Kushcham
Established Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 8.5 month old, male panther chameleon
Handling - Maybe once per week while maintaining his enclosure
Feeding - Daily-crickets and dubia, 3x per week-hornworms, 1x per week superworms or waxworms? He eats about 6-10 crickets or roaches per day, maybe 2-5 (1-1.2") hornworms per week, maybe 1-2 superworms per week/week and a half, maybe 5 waxworms per week? He is fed around 8am daily. Fed via Firehouse Geckos feeder run cup but definetely prefers tong feeding (which I know the risk and don't like doing it, but for some reason he is always more eager to eat from my tongs...please note that this is done VERY carefully with minimal grip on the feeder and move the tongs in a way that reduces his risk of coming in contact with tongs. His aim is always on point. All feeders are given kale, carrots, sweet red peppers, sweet potatoes, some apples and mango, Respashy's Bug Burger, and Lugarti's Dubia diet for dry food. All food is changed out every other day. On this avoid tongs... I have seen some horrible threads in here that involve tongs. Hand feed if he prefers that. You could also try a different type of feeder run. Full throttle makes a good one. Every thing else here looks good. I will try to switch to hand feeding in the interim. Prior to the Firehouse Gecko feeder cup I was using a homemade cup like the shooting gallery. He was never afraid of it. But he is on and off again "unsure" about this one. I will look into a different one.
Supplements - Every feeding I dust with Arcadia Earth Pro A and twice monthly I use Reptivite with D3 every other Saturday... This is perfectly fine. I do prefer repashy calcium plus LoD version to Reptivite with D3. Repashy does not add phosphorus while reptivite has a 2:1 ratio. Also Repashy LoD has a lower D3 and A amount while still being highly effective. No need to over supplement with fat soluble vitamins so I prefer the Repashy LoD for this reason plus it is a much finer powder. I am not pleased with how the Reptivite sticks to the feeders. I dont not feel like much is sticking at all so I was looking into ordering the Repashy LoD instead.
Watering - I try to follow the hydration schedule posted on the chameleonacademy. I use Mist King for watering and ReptiFogger to help with nighttime humidity. During the day I will use a dripper. Are you running any mistings when lights are on or are you sticking pretty close to Cham academy of before lights on and after off? Yes my nighttime misting schedule matching the fogging schedule. Quick 1 min intervals misting while 20 mins fog.
Fecal Description - Large white urate and a nice hydrated. But lately have been a little more runny and not as often. Thought could be because of me often feeding hornworms. So a runny urate can actually be a sign of over hydration. If it is more like egg whites instead of a formed urate this is typical of over hydration. You can correct this to see if this is the cause by cutting back your fogging duration at night. His urate looks bright white and solid with good shape. Its the rest that has started to become more running. His pooping was also always right on schedule everyday in the same spot. Glorious looking poops. But lately there has been time where he goes a day or two plus.
History - He has always shown interest in getting to the soil of my live plants. All plants are repotted, roots and leaves washed, and replaced with organic soil. not surprising at all and it is good you covered it so he can not get to it. Panthers will eat dry leaves as well.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 36x18x26 Exo terra converted to a 3 sided hybrid with DragonLedges... If he ends up being a big boy this cage may prove to be too small. The good thing about it is that it is a wide format but the depth and height are smaller and this is where for an adult male you may have an issue. I did purchase this cage as a "starter" cage and do feel that I try my very best to increase the usability of all the space inside, I do admit that it does feel too small IMO. I am torn because I love the 48" wide bakers rack keeping the entire setup clean and organized, but I have considered switching to the standard 2x2x4. My concern there is its quite a bit less horizontal space so I have really wanted to attempt the double wide XL. But that would throw out my entire rack because it then will no longer fit.....its been a dilemma for me
Lighting - 22" Arcadia fixture with Arcadia 6% t5ho bulb, 22" Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED, 75 watt basking bulb, and one additional 6500k led bulb in a dome. Each light turns on and off with a 5 mins delay apart using smart plug timer schedule. This is where I would switch it up because you have a 36 wide cage it is better to have the full span of coverage for UVB. I would have a 36 inch UVB fixture with 34 inch 6% bulb in it on this cage instead of the 22 inch. You could get a 6500k daylight bulb to put in the 24 inch T5 fixture to give more plant light. What is your total distance from the bottom of the UVB fixture to the branches below? with this fixture and bulb you need 8-9 inches to the branch to put the cham in the correct UVI level.
Temperature - Basking branch is about 8 inches below bulb and temps around 85, opposite end of cage temps 77-80 up top, bottom temps at 70 (bulb in resting on wire rack above enclosure. Lowest overnight temp is 65-66 degrees. I have two small Govee hygrometers and and digital display one as well. This is all good. I would not let basking go over 85 though.
Humidity - Daytime low is 42-50%. I run nighttime fog in 20 min intervals starting at 1am, 3am, 5am, and 6am along with a misting schedule of 1am, 3am, 5am, 6am, 7pm and 8pm for 1 min intervals. I have 3 pothos and 3 Schefflera Consider running a misting in the morning right after lights go on. Gives him the opportunity to drink but also clean his eyes if he needs to. About 30 mins after lights on I hand mist. Around 10am and maybe again later in the afternoon use a drip cup. Only occasionally do I actually see him drink.
Placement - Located in my home office. It does receive some foot traffic? It is not near any vents of window. The bottom of the cage is 35" off the ground on a metal rack.
Location - About an hour NorthEast of Sacramento, CA? You can use this link to find a reptile vet near you https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661 Thank you, I will definitely look into a vet. It is never a good time for fork over a bunch of money, but right now isn't the most ideal time. I would hate to "price shop" a vet but if anyone had any recommendation on an "affordable" exotics vet in the area, I would also appreciate that advise as well.
Current Problem - Recently (over the last 2-3 weeks) he has stopped coming out of his sleep spot (hidden deep in the large pothos under the mister) when lights come on. I usually drop fresh feeders in his cup around 8am every morning and he was always waiting in front of his cup like "where's my food human" Now he may come out of his spot when I go in to do something in his cage but otherwise he could stay in a large portion of the day. He has also spent more time hanging out at the bottom and even floor walking that bare bottom which has had me concerned. Since this morning he had not pooped for 3 days. The two poops before today were rather runny. Todays was a little better but still a bit on the runny side. He is eating about 8 crickets a day and a hornworm every couple days. Lately he has been ignoring the dubia unless I move one onto a branch with my tongs and get it moving. His grip strength is strong, his colors look ok. I am not seeing any major signs of visual distress. He has also been very interested in eating plant soil. I have had to cover all plants with fiberglass screen and put large river rocks over the top. So he will often patrol down and see if he can still find a way into the soil. At this point I am concerned of maybe parasites from one of the times I've been in a pinch a needed Petsmart crickets or some other means. If advised a vet visit is necessary, could someone recommended one in the area? I will include photos of setup and my cham
Has anything changes in his environment or the room in the last few weeks? About two months ago I have a large ficus tree as the center piece and it overgrew like crazy and IMO overcrowded that cage and also wasn't providing a large enough branch diameter for his feet. I removed that and added more large pothos and umbrella trees. Since then his grip strength has gotten noticeably stronger. So I would say a major interior cage design would throw him off but I think he's had time to acclimate to that change.
At 9 months you may see a curb down on eating this is pretty common. The fact that he is still eating is a good sign. However I would get a fecal test run to rule out parasites. I've been tempted to start cutting his feeder down, but with his weird behavior, his interest in food and seeing him properly shoot his tongue has been the only thing giving me comfort these past couple weeks.
Your Chameleon - 8.5 month old, male panther chameleon
Handling - Maybe once per week while maintaining his enclosure
Feeding - Daily-crickets and dubia, 3x per week-hornworms, 1x per week superworms or waxworms? He eats about 6-10 crickets or roaches per day, maybe 2-5 (1-1.2") hornworms per week, maybe 1-2 superworms per week/week and a half, maybe 5 waxworms per week? He is fed around 8am daily. Fed via Firehouse Geckos feeder run cup but definetely prefers tong feeding (which I know the risk and don't like doing it, but for some reason he is always more eager to eat from my tongs...please note that this is done VERY carefully with minimal grip on the feeder and move the tongs in a way that reduces his risk of coming in contact with tongs. His aim is always on point. All feeders are given kale, carrots, sweet red peppers, sweet potatoes, some apples and mango, Respashy's Bug Burger, and Lugarti's Dubia diet for dry food. All food is changed out every other day. On this avoid tongs... I have seen some horrible threads in here that involve tongs. Hand feed if he prefers that. You could also try a different type of feeder run. Full throttle makes a good one. Every thing else here looks good. I will try to switch to hand feeding in the interim. Prior to the Firehouse Gecko feeder cup I was using a homemade cup like the shooting gallery. He was never afraid of it. But he is on and off again "unsure" about this one. I will look into a different one.
Supplements - Every feeding I dust with Arcadia Earth Pro A and twice monthly I use Reptivite with D3 every other Saturday... This is perfectly fine. I do prefer repashy calcium plus LoD version to Reptivite with D3. Repashy does not add phosphorus while reptivite has a 2:1 ratio. Also Repashy LoD has a lower D3 and A amount while still being highly effective. No need to over supplement with fat soluble vitamins so I prefer the Repashy LoD for this reason plus it is a much finer powder. I am not pleased with how the Reptivite sticks to the feeders. I dont not feel like much is sticking at all so I was looking into ordering the Repashy LoD instead.
Watering - I try to follow the hydration schedule posted on the chameleonacademy. I use Mist King for watering and ReptiFogger to help with nighttime humidity. During the day I will use a dripper. Are you running any mistings when lights are on or are you sticking pretty close to Cham academy of before lights on and after off? Yes my nighttime misting schedule matching the fogging schedule. Quick 1 min intervals misting while 20 mins fog.
Fecal Description - Large white urate and a nice hydrated. But lately have been a little more runny and not as often. Thought could be because of me often feeding hornworms. So a runny urate can actually be a sign of over hydration. If it is more like egg whites instead of a formed urate this is typical of over hydration. You can correct this to see if this is the cause by cutting back your fogging duration at night. His urate looks bright white and solid with good shape. Its the rest that has started to become more running. His pooping was also always right on schedule everyday in the same spot. Glorious looking poops. But lately there has been time where he goes a day or two plus.
History - He has always shown interest in getting to the soil of my live plants. All plants are repotted, roots and leaves washed, and replaced with organic soil. not surprising at all and it is good you covered it so he can not get to it. Panthers will eat dry leaves as well.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 36x18x26 Exo terra converted to a 3 sided hybrid with DragonLedges... If he ends up being a big boy this cage may prove to be too small. The good thing about it is that it is a wide format but the depth and height are smaller and this is where for an adult male you may have an issue. I did purchase this cage as a "starter" cage and do feel that I try my very best to increase the usability of all the space inside, I do admit that it does feel too small IMO. I am torn because I love the 48" wide bakers rack keeping the entire setup clean and organized, but I have considered switching to the standard 2x2x4. My concern there is its quite a bit less horizontal space so I have really wanted to attempt the double wide XL. But that would throw out my entire rack because it then will no longer fit.....its been a dilemma for me
Lighting - 22" Arcadia fixture with Arcadia 6% t5ho bulb, 22" Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED, 75 watt basking bulb, and one additional 6500k led bulb in a dome. Each light turns on and off with a 5 mins delay apart using smart plug timer schedule. This is where I would switch it up because you have a 36 wide cage it is better to have the full span of coverage for UVB. I would have a 36 inch UVB fixture with 34 inch 6% bulb in it on this cage instead of the 22 inch. You could get a 6500k daylight bulb to put in the 24 inch T5 fixture to give more plant light. What is your total distance from the bottom of the UVB fixture to the branches below? with this fixture and bulb you need 8-9 inches to the branch to put the cham in the correct UVI level.
Temperature - Basking branch is about 8 inches below bulb and temps around 85, opposite end of cage temps 77-80 up top, bottom temps at 70 (bulb in resting on wire rack above enclosure. Lowest overnight temp is 65-66 degrees. I have two small Govee hygrometers and and digital display one as well. This is all good. I would not let basking go over 85 though.
Humidity - Daytime low is 42-50%. I run nighttime fog in 20 min intervals starting at 1am, 3am, 5am, and 6am along with a misting schedule of 1am, 3am, 5am, 6am, 7pm and 8pm for 1 min intervals. I have 3 pothos and 3 Schefflera Consider running a misting in the morning right after lights go on. Gives him the opportunity to drink but also clean his eyes if he needs to. About 30 mins after lights on I hand mist. Around 10am and maybe again later in the afternoon use a drip cup. Only occasionally do I actually see him drink.
Placement - Located in my home office. It does receive some foot traffic? It is not near any vents of window. The bottom of the cage is 35" off the ground on a metal rack.
Location - About an hour NorthEast of Sacramento, CA? You can use this link to find a reptile vet near you https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661 Thank you, I will definitely look into a vet. It is never a good time for fork over a bunch of money, but right now isn't the most ideal time. I would hate to "price shop" a vet but if anyone had any recommendation on an "affordable" exotics vet in the area, I would also appreciate that advise as well.
Current Problem - Recently (over the last 2-3 weeks) he has stopped coming out of his sleep spot (hidden deep in the large pothos under the mister) when lights come on. I usually drop fresh feeders in his cup around 8am every morning and he was always waiting in front of his cup like "where's my food human" Now he may come out of his spot when I go in to do something in his cage but otherwise he could stay in a large portion of the day. He has also spent more time hanging out at the bottom and even floor walking that bare bottom which has had me concerned. Since this morning he had not pooped for 3 days. The two poops before today were rather runny. Todays was a little better but still a bit on the runny side. He is eating about 8 crickets a day and a hornworm every couple days. Lately he has been ignoring the dubia unless I move one onto a branch with my tongs and get it moving. His grip strength is strong, his colors look ok. I am not seeing any major signs of visual distress. He has also been very interested in eating plant soil. I have had to cover all plants with fiberglass screen and put large river rocks over the top. So he will often patrol down and see if he can still find a way into the soil. At this point I am concerned of maybe parasites from one of the times I've been in a pinch a needed Petsmart crickets or some other means. If advised a vet visit is necessary, could someone recommended one in the area? I will include photos of setup and my cham
Has anything changes in his environment or the room in the last few weeks? About two months ago I have a large ficus tree as the center piece and it overgrew like crazy and IMO overcrowded that cage and also wasn't providing a large enough branch diameter for his feet. I removed that and added more large pothos and umbrella trees. Since then his grip strength has gotten noticeably stronger. So I would say a major interior cage design would throw him off but I think he's had time to acclimate to that change.
At 9 months you may see a curb down on eating this is pretty common. The fact that he is still eating is a good sign. However I would get a fecal test run to rule out parasites. I've been tempted to start cutting his feeder down, but with his weird behavior, his interest in food and seeing him properly shoot his tongue has been the only thing giving me comfort these past couple weeks.
Could always get a larger bakers rack. 
. Im not sure… chams can be pretty mischievous though.
