In a Few Days I'll Be a New Panther Cross Owner...Any advise helps!!

[tigress4529]

Howdy! Just have a few questions...
Heres the info I currently have on type, age...etc:

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Im going to have a Panther Cross Cham (Babies are 37.50% Ambilobe X 32.815% Ambanja x 15.625% Nosy Be x
6.25% Sambava x 4.685% Tamatave x 3.125% Maroantsetra), Male, Approx 3-4 months old, not currently in my care yet

Handling - N/A...gonna let him settle in for the first 1-2 weeks...then gradually try and handle(5 mins, 10 mins...etc per day)...putting stick in cage and let him decide if he wants to climb on it

**Feeding - Will be primarily feeding cultured fruit flies in the beginning, med sized crickets (about 10-15 a day) when i run out of flies...Need help w/ a schedule and info on the "gut-loading" (heard oranges, fresh veggies and fruits were good to gut-load)

**Supplements - Herptivite, Rep-Cal w/D3 and Miner-Al-0...
Possible Sched:
Herptivite (multivitamin with beta-carotene) - Mondays and Thursdays
Rep-Cal Calcium (calcium with and w/out vitamin D3 - depending on indoor or outdoor use) - Tuesdays and Fridays
Miner-All (calcium with essential trace minerals) - Wednesdays and Saturdays

**Watering -Misting and Drip Watering...Misting 1 hr after lights come on and later in the afternoon...will monitor if Cham is drinking...Also what should I put at the bottom of the enclosure to catch run-off and all the extra water and feces?

**Fecal Description - Nothing yet! Cant wait! (sarcasm) How often should I clean and What would be something to look for if there was a problem?

History - Bred by Kammerflage Kreations....Sire is Holman...Cross Breed (Info on first line)

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen, Dim.>24"L x 12"W x 24"H

**Lighting -20" Black Fluorescent Hood,18" ReptiSun 5.0 Bulb, 5-1/2" Black Clamp Lamp, ReptiSun Basking Spot Lamp, plan on having a 12 hr schedule on and off (no timer...recommended or just keep the sched myself?)

**Temperature - This is one AREA I need supreme help with! Also planning on putting enclosure outside for X amount of time between 10 and 2....
Info From Breeder: basking site that reaches 90-95F for babies, Both forms of lighting should be off at night. Just as chameleons in the wild have a cooling down period during the night, we need to provide this in captivity as well. Unless the temperatures inside your home fall below 60 degrees F in the wintertime, no additional heat source at night (such as a ceramic heat lamp) should be necessary.

**Humidity - I live in Houston Tx, its WAAAY humid, but inside we have the AC on to control this, any advice for his enclosure? Will be using Zoo-Med Precision Analog Humidity Gauge...not sure exact measurements etc.NEED HELP!

Plants - Im thinking of getting fake plants/vines until I get the groove, I KILL PLANTS...I dont want to be getting a new baby AND trying to keep plants alive, at least in the beginning...Im thinking Ficus or Potted Vine (will look up recommended plants from breeder and this forum) They will be washed and cleaned w/ mild soap and dried completely b4 placing them in the enclosure

Placement - I am placing the enclosure in my bedroom, not near a vent or high-traffic. It will be about 3-4 ft from the ground (on my dresser...safely of course)

Location - Houston TX

Current Problem - Just getting a new 4 month old Chameleon! Im nervous excited and everything in between!

-Anything I should be weary of?

-Any "surprises" I should be aware of?

**The topics w/ the "**" are the main topics Im worried about
the "?'s" are in the topic (sorry about that!)**

THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL HELP AND ADVICE!

This is DADDY HOLMAN:

This is POSSIBLY my future baby:
http://chameleonsonly.com/Holman - CB 2.5 mo. old male - 3a.JPG

 

[Matt1851]

the dad looks nice! But thats one heck of a cross! and also 90-95 seems a bit hot, id go with 80(85ish) to 90

 

[Psi]

The fruit flies will likely be far too small for the cham at that age.
At that age 3/8" crickets would be a good size.

Your supplements are a bit off.
The typical practice here is:
Monday-Friday, Calcium No D3
Saturday (optional Calcium No D3, personally I prefer no dusting here).
Sunday Alternating Calcium W/ D3 / Herptivive / Mineral - O.

The cage you're getting(have?) already likely is too small for a 3-4 month old. 16x16x30 or 18x18x36 would be better.

Despite the fact you kill plants, plants will keep your humidity higher while the AC is running.

That's all I notice atm, coulda missed something.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the Chameleon Forums! Below I have a link to a blog that will help you get off to a good start with your new baby.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[JCDenton]

The fruit flies will likely be far too small for the cham at that age.
At that age 3/8" crickets would be a good size.

Your supplements are a bit off.
The typical practice here is:
Monday-Friday, Calcium No D3
Saturday (optional Calcium No D3, personally I prefer no dusting here).
Sunday Alternating Calcium W/ D3 / Herptivive / Mineral - O.

The cage you're getting(have?) already likely is too small for a 3-4 month old. 16x16x30 or 18x18x36 would be better.

Despite the fact you kill plants, plants will keep your humidity higher while the AC is running.

That's all I notice atm, coulda missed something.

This is all correct. At first I thought he meant the baby is three fourths of a month old, but the picture at the bottom indicates a several month old cham that definitely shouldn't be eating fruit flies.

As for some other advice I have, having got my first chameleon a few months ago and my second yesterday:

-the easiest drainage is to get a plastic drawer, walmart sells the perfect size for a 2x2x4 cage for $10. Drill through the PVC floor and the top of the drawer, and you have a very cheap, easy drainage solution. Glue some screen to the underside of the PVC floor if you're gonna free range your feeders.

(note that this cage needs some more plants in the top...I was expecting more out of the schleffera but it's doing really badly after being repotted and just left out for like an hour in Houston's morning sun...don't leave yours out, it's too hot here. Also, beware of putting your cages by a window. This one is fine since it only gets morning sun and I plan to put up insulating curtains in the winter...carefully monitor your temps if you do this)

-Walmart is the best place to get plants that I found here. Largest pothos for the price and good schlefferas for only $10.

-Don't order your crickets online a size too small, planning for them to grow. This worked out badly for me: they're even smaller than you'd expect, your lizard will eat a TON of them and still be hungry, and my crickets took longer than I expected to get to the size I wanted and there were barely any left by then.

-Definitely get a timer for your lights. You can get one very cheaply at walmart and my chameleons really appreciate it. Their schedule shouldn't be compromised if you sleep in.

-You should probably get a mist king. With the AC running there is no way you will be able to maintain humidity by hand misting unless you are at home all day.

-Don't handle him every day, that's too much.

 

[carol5208]

ok I am gonna chime in here because I have a chameleonsonly cham also. I bought it at around 5 months old. The supplement schedule I know is what Liddy Kammer told you because I used the same schedule. Everyone on the forum does not use the multi vitamin or the cal w/d3 but one time a month. I am not going to knock Liddy because lets face it, she probably has more experience than anyone on this forum being a breeder and her chameleons are beautiful and healthy so I have to say that her supplement schedule obvious is successful. The choice is yours how you want to supplement. I cut back on the d3 because my cham is getting natural sunlight everyday. One of the most important things is to make sure your cham is getting enough water, either through the mistings or a dripper. The poop should be dark brown and the urate should be white. If it is real orange then your cham is becoming dehydrated. As soon as my cham poops, I clean it out. Why leave it in the cage? Keep the environment as clean as possible. Live plants are best because they keep up the humidity in the cage. I would highly recommend one. Try a Sheffelera. They are pretty hardy and provide alot of cover for the cham to hide and crawl around.

 

[carol5208]

Oh, I know Liddy highly recommends handling your chameleon. She told me to give him about two weeks to settle in and then do exactly what she told you with the stick to coax him out. I did exactly what she told me to do as far as handling and I have a super mellow, friendly cham that I can handle very easily. Let them get used to you or you will have a heck of a time trying to hold them when they get older. If it turns out that the cham freaks out all the time and it is a chronic problem to handle, then you will obviously have to back off and not stress them out too bad. Sometimes it is just the luck of the draw but if you don't try, you will never know.!

 

[Champeleons]

I have no experience with other plants, but i ended up getting Ficus Benjemina for my chams, & i think they are great! They filled the cages perfectly, are quite hardy, & will get watered on their own with the mistings & dripper! No worries about forgetting to look after it

 

[Silkyslim]

I would totally recommend a timer, its a cheap investment that will save you a lot of time if something comes up and you won't be there to shut off his light at the right time. I got a really cheap one from Wally world and its been working fine for me for years.

For summer I am going 12.5 hours (7am on - 7:30pm off)

as the winter approaches I will back it off to about 10 hours of light (8am on - 6pm off)

I notice my cham now getting ready for bed anywhere from 30-1 hour before lights out.