Baby Panther Chameleon-Making sure Everything is Good

[dionysus19]

I just got a baby ambilobe panther chameleon about 5 Days ago and I am overly paranoid about the health and care of hte reptile especially when hearing of the difficulty of the pet. I just wanted to inform all of you of what ive been doing for proper husbandry and wanted you to all let me know if im doing good or if i need to change some things.

Temperature/Humidity--I should be good with this. I purchased a temp/humidity controller to regulate the temp at 82 and humidity at 85%(some books/websites say it shoud be around 70-80% so im not sure on that) There are not here yet but soon will be..I have a ceramic heater and reptisun 10.0 flourescent lamp

Feeding-I put 5 crickets in a feed bowl daily and he eats about 4-5 a day but if I refill the bowl he will not eat the rest. Also he did eat out my hand the second day but hasnt since- I do proper gutloading,etc.

Cage- The cage is a glass tank with a screen top its fairly big being about 2feetby2feet and I know its supposed to be all screen but with the size of the cage compared to size of the chameleon(about2-3monthsold) I tihnk ventilation shouldnt be a problem with the humidifier pushing air out whenever it turns on. Also i currently have no substrate i didnt want to do normal sand in fear of it stickcing to his tongue and the crickets were hiding under the paper towel so it is currently just the glass bottom.

He is also not interested in mealworms..the worms are about half the length of his body so maybe its just a too big for him.

His sleeping patterns are normal and he ironically seems to want to go to bed the same time i do as it will go over to some dnse leaves to crash.

LAST is i read a things for human saying you can learn alot about ur body from your poop...is this the same for chameleons what health status can I get from examning his dung. He recently pooped and it had a normal clumped black turd and a clupmed white turd?

I will be uploading pics soon and will be posting another forum in hopes of help for sexing the lil guy.


THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVICE YOU HAVE FOR ME!

 

[carol5208]

So you are saying your whole tank temp is at 82 or just your basking spot? Or do you even have a basking spot? Why did you get a 10.0 instead of a 5.0? The humidity does not have to stay at 85% that would be a good spike after misting? You are misting the tank right? 60% humidity is good and then when you mist it can spike and go up. He should be eating more than 4-5 crickets. A baby chameleon can pound down 15 a day no problem. Maybe your overall cage temp is too hot. If it is too hot it can effect his appetite. Your over all temp should be in the low to mid 70's. He has to have a place to cool off. yes, checking the poop is a good thing! Brown or blackish with a white tip is how you want it to look. you don't need a heater unless your temps are gonna dip below 60.

 

[brandychams]

id swith the ceramic heater with a 40 or 60 watt house bulb and make sure your dusting with the proper supplements cal without d3 almost every feed cal with d3 2 a month and a multivite twice a month

 

[dionysus19]

Its about 79-83 directly under my basking light and the other side of the tank can fluctuates anywhere from 69-74.......humidty is what i was confused about cause of the high humidty some of these websites demamned..im playing it safe with it at about 70(spikes to about 78 after misting). Im misting in the morning before school, round 2:30, and then at 5:00 when i get home from work, However the 2:30 misting I will soon not be able to do but i do have a rigged drip system.

Maybe I should just dump about 20 of the cricks in their and trust that he knows what he is doing.. Ill count them at the end of the day tomorrow and post iof anything goes bad

 

[dionysus19]

Also a 10.0 was the only light that had the right size for my fixture...could these be harmful to the chameleon and if so is their a way to compensate.....

BRANDYCHARMS- could u ellaboarte a little bit more--I have a reptivite and a beta-carotene spray. and that is all Im using...what other supplemetsn do i need to go get

 

[brandychams]

i dont personally use the sprays i use rep-cal phosphorous free without d3 almost every feeding rep cal phosphorous free with d3 twice a month and herptivite twice a month on top of a healthy gut load

 

[dionysus19]

Yeah the spray is kills about 1/3rd of the crickets when i spray them. Well thank you. I want this to be the healthiest reptile I can get it.

 

[brandychams]

as far as the bulb most use a 5.0 reptisun and its easier to find the size on the internet

 

[carol5208]

That is great that you want to do the right thing. Being in a glass enclosure I hope the 10.0 wont be too much uvb. Me personally I would get a 5.0. your enclosure is not that big and a 10.0 is not necessary. The supplements are super important. You can purchase them on line at LLL reptiles if you have trouble finding them in a petstore. I use Sticky Tongue Farms Minerall Outdoor which is a Calcium without d3 and I dust the feeders everytime I feed him. the calcium with the d3 as the other member said should be used sparingly. I use the Repcal for that and the Repcal Herptivite for a multivitamin which I also dust with a couple times a month.

 

[dionysus19]

Okay I will go out and do that. I love LLLREPTILE, its where I got my Chameleon although I dont think full devoted care was given to them at their actual store in Oceanside, CA. I will have to elevate the light(10.0). It penetrates up to 20" so I will elevate accordingly so that it simulates the 5.0 12" distance.

Also im having an issue with the mealworms. In a feeding cup he is not attracted to them at all mainly because they dont move. They squirm when im holding up to the chameleon but once their out of the refridgerator they dont do much moving.

Also im going to be posting pictures of him to have people comment on health and sex. Id love if you two would comment and ill post the link on this post by tonight or tomorrow

 

[brandychams]

put a small carrot in the cup the meallys will warm up and feed on it thus attracting his attention