My 1st Panther Chameleon

hammerhead

Established Member
Hi everyone, I'm new here. I would like to start a thread about my Panther Ares. He is a Male Panther. He was hatched 2/12/2019 that makes him a bit over 3 months.

Here is my list of equipment I got for him.
Dragon cage 24x24x48 with screen bottom
Large water waste bin
4 bulb T5 with 1 bulb UVB 5.0.. Should I get another UVB
75w basking bulb
Auto top off RO/DI water delivery
Mist king system set to 4, 5 min ea. Let me know if this is OK.
Water lever alarm for bottom bin
Modified Ultrasonic Warm & Cool Mist Humidifier to help with humidity
2 large Pathos plants, other fake branches and plants.
2x 10g insect containers
That's pretty much it.

There ws a condensate pump in the bin. I removed it. I use a shop vac instead.

Here are a few pics. I got him from Kammerflage Kreations. Bakaina" (AKA Divergent) x "Andriana-babo" (AKA Royal Booty). I have no clue what colors he will have. All I can see now are some greens/reds/browns.
If there's anything that looks like it needs attention please let me know. He has had 1 shed with me.

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Congrats! He’s a little cutie! I’m not an expert but I know this topic will come up...What is your feeding schedule, calcium/supplements schedule and gut-loading like? I know that’s just as important as the lights and set up.
 
I use Repashy insect burger and Calcium plus.
He gets Crickets, Super worms, Dubia Roches . I have been dusting every 3rd feeding. Let me know if that's good. I tried Hornworms, most where to large. He didn't seem interested. He only ate 1 that was very small. . Wax worms to hard to keep alive for me. I made a feeder for him. Its a 500ml plastic jar cut open on 1 side, I put the cloth side of velcro inside for the insect to crawl up onto. Works great.
 
Sounds like you did your research. He looks nice. Def gunna be a looker someday.
 
Misting schedule is gunna be different for every one imo. Depends on what wattage bulbs you use for heat. How fast water evaporates based on RH. Bioactive or not. Lots of variables. You want to find a balance where as cham has a few opportunities to drink during the day and the enclosure has time to dry out.
 
That thread is 11 years old, the chameleon hobby has evolved alot since then. Just my opinion. If you listen to the chameleon breeder podcast there is afew episodes about hydration and natural hydration. Check it out!
This will be a great place to start lots of good information. This will help you figure out what works for you and your setup.
 
I think he has me trained to bring him food lol. I've seen him using the feeder. He always goes after the Super worms 1st. He likes it more when I bring him snacks with the tweezers. Everything's going well. I've only handled him a few times. Does seem to like that so I leave him be..
 
Good that you are learning what your Cham likes and doesn’t like and that your not forcing yourself onto him. And yes we are there care takers and it’s like they know it. The things we do for our Chams.
 
Lights come on at 8am by 4pm he is already headed back to his sleeping branch at the bottom of the cage. He likes the grape wood and Forest Branches to sleep on. Keeping humidity high is very hard here in Cali. I've tried its a losing battle. The Ultrasonic humidifier helps allot.
 
I use Repashy insect burger and Calcium plus.
He gets Crickets, Super worms, Dubia Roches . I have been dusting every 3rd feeding. Let me know if that's good. I tried Hornworms, most where to large. He didn't seem interested. He only ate 1 that was very small. . Wax worms to hard to keep alive for me. I made a feeder for him. Its a 500ml plastic jar cut open on 1 side, I put the cloth side of velcro inside for the insect to crawl up onto. Works great.
Here is a link to feeding and gutloading https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/. I know you should dust with calcium no D every feeding and calcium with D every 2 weeks. I know the calcium plus can be used as a multivitamin supplement and that should be every 2 weeks not in conjunction with the calcium with D. Hope this makes sense lol.
 
Lights come on at 8am by 4pm he is already headed back to his sleeping branch at the bottom of the cage. He likes the grape wood and Forest Branches to sleep on. Keeping humidity high is very hard here in Cali. I've tried its a losing battle. The Ultrasonic humidifier helps allot.
Im in southern California and keeping live plants maintain a nice ambient humidity, you dont need it to be wet and moist all day in fact the consensus is to let the enclosure dry before additional misting. I've had issues with grape wood getting moldy from being in range of my mist king.

it's been mentioned before and I would like to reiterate the chameleon breeder podcast is a great resource. And the search function is a critical tool just be careful about how old some threads are. Valuable information can be found in old threads but you may not get responses on them.

The night time humidity is an important consideration and is elaborated on in the naturalistic hydration episode. I haven't tried a fogger myself mainly because my humidity hasn't been an issue.

Another consideration would be to elevate the enclosure Chameleons are arboreal and will appreciate the higher vantage point.
 
Here is a link to feeding and gutloading https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/. I know you should dust with calcium no D every feeding and calcium with D every 2 weeks. I know the calcium plus can be used as a multivitamin supplement and that should be every 2 weeks not in conjunction with the calcium with D. Hope this makes sense lol.
I use the same stuff Kammerflage uses for gut loading and calcium per there care guide. Nothing else was listed. I have Calcium with no D. I thought the Calcium plus was the right stuff to use since it was the only calcium listed.. I can change over.

Calcium no D everyday
Calcium Plus 2x a month

I don't need Calcium with D?.


Im in southern California and keeping live plants maintain a nice ambient humidity, you dont need it to be wet and moist all day in fact the consensus is to let the enclosure dry before additional misting. I've had issues with grape wood getting moldy from being in range of my mist king.

it's been mentioned before and I would like to reiterate the chameleon breeder podcast is a great resource. And the search function is a critical tool just be careful about how old some threads are. Valuable information can be found in old threads but you may not get responses on them.

The night time humidity is an important consideration and is elaborated on in the naturalistic hydration episode. I haven't tried a fogger myself mainly because my humidity hasn't been an issue.

Another consideration would be to elevate the enclosure Chameleons are arboreal and will appreciate the higher vantage point.

I will keep my eye on the branches. I have already change the mist schedule for 2m 1st mist, 3x 1.5m ea. Our RH% can get down to 20% here all the time. Its a struggle getting it over 50%. I do have 2 large pathos in there to help as well. I cant raise the cage. It sites at 54" now. :D
 
I use the same stuff Kammerflage uses for gut loading and calcium per there care guide. Nothing else was listed. I have Calcium with no D. I thought the Calcium plus was the right stuff to use since it was the only calcium listed.. I can change over.

Calcium no D everyday
Calcium Plus 2x a month

I don't need Calcium with D?.




I will keep my eye on the branches. I have already change the mist schedule for 2m 1st mist, 3x 1.5m ea. Our RH% can get down to 20% here all the time. Its a struggle getting it over 50%. I do have 2 large pathos in there to help as well. I cant raise the cage. It sites at 54" now. :D
Hey hun are you using this one? https://www.store.repashy.com/calcium-plus-4-lod-oz-bag.html?tt=111
If so this will be the only supplement you use. It has everything in it. You will use only this at every feeding and on all feeders.
You can run a cool mist humidifier in the room during the day and night to boost ambient humidity level. This will help. Day time you want it right around 50% night much higher is good. But no fogger used in the cage during the cage with lights on. Did you put a shower curtain or plastic panels on any of the sides yet? This will help as well. :)
 
No, This is what they recommend Calcium. I can get that if its all I need to use. Makes it easier to remember. It's 44% RH now. Its been raining here. I used weather shrink wrap on the back and added a forest background. The cage came with 2 plastic panels for the bottom. I didn't need them so I hot glued them to the middle on both sides. Its open in the front, top, left/right side top/bottom.
 
No, This is what they recommend Calcium. I can get that if its all I need to use. Makes it easier to remember. It's 44% RH now. Its been raining here. I used weather shrink wrap on the back and added a forest background. The cage came with 2 plastic panels for the bottom. I didn't need them so I hot glued them to the middle on both sides. Its open in the front, top, left/right side top/bottom.
Reach out to Kammerflage about the supplement... I Think it is that just the calcium Plus that they use. And they use only that on every feeding. They have had great success with how they supplement their chams. But I do know a ton of members that use the calcium plus lo D as their only supplement as well and have had great success with that. Either way both would be the only supplement used and no others.

44% is pretty good. What are you doing at night? May want to add a fogger and fog only at night to get higher levels. Here is a great podcast on this. https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-89-naturalistic-hydration-for-chameleons/
 
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