Madagascar Biome Project

[Franquixote]

Good point- I think all the factors you mention will be present in my setup. I'm using a monsoon misting system with distilled water and they would be planted in shallow dishes at the bottom or maybe 2-3 inches off the bottom in planters.

I'm curious now about if distilled water would be OK for a panther to drink! I guess I could always mist a bit with my well water (we are blessed with the most wonderful drinking water in the world running straight from the tap from a deep well in our property that is filtered through a "quaking bog" - very unique situation!)

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Well mine drinks RO water, our own water is also from a very deep well ha ha ha, it is high in minerals, perfect for people and animals, but dreadful for CP's as well as many other delicate plants like my orchids. He's fine with RO.

 

[jamest0o0]

So are you basing plants off the location of the chameleon in Madagascar or Madagascar as a whole?

 

[jamest0o0]

Btw I enjoy reading all of your guy's posts about plants. Ive only gotten into the world of exotic plants recently. Carnivs are becoming favorites.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I'm actually new to most plants too, I've done nepenthes for a while, and orchids for a couple of months, but only recently did I start on bromeliads and such. I'm going to add some nepenthes to my setup soon, probably Nepenthes Ventricosa and N. Alata, but maybe even my N rafflesiana or something of the like.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I've already decided that my next setup, which will be twice as large and for a more social type of chameleon (one where I can have two or three roaming around). Will have a ton of Nepenthes throughout it and far more bromeliads and pothos plants. I'd love to have a foam background too, that would make a great backdrop if I put some plants in it.

 

[jamest0o0]

Sounds great, I love the nepenthes, broms, pothos, etc. I prob have 30 types of plants sitting in my garage waiting to be uses haha.

You thinking melleri? They are the only social Chams outside of pygmies that I know of.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I thought about it and just added a ventricosa to the setup ha ha ha. And yes, I figure if I had a bit more movement in the setup it would be a lot better. I'd love to setup a whole greenhouse with tons of chams, plants, and an artificial stream for my fish.

 

[jamest0o0]

Man I've been thinking of so many ways to have a safe, water feature. Would like to do that in the future, but we all know much that entails. I'd also like to set up an arduino.

I really am obsessing over the biotope idea, but Idk if it'll be 'possible' for chams. So many nice plants being missed out on.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Maybe rather than biotype, how about what people envision the biotype as? We all see Madagascar as a tropical jungle with vines and big leaves, why not make it that. Use as many native plants as you can, but don't let it limit you.

 

[jamest0o0]

What I'm finding is the tropical rainforest we envision for our panthers (can't speak for others atm) is more like where you'd find calumma parsonii. Furcifer pardalis all seem to prefer being out in the open in drier spots. I might make some adjustments(still lots of water though), but with more openings rather than my dense rainforest set ups I have now. I'm going to densely plant my parsonii enclosure with bright light breaking through at points.

 

[Franquixote]

I found my blue bar ambilobe from a breeder out west-
found his ad on a classified, but he had the look I like and was patient with questions, so hopefully all will go as planned:
https://www.ksl.com/classifieds/listing/38041173
Should be getting him tomorrow along with a starter colony of dubia.

I'll update when he is released into his new home!

The enclosure has a Madagascar Jasmine so far, I am not going to pursue a strictly native setup after looking around all summer there are just too many cool options to rule out just to be a purist about the habitat. Surprisingly, the options for suitable native plants are not as varied as I would have hoped. All summer I looked into everything from mosses to carnivorous plants to dwarf fruit trees and not many plants that are readily available fit into the parameters suitable for a panther setup.

Thanks to all that helped me with this summer project!

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Hope everything goes well, since you aren't going with Madagascar, maybe now you could add some easier CP's, perhaps a N. Ventricosa? Let me know how it all turns out.

 

[Franquixote]

Right now I overestimated how much I'd need for one baby panther to be happy. He had staked out his claim in the one Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda) plant I have in there which is about 20" wide and 15" high. He hasn't left it since I got him yesterday, it gets in the mid 80's and lots of UVA/B and he is happily eating out of a small 1 oz medicine cup stuffed in the branches. It looks like it is getting new leaves already and if it fills most of the enclosure I won't be looking for more than an accent plant or 2- it is really twisty and grows like a vine.
Thanks!