem healthy (please give advice per latest photos) and his urate is white. I mist about 3-4 times a day, once when I wake, once before I leave, once when I get home and once before bed. I take a could couple minutes to make sure its a "rain" effect causing leaves to drip on to each other. He released just a urate yesterday (unless the poop is hidden because I have been unable to find it). Is that normal? I am really dedicated to giving this Chameleon the best life possible so any advice helps.

Info
Panther Chameleon
Age: 5-6 months
Feeding Schedule: 5-6 crickets in the morning, 4-5 crickets at night daily. Gut feeding the crickets with fresh lettuce, carrots, potatoes and water. Dusting with D3 once a month(maybe twice what do you think at this age they need?), couple horn worms every other week (just got him but this is the feeding schedule I have created so far)


Attached are some recent photos of him and the enclosure. Any advice is really appreciated! Thank you and I am very happy to be a part of the chameleon community again.

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Welcome back to the chameleon world. To start off with you definitely need to change up the lights. Those don't have sufficient uv for the chameleons. You need a t5 reptisun 5.0 or 6% arcadia linear bulb I will post an example

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HJG7TJ4/ref=cm_sw_r_u_apa_fabc_OS9TFbMCY2BNP

As fas as the dripper just let it run a few hours in the morning. The chameleon should recognize where he's been drinking from and go to that spot. The experts will be by shortly for the rest ??

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome! Your cham is adorable! ? Not sure what may have changed since you last had a cham so the best thing to do is check this out. https://chameleonacademy.com/panther-chameleon-care/
Regarding watering, if you’re misting/spraying 3-4 times daily, you shouldn’t need the dripper too. Misting should be early just before lights on for 2 minutes, another at mid day and then just at lights out. One thing that will help tremendously in not just hydration, but humidity and general happiness of your chameleon is putting some live plants in, like a pothos or philodendron. There’ll be more leaves for the water to collect and will provide natural shaded areas for your cham to escape/hide in.
I can’t help but notice your enclosure needs some upgrading. I recently adopted a beautiful panther cham that was being kept in a similar set up and he suffered some health issues...mild mbd and a bad eye.
Most important is your uvb. The coil uvb isn’t able to provide adequate uvb at reasonable distances. You need a linear T5 with a 5.0 uvb bulb. Next in importance is supplementation. He should be getting calcium without D3 at every feeding except once per week. That one feeding you’ll use calcium with D3 one week and the next a multivitamin. To make it simpler, you could get Reptivite with D3...calcium without D3 every feeding except once every 2 weeks use the Reptivite with D3. These are the two things that will keep mbd and other health issues away.
It looks like you have a 16x16x30” enclosure. Your little beauty will be needing more space...a 2x2x4’ enclosure or equivalent. I just got one from https://www.diycages.com/ and am quite happy with it. Then you want to fill it up with lots of branches, vines and live plants. Also, no substrate is best and easiest to keep clean.
As for feeding, you’re doing pretty good, but I’d say just one feeding daily in the morning of maybe 6 bugs. Here’s the feeder and ‘gutloading’ sheets which may help. Also adding in a pic of the enclosure I just yesterday set up for my adopted panther.

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome back to the chameleon old! Lots has changed in the last 10'years!

You don't dust with a phos free calcium powder at all feedings but 4 a month?? You don't use a vitamin powder every two weeks on two it the 4 days?? The phos free calcium/D3 should be used twice a month on the other 2 days...every two weeks on the days you don't do the vitamins or plain calcium. Dustings should be light IMHO.

Your crickets can be fed dandelion greens, kale, collards, mustard greens, squash, zucchini, sweet red peppers, sweet potatoes and a little bit of fruit such as berries, papaya, pears, apples.

IMHO your cage needs more branches ...and live non toxic well washed, both sides of the leaves plants would be better than fake ones. Panther chameleons chew on branches sometimes so I would make sure they are non-toxic.

What are the cage temperatures? Where do you live?

You need a long linear Reptisun 5.0 tube light for UVB or an Acadia 6 long linear tube light for UVB.

Your chameleon looks healthy.
I may have missed things.

 

[tonguegrab813]

Welcome back to the chameleon world. To start off with you definitely need to change up the lights. Those don't have sufficient uv for the chameleons. You need a t5 reptisun 5.0 or 6% arcadia linear bulb I will post an example

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HJG7TJ4/ref=cm_sw_r_u_apa_fabc_OS9TFbMCY2BNP

As fas as the dripper just let it run a few hours in the morning. The chameleon should recognize where he's been drinking from and go to that spot. The experts will be by shortly for the rest ??

Thank you! I am going to get that light ASAP

 

[tonguegrab813]

Hi and welcome! Your cham is adorable! ? Not sure what may have changed since you last had a cham so the best thing to do is check this out. https://chameleonacademy.com/panther-chameleon-care/
Regarding watering, if you’re misting/spraying 3-4 times daily, you shouldn’t need the dripper too. Misting should be early just before lights on for 2 minutes, another at mid day and then just at lights out. One thing that will help tremendously in not just hydration, but humidity and general happiness of your chameleon is putting some live plants in, like a pothos or philodendron. There’ll be more leaves for the water to collect and will provide natural shaded areas for your cham to escape/hide in.
I can’t help but notice your enclosure needs some upgrading. I recently adopted a beautiful panther cham that was being kept in a similar set up and he suffered some health issues...mild mbd and a bad eye.
Most important is your uvb. The coil uvb isn’t able to provide adequate uvb at reasonable distances. You need a linear T5 with a 5.0 uvb bulb. Next in importance is supplementation. He should be getting calcium without D3 at every feeding except once per week. That one feeding you’ll use calcium with D3 one week and the next a multivitamin. To make it simpler, you could get Reptivite with D3...calcium without D3 every feeding except once every 2 weeks use the Reptivite with D3. These are the two things that will keep mbd and other health issues away.
It looks like you have a 16x16x30” enclosure. Your little beauty will be needing more space...a 2x2x4’ enclosure or equivalent. I just got one from https://www.diycages.com/ and am quite happy with it. Then you want to fill it up with lots of branches, vines and live plants. Also, no substrate is best and easiest to keep clean.
As for feeding, you’re doing pretty good, but I’d say just one feeding daily in the morning of maybe 6 bugs. Here’s the feeder and ‘gutloading’ sheets which may help. Also adding in a pic of the enclosure I just yesterday set up for my adopted panther.
View attachment 282968View attachment 282969
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Thank you. I am going to upgrade the lights and enclosure with new plants. Eventually I will upgrade the tank space but he/she (how can I tell) seems small for the enclosure now so I don't want issues with finding food.

 

[tonguegrab813]

Welcome back to the chameleon old! Lots has changed in the last 10'years!

You don't dust with a phos free calcium powder at all feedings but 4 a month?? You don't use a vitamin powder every two weeks on two it the 4 days?? The phos free calcium/D3 should be used twice a month on the other 2 days...every two weeks on the days you don't do the vitamins or plain calcium. Dustings should be light IMHO.

Your crickets can be fed dandelion greens, kale, collards, mustard greens, squash, zucchini, sweet red peppers, sweet potatoes and a little bit of fruit such as berries, papaya, pears, apples.

IMHO your cage needs more branches ...and live non toxic well washed, both sides of the leaves plants would be better than fake ones. Panther chameleons chew on branches sometimes so I would make sure they are non-toxic.

What are the cage temperatures? Where do you live?

You need a long linear Reptisun 5.0 tube light for UVB or an Acadia 6 long linear tube light for UVB.

Your chameleon looks healthy.
I may have missed things.

Thank you. I have started dusting with non d3 calcium and a multivitamin per your suggested schedule. I plan on upgrading the light and enclosure to live plants asap as well. I live in florida, not sure on exact temp because the gauge wont stick so I have it on the drift wood at the bottom but when I feel the top of the enclosure with my hand it feels warm, 90 ish I would say.

 

[Flick boy]

Hi and welcome I hand feed my girl from a container in the morning but you can put a feeder cup. I never did let crickets roam my enclosure as you never know where they are. And a cup you can keep an eye what your little guy eats. If you put in the same place he won't be long in catching on. When my girl was I would 1 at either side of enclosure