A couple of questions from a newbie

[addicted]

I got my baby male Ambanja 2 months ago, he should be around 3.5 months old now. Originally I bought him as a birthday present for my boyfriend, but he's pretty much all mine now, guess we'll just have to get another one! LOL, that's why I have my name as 'addicted', first it was Cichlids, then Crayfish, now Chameleons, at least its a healthy vice!

Have a couple quick questions:
1. I've been hearing about giving a chameleon a shower, what's the best way to go about this, and what age can you start doing it.
2. I noticed that in one of my local pet stores (not where I got my cham) they have an adult panther and it looks like they clip his nails, is this necessary, or even healthy for them?

Here's a couple pictures of my baby, no name yet, I just can't decide on something that's as cool as he is!
This is the day I brought him home, sorry about the blurriness:

And this was taken yesterday:

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

I got my baby male Ambanja 2 months ago, he should be around 3.5 months old now. Originally I bought him as a birthday present for my boyfriend, but he's pretty much all mine now, guess we'll just have to get another one! LOL, that's why I have my name as 'addicted', first it was Cichlids, then Crayfish, now Chameleons, at least its a healthy vice!

Have a couple quick questions:
1. I've been hearing about giving a chameleon a shower, what's the best way to go about this, and what age can you start doing it.
2. I noticed that in one of my local pet stores (not where I got my cham) they have an adult panther and it looks like they clip his nails, is this necessary, or even healthy for them?

Here's a couple pictures of my baby, no name yet, I just can't decide on something that's as cool as he is!
This is the day I brought him home, sorry about the blurriness:
[/IMG]

Hello Addicted, Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of panther chameleons. Cute little guy. I just got my self a 2 month old ambabja right around when you got yours. Where did you get him from?

Showers are usually only used if your Cham is dehydrated. You would place a plant in the shower turn on the water and point it to the side so only she spray off the side would be hitting the plant. Your chameleon sits on the plant and drinks. This is usually only done in the case of pretty bad dehydration.

Cutting nails is not necessary and should not be done. They need them to climb and get around. Not healthy at all.

I hope you do not mind if I ask you a couple of questions. What kind of plant is that he is resting on in the second picture? What type of UV bulb are you using and what are the temps in the cage Basking/Ambient? Is that a glass enclosure? Sorry to be so nosey

 

[addicted]

I hope you do not mind if I ask you a couple of questions. What kind of plant is that he is resting on in the second picture? What type of UV bulb are you using and what are the temps in the cage Basking/Ambient? Is that a glass enclosure? Sorry to be so nosey

Not at all! I love to talk about my pets, honestly, drives my boyfriend crazy!

The plant he's on in the second pic is a bonzai ficus. The UV bulb I'm using is a Reptisun 5.0 (not a compact, don't worry my breeder warned me about those). Ambient is 79, don't have a basking light just yet because my breeder told me not to put one in until he's 3.5 months, yes it's glass

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Not at all! I love to talk about my pets, honestly, drives my boyfriend crazy!

The plant he's on in the second pic is a bonzai ficus. The UV bulb I'm using is a Reptisun 5.0 (not a compact, don't worry my breeder warned me about those). Ambient is 79, don't have a basking light just yet because my breeder told me not to put one in until he's 3.5 months, yes it's glass

Thats a cool Ficus. I am surprised the breeder didn't warn you about the glass enclosure. They good news is he will outgrow it fast. When he does I would higly recomend a screen enclosure. At about 5 month I move mine up to a 24X24X48 screen enclosure. Anyway just in case you do not know when you do add the basking light 85-90 and ambient 70-75.

What do you feed him? Do you supliment and gutload the feeders?

You have such a cute little guy. I hope you can post some pics of him now that he is older. Can't wait to hear what you comeup with as a name.

 

[addicted]

The breeder did tell me about glass, it's just a temp. solution util he's old enough to go into the big screen enclosure I originally bought him. That's another question I had, what age size should I put him into the bigger one, it's 6' x 2.5' x 2.5' and the glass one that he's in now is 24" x 18" x 18".
He's just eating gutloaded crickets at 1/2 size right now, I supplement everyother day with calcium (without D3), once a week with herptivite, and once monthly with D3.
I want to take some better pictures of him, I just need a better camera, the one I'm using now is actually my cell phone camera.
Oh, I forgot to tell you where I got him from, "Chameleon Nation" they're a member on this forum too, luckily they're within driving range for me so I was able to pick him up and see his parents.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

The breeder did tell me about glass, it's just a temp. solution util he's old enough to go into the big screen enclosure I originally bought him. That's another question I had, what age size should I put him into the bigger one, it's 6' x 2.5' x 2.5' and the glass one that he's in now is 24" x 18" x 18".
He's just eating gutloaded crickets at 1/2 size right now, I supplement everyother day with calcium (without D3), once a week with herptivite, and once monthly with D3.
I want to take some better pictures of him, I just need a better camera, the one I'm using now is actually my cell phone camera.
Oh, I forgot to tell you where I got him from, "Chameleon Nation" they're a member on this forum too, luckily they're within driving range for me so I was able to pick him up and see his parents.

Good work , you really did your research and your breeder seems to know what he is talking about. Nice size cage 6' X 2.5 X 2.5 he should be really happy with that. he can move into the new home around 5 months but I have even moved mine at about 4.5. I free range my food and even at 4.5 months he never had a problem finding food.

 

[addicted]

They are a good breeder, they were very helpful and patient putting up with all of my questions. I wanted to be as prepared as possible so I started researching a couple months before I got him, since he was a surprise for my boyfriend I had to make sure I knew as much as possible to get him started. I've had my share of heartbreak when I first started (impulse)buying fish! Didn't want to make the same mistakes with Chameleons as they are considerably more expensive and harder to come by.

I also free range feed, I tried the cup feeding when I first got him, but he didn't want anything to do with it, so I just gave him extra food to make sure.

 

[addicted]

Here's a picture I just took while he's on the hunt for food, he's starting to colour up nicely around the eyes and shoulder

 

[dodolah]

he looked great.
I think he's ready to move in to the screen cage .
I usually put my cham in 24X12X24 screen cage until he's about 5 mo.

After that, he'll go to his permanent 24 24 48 cage.

 

[addicted]

I was just looking through the few pictures that I was able to take of him when we first got him, I just can't get over how much he's grown! When you see him everyday I guess you don't notice it.
Look at this picture, compare it to the last one I posted above, the leaf he's sleeping on, Wow he was tiny!

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

They grow very fast. He was so cute hanging on that little leaf.

 

[addicted]

I know! I used to joke that he looked more like an insect then a lizard, he was smaller then my pinkie finger (and I have small hands!) You can see the leaf in my avatar, it's about the size of my thumb nail, that was taken the day he came home.
Definitely looking a lot more lizard-y these days!

 

[BigBlue]

Hi Addicted,

I like your name, I know what you mean...addicting hobby isn't!
Your little guy sure is a good looker. He should colour up nice when he gets a bit older. What did you end up naming him?

 

[addicted]

I haven't named him yet...I don't think he really likes us yet, so it's been hard to gauge his true personality, and I want his name to match!
The only thing I can tell about him so far is that he's a racist! LOL, I have 1 white cat, 1 white dog, and one black dog. Whenever the cat or white dog get near the terrarium, he puffs up and hisses, but when the black dog comes near, he dosn't mind. Could it be that the white animals are more visible to him them the black, can chams even see colours, or is it greyscale like dogs?

 

[dodolah]

I haven't named him yet...I don't think he really likes us yet, so it's been hard to gauge his true personality, and I want his name to match!
The only thing I can tell about him so far is that he's a racist! LOL, I have 1 white cat, 1 white dog, and one black dog. Whenever the cat or white dog get near the terrarium, he puffs up and hisses, but when the black dog comes near, he dosn't mind. Could it be that the white animals are more visible to him them the black, can chams even see colours, or is it greyscale like dogs?

as far as i know chameleon recognizes color.

 

[addicted]

as far as i know chameleon recognizes color.

That makes perfect sense, seeing as they're so colorful themselves, why would they display such vibrant colors if the female (or male opponent) couldn't see the difference.
I still wonder about his blatant dislike for white as opposed to black.

 

[dodolah]

That makes perfect sense, seeing as they're so colorful themselves, why would they display such vibrant colors if the female (or male opponent) couldn't see the difference.
I still wonder about his blatant dislike for white as opposed to black.

perhaps other members can collaborate what's going on as far as the coloration?
I know from a personal experience that black and red are the colors my chameleon react strongly.
He will try to attack me whenever i am wearing dark shirt or extreme bright colors.

They get mellower when i am wearing white.