Ambient Temps?

[AZweifel]

My female panther is approximately 10 month’s old. I built her a new enclosure that was so big I couldn’t fit it in my room so now it’s in our living room. It’s a bit colder, so I’ve had to experiment with heating. Right now I am using a space heater and covering half the enclosure it towels to capture some of the warmth. I’ve finally found the right setting to get the ambient right around 75 degrees. But she seemed much happier at 80. I know warmer temperatures make larger egg clutches.
Aside from that- is there any danger in keeping her at a higher ambient temperature? Her coloration is indicating she doesn’t like it at 75- she’s really dark like she’s cold. Before she was at a healthy tan-peach.

 

[agdrac8]

Is there a difference between her basking spot and the rest of the enclosure? In my experience as long as they can move and regulate their own temperature. It also seems like each chameleon is different and prefers different temperatures. I usually base my temps on their color and mood. If she seemed happy at 80, and she can move around to somewhere slightly cooler I think it should be fine. Make sure you are using a proper thermometer as well. I use a laser gun and it seems very accurate.

 

[JacksJill]

I would keep her ambient closer to 75˚F "Adult females: ambient 75-80F (23-26C), basking 80-85F (26-29C)" and be sure her basking is no higher than 85˚F so she has the largest possible range of temperatures to chose from.
I would avoid trying to get her to have larger clutches. The more eggs she has in her at a time the greater chance of having one rupture and create a life threatening peritonitis or just a simple egg binding.
Is it possible her darker coloration is from the recent change of cage and location and she is still getting used to her new home and territory?

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."I knowwarmer temperatures make larger egg clutches" ... IMHO...it's not higher temperatures that lead to large clutches so much as constantly overfeeding the female. Overfeeding constantly also adds to the possibility of prolapse, MBD, eggbinding.
I drop the temperatures to slow the hunger when I'm trying to stop them from laying eggs.