Hello everyone. Advise on cham please.

[Goatsniper]

Hey everyone. Just signed up for this forum, and I love it. I'm glad there is a place for animal nerds to hang out and chat. Well here's my story. I've kept reptiles and amphibians my entire life. I currently have a Mali Uromastyx named Carlos, named after the late Carlos Hathcock. He is beautiful and 12 years old. I have always wanted to keep a panther chameleon, but I just have not had the time for the amount of care they need. I recently got out of the military, after serving 5 years and 4 combat deployments. Now I have time!!! wooohooo!!! (incase you are wondering, my mother took care of Carlos for 4 1/2 years while I was off clearing minefields. she did a good job, except when she replaced the bulbs last year she bought the wrong ones 2.0 and carlos went into hibernation for approximatly 6 months. but hes back to life now and green as ever. thanks too my new extreme uv bulb, mercury vapor and good quality vitamins) I have alot of time on my hands, so much time that I have been making instructional videos on how to keep Uromastyx, and comedy parodies with my Carlos and a bobble head Yoda. ANYWAYS, I am going to school to be a Game Warden (yes. I am willing to give my life for wildlife. duh. you would too) and I have the capability to house PANTHERS!!! YAY!!!!!!! My birthday is next month, and me and my wife agreed on some terms, and shes gonna help me buy a new member of the family. I am a hobbiest', and I am always one of the best at everything I do. There is no doubt in my mind that I will keep a happy chameleon(s) for many many years and provide him(them) with a habitat and life 600x better than the environment found on the island of Madagashoweveryouspellit. I WAS planning on ordering a critter or two from the Kammers, BUT I was looking at the "chams for sale" section, and hopefully this dude emails me back about some babies he is trying to get rid of. Anyways, im starting from scratch with this guy. I have tons of hoods and lamps, all I need is to go get is the little screen cage and some vine stuff and a dripper. I have an LLL not far from me, in san diego. Im just curious, is a heat lamp and a hood 5.0 linear sufficiant? because with my Mali, he requires radioactive amounts of UV and extreme heat in order to even digest food. I pump him with a 145 degree basking spot 5 inches away from the mercury vapur bulb. He loves it and is getting more muscular and green by the day. But chameleons i know, spend most of their day cruising around in trees with bairly any DIRECT sunlight, because birdies like to eat them, and they only live like a year in the wild. Should i rock the same kinda bulb as Carlos? with less wattage to achieve approx 85 deggrees F within the cage? or should i use my hood w/ regular bulb for heat? i plan on using live plants, and hopefully hand feeding or bowl feeding. I had a bad experience when i was a child with my pair of breeder banded geckos. a cricket chewed through my female while she was sleeping. I was like 12. lesson learned. also, for gutloading, are those "orange cubes" any good? or is using natural stuff better? my wife is a rabbit and only shops at farmers markets and whole food stores, so acquiring goofy edible plants is not an issue. thanks for taking the time to read my post. When i get my little color changing bug eliminator, the entire life will be documented on a facebook page. Carlos' videos went viral, so i might as well make one for the panther. I look forward to learning and talking with you all, and please, advise is welcomed and asked for. -Ryan

 

[carol5208]

Hi Ryan and welcome! First of all I would like to say a big THANK YOU for your services to this great country of ours. I am glad that you are one of the ones who have made it back safe and sound. We just had a young soldier that lives in our area that my children knew that was killed there a few weeks back when he drove over a mine. I cannot imagine the dangers you put yourself at risk to everyday while serving. For this I am exremely greatful. With that said, now lets talk Panthers! Yes, they are awesome creatures to own and not all that tricky once you get everything down pat. The main thing is the feeders and feeding them! A couple of questions you asked....gutloading as it is called(feeding your feeders) is best when you use fresh fruits and vegetable. Instead of orange cubes use oranges. I ordered a very nice cage from LLL reptiles. It is a 24 X 24 X48 and is for an adult but you can put your chameleons in them also. This way you don't have to buy a new one later. The big thing everyone worrries about is the young chameleons finding the food in the big cage. So you cup feed to solve that problem. You don't have to cause most likely they can hunt down their food just like they do in the wild! There are many helpful people on here so just ask as many questions as you have! Again, glad you made it back safely to the good Ole' U S of A!!!

 

[Tiberius]

Hey welcome to the forums and welcome home, Ryan!
First off I would recommend a 50-100 watt bulb so he can get a basking spot of 85 degrees. Go here for a list of safe plants to use and I would try to make sure he has plenty of foliage to roam around on and hide behind.
Adult panthers will require a bit bigger terrarium so make sure to move him into one that is 1.5-2' x 1.5-2' x 4'. But bigger is always better
I am unsure of the gutloading however, as I get my crickets pre-gutloaded.
It sounds like you have a lot figured out and there is a lot of good info and helpful people on these forums if you have any more questions. And I am still pretty new, not only to the forums, but to owning a chameleon so I'm sure some of the more experienced people will be better at helpin' you out And if any info I have mentioned is incorrect it would be appreciated if someone corrected me.

EDIT: Aw, carol beat me to it

 

[carol5208]

Hey welcome to the forums and welcome home, Ryan!
First off I would recommend a 50-100 watt bulb so he can get a basking spot of 85 degrees. Go here for a list of safe plants to use and I would try to make sure he has plenty of foliage to roam around on and hide behind.
Adult panthers will require a bit bigger terrarium so make sure to move him into one that is 1.5-2' x 1.5-2' x 4'. But bigger is always better
I am unsure of the gutloading however, as I get my crickets pre-gutloaded.
It sounds like you have a lot figured out and there is a lot of good info and helpful people on these forums if you have any more questions. And I am still pretty new, not only to the forums, but to owning a chameleon so I'm sure some of the more experienced people will be better at helpin' you out And if any info I have mentioned is incorrect it would be appreciated if someone corrected me
EDIT: Aw, carol beat me to it

just wanna add that that basking temp is kind alow and they CAN bask as temps in the 95 degree range or so safely.

 

[Goatsniper]

thank you guys! and Carol, I am sorry to hear about your kids friend. I'm sure there are many people grieving, and I am also sure that there are people who's lives depended on him. Unfortunately, there is no training that can prepare you for instantaneous chaos, and there are few man made devices that provide enough protection for some of the weapons our sneaky enemy uses. My prayers go out to his family and friends.

I plan on packing the environment densely, with a canopy type basking area, like they have in their natural environment. I want my chameleon to be jammin out to bob marley, takin puffs from his rolled up super worm in the top canopy wondering when the jackson's strippers are gonna show up at the hanging vine.

 

[carol5208]

thank you guys! and Carol, I am sorry to hear about your kids friend. I'm sure there are many people grieving, and I am also sure that there are people who's lives depended on him. Unfortunately, there is no training that can prepare you for instantaneous chaos, and there are few man made devices that provide enough protection for some of the weapons our sneaky enemy uses. My prayers go out to his family and friends.

I plan on packing the environment densely, with a canopy type basking area, like they have in their natural environment. I want my chameleon to be jammin out to bob marley, takin puffs from his rolled up super worm in the top canopy wondering when the jackson's strippers are gonna show up at the hanging vine.

yes, it is very sad and the community really rallied around his family which I thought was great. He was buried in Arlington. Beautiful place to be.... Anyways, you sound like you have a great sense of humor and will bring alot of laughs to the forum. Sometimes you will get some conflicting advice but most of us all follow the same guidelines in general on how to raise a happy healthy chameleon. Like I said ask ANY question you may have even if you think it sounds stupid! lol Do you know what lights to get and all that already??

 

[Goatsniper]

from this forum, I guess im going to be getting a reptisun 5.0 on a 6 month replacement schedual. it just blows my mind that these little $400 lizards from a god forsaken island full of all sorts of heat and radiation, only require a 5.0 my dude carlos requires some serious exposure to even digest his food and grow. but hes a different animal. i was planning on using one of my hoods with a 5.0, you know the little foot and a half doo bobs, and one of my metal or ceramic bowl style guys with like a 60 watt clear bulb to get heat. should i spend the extra cash on a reptile style bulb? i had great success while breeding White's tree frogs, geckos, and Nigger yellow phase uromastyx using household bulbs to create heat. they burn out in 2 weeks, but they are only like a dollar a piece. if i post a pic of carlos, will the moderators delete it cuz hes not a chameleon?

 

[carol5208]

we all use white housebulbs for heat. Dont waste your money on expensive basking lights. For a panther try a 75 watt or so. I bask my guys at around 95 degrees and they love it. Also any chance you can get them outside for natural sun is always the best! BTW got my first cham at Kammers. They are wonderful to deal with. no they wont delete it! We also have a section for "other pets and reptiles" if you want to start a thread on Carlos.

 

[Goatsniper]

sweet ill figure out how to post a pic of him here right now. im proud of him, he makes the guys/girls at LLL jealous because he was the runt of the litter, near death, thats why i bought him. and now, im regretting not breeding him. Just curious, what are the pros and cons of owning a panther vs. a vieled? panthers are $300 and vields are like $60. i remember being taught that vieled chams get aggressive at old age and want nothing to do with human interaction, and stress from music, people, other pets etc can stress them out. is this true? im still gonna get a panther, but im just curious. because i see alot of guys on here with them.

 

[Goatsniper]

Carlos

heres my baby. 12 years old.

 

[Goatsniper]

oh btw, his feet look funny cuz he was in the process of shedding. hes still got some skin comming off his feet and his tail. i took this pic after pulling a huuuuuge slab of skin off his back. hes lazy with his old age and enjoys it when i assist in his shedding process. but i always reward him with a large grub or fat piece of lettuce afterwards. i dont know exactly how chameleons shed, cuz i havent owned one yet, but Uros kinda shed a little bit at a time and require lots of rubbing and movement to fully shed. so i just rub his face and pull off his skin until its too tight to tug. i had to use tweezers on his eyes the other day cuz his skin was shedded off the top eyelids and were poking him in the eye. hes not the sharpest spoon in the knife drawer. yea....hes babied. but he deserves it. im pretty sure he was wild caught even tho he was labeled as CB at the pet store in AZ i bought him at. if you saw his personality and response to my voice, you would be amazed. this lizard has some serious personality. when hes in a bad mood, hes a jerk, but when he loves me, hes soooooooo cool.

 

[Trillian]

He is GORGEOUS! Gotta love a big chunky lizard! There's a subforum to chat about non-chameleons, most members have some! But I've never heard of pics deleted, worst that would happen is a thread would get moved if there was no mention of chameleons.

And welcome and thank you! I'm a not American yet but I adore this country that finally caved and let me live here.

 

[Goatsniper]

where are you from???!!! i love international conversations. btw.... i appologise for my all night long posts. i started some new supplements, bcaa's and prohormones, so my sleep schedule is all jacked up. im not a crack head i promise. just couldnt sleep today.

 

[Trillian]

England... not sure that counts as international... How come you're on so many supplements? 'Scuse the stickybeaking.

 

[Goatsniper]

oh...so the country that finally caved and let you live there is England? i take supplements because im 6 foot 4 inches, 235 pounds and i want to be 250. =) =) same reason as the lizards...and yep.... still awake.

 

[camimom]

Pros and cons for veields and panthers.

Panthers have more color, and get beefier.

Veileds have huge casques, and get bigger than panthers.


Panthers cost more, but have a huge rainbow of color.

Veileds are cheap, and are relatively the same from cham to cham.

HOWEVER, I own both and would not trade either. (and a few other chams, )

I feel that comparing veileds and panthers is like apples to oranges. they are just different.

they are the same to care for, and fairly easy.


So go with what you like.

 

[Goatsniper]

Thanks Camimom. good stuff. but on another note, why cant i post in the "for sale forum" im trying to communicate with 2 guys trying to get rid of their lizards. it says im not allowed to post there =( is it only PMs in there?

 

[camimom]

Yea you cant psot there cuz you arent a long term member here yet.

I cant even post iin the for sale yet.

Just the wanted ads.

If you want to talk to a member who has an ad posted, send them a PM.

 

[Trace]

but on another note, why cant i post in the "for sale forum" im trying to communicate with 2 guys trying to get rid of their lizards. it says im not allowed to post there =( is it only PMs in there?

As of this writing Junior Members are not allowed to post in the Classified Section. We have this rule in place so people don’t sign up just to use our free classifieds to sell their random goods. We have also prevented replies to the ads as that conversation between buyer and seller creates confusion, it is time consuming to moderate and ultimately any dealings should be private. A combination of time, participation and reputation points will upgrade you from Junior Member to a regular Member quickly enough.

If you have any questions about this topic; please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks,
Trace

And no, I’ll never delete a cool reptile photo.

I cant even post iin the for sale yet.

You should be able to make a thread in any classified category but like everybody else you can’t reply to other members ads, only your own adverts. If you can’t make a for sale ad, please let me know and I’ll look into it.

 

[Goatsniper]

cool. thats what I did. and i just realized ive been spelling "advice" wrong. all nighter < quality sleep.