Buying a female panther

[Bernie]

Hi all,

I have been doing some talking recently with the other half and we are considering adding a female panther to our household. We've never had a female chameleon before and wanted to get some advice from the more experienced folk before hand...

Apart from the obvious things such as colour & size, what are the main differences from males when it comes to care?

I know they require lower temps. What other things do I need to take into account or be wary of? Any tips or pointers?

What is the average lifespan in captivity compared with males? How prone to complications are they with regards to egg laying? Are they more likely to require vet trips?

We have seen a juvenile female Ambanja that we adore and would love to bring home. But we dont want to rush into it without good preparation.

Thanks.

 

[Pilotman800]

The main difference about a female is that they lay eggs. They don't even need to mate with a male to do so. Jann has a WONDERFUL blog about egg laying, which ill attach for you here. She explains everything about the laying bin, the care, etc...

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html


The average age in captivity for a female can vary, depending on how many clutches she lays, how big they are, etc... As for the egg laying, sometimes there will be complications. MOST of the time, it is just because of improper husbandry.

Make sure you keep her in a separate cage from the male. The only time you should attempt to show them to each other is when she is receptive. (Ready to mate)

 

[Olimpia]

I just got a female panther a month or so ago and I love her to bits. I think she's just the prettiest thing!

For all intensive purposes it's easier to consider females a different species from males (almost like with people, I suppose!), because things you do with your male you'll want to do differently with your female.

The blog linked above goes over this but I'll just recap here. By lowering the temps and feeding her less the hope is to slow down her metabolism enough to stop her from producing eggs altogether or producing such LARGE clutches. So keeping them at about 80*F will do the trick. I feed my girl ~1-3 feeders every day, instead of more every 2-3 days, just out of personal preference.

With supplementing, you'll want to supplement more often than males. You may want to look into adding liquid calcium to her supplement schedule once a week, by giving her or injecting a few drops into a feeder. This calcium is absorbed more easily and will help give her more. I also dust a little more heavily with my female's food, but again, this is personal preference. But you will want to be very dutiful with the calcium regimen.

A female can live 4-7 years, depending on the amount of clutches she has and her level of care. I don't think that egg laying complications happen that often, they are probably more due to improper (or no) laying bin available, or poor supplementation and diet. If you're a good cham owner you should have no issues.

Good luck! And post photos of her if you do end up getting her.