Husbandry review

[chameleon100]

Hi everyone I want a review of my panther chameleons cage. His name is emmet, he’s about one and a half years old, and recently been going through a color funk where he lost all his color. I’m pretty sure it’s just a winter thing and it will go away, as that’s what other people said in the forums. Anyway I want a review to make sure that everything looks alright.

Temps- basking spot is 85°, regular cage temp is about 70-75 depending on what our house is at. At night it drops to around 65-70.

Humidity- tends to stay around 30%-80%, depends on when his mister turns on. It is set for a cycle of 16 seconds for every 2 hours. This is how he gets his water, I see him drink off of leaves and such after it turns on

Lights- for basking he has a exoterra halogen bulb, 120v 60hz and 50w. For UV he has 2 lights, one zoomed reptisun 10.0 for the darker spot in his cage, and his main uvb is a Arcadia shade dweller 7% light.

Handling- he get held often, probably 3-5 times a week. When we put our hand in there he willing crawls on our hand, and likes being out. We have a big tree in our living room for decoration and he loves climbing on that.

Diet- he eats a mix of dubia roaches, super worms, and crickets, but probably eats the most of Dubias. We powder will calcium without d3 and multivitamin about 1 bug per feeding, and he eats about 4 bugs every other day, sometimes slightly more or slightly less. We feed him calcium with d3 3 times a month.

He acts completely normal, but like lost all his color the past few months, and it hasn’t come back. He seems healthy, healthy appetite, poops, and everything. This is his cage, and I’ll also put a picture of his color change. Any help or critique would be appreciated. I have had panther chams before and never have had this color loss happen, so I was wondering if it’s related to something in the cage. I know his current cage seems small which it is, but he grew a lot in the past month and we will get him a bigger cage soon, just looking for one. Thanks!!

 

[GrannyK]

Hey there! I did see a few things I’ve mentioned below may need tweaking but since you’ve had panthers in the past if your current way has worked it may be winter funk. I have 2 males , 1 just coming out of winter funk and one whose color didn’t change but his attitude did and habits. I’m hoping they return to their normals soon. For them it’s been an extra long cold season so I’m thinking it’s just the weather.

Emmet is beautiful bright or light!

See my responses in bold

Temps- basking spot is 85°, regular cage temp is about 70-75 depending on what our house is at. At night it drops to around 65-70. This is good!

Humidity- tends to stay around 30%-80%, depends on when his mister turns on. It is set for a cycle of 16 seconds for every 2 hours. This is how he gets his water, I see him drink off of leaves and such after it turns on Daytime humidity should run 40-60% and night time 80-100%. Usually we recommend misting 20 minutes after lights off and 20 minutes after lights on for 2-3 minutes and use a dripper for drinking throughout the day. You can use a solo cup or water bottle, punch a pin hole in the bottom and set it on top the cage near leaves to drip down hitting the leaves and creating a drinking site for him. If additional boost of humidity is needed during the day do a short misting around noon or 1.
I am not sure your misting cycle is an issue though since your temps and humidity seem in check for the most part.

Lights- for basking he has a exoterra halogen bulb, 120v 60hz and 50w. For UV he has 2 lights, one zoomed reptisun 10.0 for the darker spot in his cage, and his main uvb is an Arcadia shade dweller 7% light. Normally the 6% Forrest bulb is the bulb to give proper uvb exposure. This definitely could be part of the issue.
Recommend is the repti sun ho 5% or 10% OR the Arcadia 6% or 12% ho bulbs - These are linear bulbs not compact
I think the 7% is not strong enough to get the correct uvi level.

Handling- he get held often, probably 3-5 times a week. When we put our hand in there he willing crawls on our hand, and likes being out. We have a big tree in our living room for decoration and he loves climbing on that. Sometimes they come out looking for proper conditions which is a possibility but sometimes panthers are just a tad more social than your average chameleon. I have one social guy and one keep Your distance unless bringing food kinda guy. Don’t be surprised if he changes though, I think they are all saucy at some point lol.

Diet- he eats a mix of dubia roaches, super worms, and crickets, but probably eats the most of Dubias. We powder will calcium without d3 and multivitamin about 1 bug per feeding, and he eats about 4 bugs every other day, sometimes slightly more or slightly less. We feed him calcium with d3 3 times a month. Here is where a problem may lie as well. He may be getting too much d3 and multivitamins.
It recommended calcium only (nod3) every feeding, and calcium with d3 and vitamins only 2x per month- example the 1st and 15th of the month do the d3 and vitamin. I use Repashy lod 2x a month because it has the vitamin and lod in one supplement. Every other feeding is just calcium.

Hopefully if I’m off on anything another keeper will catch it or throw in their recommendations. My eyes go buggy sometimes on these small phones.

 

[chameleon100]

Hey there! I did see a few things I’ve mentioned below may need tweaking but since you’ve had panthers in the past if your current way has worked it may be winter funk. I have 2 males , 1 just coming out of winter funk and one whose color didn’t change but his attitude did and habits. I’m hoping they return to their normals soon. For them it’s been an extra long cold season so I’m thinking it’s just the weather.

Emmet is beautiful bright or light!

See my responses in bold

Temps- basking spot is 85°, regular cage temp is about 70-75 depending on what our house is at. At night it drops to around 65-70. This is good!

Humidity- tends to stay around 30%-80%, depends on when his mister turns on. It is set for a cycle of 16 seconds for every 2 hours. This is how he gets his water, I see him drink off of leaves and such after it turns on Daytime humidity should run 40-60% and night time 80-100%. Usually we recommend misting 20 minutes after lights off and 20 minutes after lights on for 2-3 minutes and use a dripper for drinking throughout the day. You can use a solo cup or water bottle, punch a pin hole in the bottom and set it on top the cage near leaves to drip down hitting the leaves and creating a drinking site for him. If additional boost of humidity is needed during the day do a short misting around noon or 1.
I am not sure your misting cycle is an issue though since your temps and humidity seem in check for the most part.

Lights- for basking he has a exoterra halogen bulb, 120v 60hz and 50w. For UV he has 2 lights, one zoomed reptisun 10.0 for the darker spot in his cage, (is this the ho 10%uvb bulb?) if so you may want to make this his uvb. and his main uvb is an Arcadia shade dweller 7% light. Normally the 6% Forrest bulb is the bulb to give proper uvb exposure. This definitely could be part of the issue.
Recommend is the repti sun ho 5% or 10% OR the Arcadia 6% or 12% ho bulbs - These are linear bulbs not compact
I think the 7% is not strong enough to get the correct uvi level.

Handling- he get held often, probably 3-5 times a week. When we put our hand in there he willing crawls on our hand, and likes being out. We have a big tree in our living room for decoration and he loves climbing on that. Sometimes they come out looking for proper conditions which is a possibility but sometimes panthers are just a tad more social than your average chameleon. I have one social guy and one keep Your distance unless bringing food kinda guy. Don’t be surprised if he changes though, I think they are all saucy at some point lol.

Diet- he eats a mix of dubia roaches, super worms, and crickets, but probably eats the most of Dubias. We powder will calcium without d3 and multivitamin about 1 bug per feeding, and he eats about 4 bugs every other day, sometimes slightly more or slightly less. We feed him calcium with d3 3 times a month. Here is where a problem may lie as well. He may be getting too much d3 and multivitamins.
It recommended calcium only (nod3) every feeding, and calcium with d3 and vitamins only 2x per month- example the 1st and 15th of the month do the d3 and vitamin. I use Repashy lod 2x a month because it has the vitamin and lod in one supplement. Every other feeding is just calcium.

Hopefully if I’m off on anything another keeper will catch it or throw in their recommendations. My eyes go buggy sometimes on these small phones.

Thank you thank you so much. I will definitely try my best to fix those things, and I will for sure fix the multivitamin issue. Thank you!!

 

[GrannyK]

Thank you thank you so much. I will definitely try my best to fix those things, and I will for sure fix the multivitamin issue. Thank you!!

Your welcome!!! I’m not sure if it’s the issue but possibly I did edit my original post since I found a few errors after re reading so breeze it again. Lol

 

[Beman]

Please note...

So the difference in the arcadia bulbs... You have UVB and UVA lighting from them. The 7% bulb is the shade dweller bulb so it has almost half the amount of UVA lighting as the 6% or 12% bulbs they sit at around 30% UVA vs the shadedweller 7% strength UVB bulb sitting at 17% UVA.
UVA is responsible for stimulating different aspects in a chameleon. Feeding and mating responses are linked to this.

Only one UVB light needs to be used. Run across the middle of the cage T5HO fixture with either a 5.0 reptisun bulb or 6% arcadia bulb. You want this fixture sitting on the top of the cage then you need to measure down 8-9 inches that is where the highest branch should sit. This will put the chameleon in the 3 uvi range. Higher strength bulbs are not needed as you end up exposing them to a UVI level that is much too strong for them.

Make sure you are lightly supplementing all of your insects at every feeding with the correct supplement. We supplement to balance the calcium to phosphorus levels of the insect. So you have to supplement them all.


Time to upgrade his cage. It is far too small for him. Need a 24x24x48tall now.

 

[chameleon100]

Please note...

So the difference in the arcadia bulbs... You have UVB and UVA lighting from them. The 7% bulb is the shade dweller bulb so it has almost half the amount of UVA lighting as the 6% or 12% bulbs they sit at around 30% UVA vs the shadedweller 7% strength UVB bulb sitting at 17% UVA.
UVA is responsible for stimulating different aspects in a chameleon. Feeding and mating responses are linked to this.

Only one UVB light needs to be used. Run across the middle of the cage T5HO fixture with either a 5.0 reptisun bulb or 6% arcadia bulb. You want this fixture sitting on the top of the cage then you need to measure down 8-9 inches that is where the highest branch should sit. This will put the chameleon in the 3 uvi range. Higher strength bulbs are not needed as you end up exposing them to a UVI level that is much too strong for them.

Make sure you are lightly supplementing all of your insects at every feeding with the correct supplement. We supplement to balance the calcium to phosphorus levels of the insect. So you have to supplement them all.


Time to upgrade his cage. It is far too small for him. Need a 24x24x48tall now.

Ok thanks for the info. I will order the 6% bulb and get a new cage asap. Thank you!!

 

[chameleon100]

Please note...

So the difference in the arcadia bulbs... You have UVB and UVA lighting from them. The 7% bulb is the shade dweller bulb so it has almost half the amount of UVA lighting as the 6% or 12% bulbs they sit at around 30% UVA vs the shadedweller 7% strength UVB bulb sitting at 17% UVA.
UVA is responsible for stimulating different aspects in a chameleon. Feeding and mating responses are linked to this.

Only one UVB light needs to be used. Run across the middle of the cage T5HO fixture with either a 5.0 reptisun bulb or 6% arcadia bulb. You want this fixture sitting on the top of the cage then you need to measure down 8-9 inches that is where the highest branch should sit. This will put the chameleon in the 3 uvi range. Higher strength bulbs are not needed as you end up exposing them to a UVI level that is much too strong for them.

Make sure you are lightly supplementing all of your insects at every feeding with the correct supplement. We supplement to balance the calcium to phosphorus levels of the insect. So you have to supplement them all.


Time to upgrade his cage. It is far too small for him. Need a 24x24x48tall now.

Is this the correct bulb?
Your pet will love this Arcadia Reptile D3 T5 6% UVB Lamp, 22-in, 24-watt:
https://www.chewy.com/arcadia-repti...198?utm_source=app-share&utm_campaign=1371198