My new little guy

rogue606

Member
This is my first post.
I decided a few months ago that I was finally going to get a cham and this forum has been my primary source for all the info I needed to absorb in order to provide the best care I could. I thank you all for that :)

I bought my first male panther ambilobe from a member of this forum. (that worked out great btw, thanks Craig!)
I've had him exactly 1 month today. When he first arrived I admit I thought he was a tiny little runt, but he's growing up super fast and he's a great eater.

He's quite afraid of me still, usually will hide if I open his cage door. I've tried to pick him up just a few times by putting my fingers underneath his chin/body and lifting up, and sometimes he'll put his front legs on my finger but then ninja move backwards and grab some branch and will run away. He doesn't seem to fire up when I try this however. A few days ago was the first time I managed to take him out of his cage. I wanted to do a deep clean.

I achieved this by picking up a small hibiscus and putting the top branches in his way, and he climbed right on. When i moved the plant back down to the floor he fired up to the picture you see posted. He's never looked so bright and awesome before! I wish that didn't come with him being stressed tho. Usually he is greenish throughout the day and sand colored at night.

He is about 3.5 months old now. Health-wise he seems to be doing great, saw him shed just once but the whole shed took only a few hours. Poop and urate look perfect. He seems like prefer crickets over dubias which i wish was reversed but oh well. And the only time he will eat a worm (i've tried mealworms and waxworms so far) is if I let one sit in his feed cup for a whole day or 2. I've tried to hand-feed (well forcep-feed really because I hate insects) and I hold the food in front of his face, and he'll just stare at it and then at me. How long am I supposed to hold it out in front of him? If I put the cricket down on a leaf an inch away from where I was holding it, he'll eat it in a few seconds.

Does anyone have any advice on handling a young cham? Should I back off a bit at this point? I'm sure I'm just doing it too hesitantly cause I don't want to hurt him. Eventually I'd like to be able to take him out for some real sunshine and freerange him in my room for a bit occasionally as well.

Also, I'm thinking about upgrading him to a 24x24x48 DragonStrand cage in the near future, what do you guys use for a stand? It's tough finding any consumer stand or table or cabinet that's 2 feet deep. His current 18x18x36 fits perfect on a wire rack shelf, and is great for drainage as the bottom is just a screen that drips down to a 30gal tub on the next shelf.

Anyway, thanks for the wealth of Knowledge from this site and meet O.J.
 

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With handling I would start to offer insect with tongs first than move up farther on the tongs everytime he starts getting comfy with that. Than I would try to hand feed and if you get to this then I would start moving the food back and start placing your other hand under him where he's walking out so he has to come towards your hand then move the food back far enough where he has to walk oit your hand to shoot for it. Someone on here gave me this advice I think Joel and it worked good with my female. I would let him settle in for a few weeks then start this. It will take a bit they have to get comfortable with you and your hand. Could take months and some never get use to it. They will sooner or later they will start associating you with getting food and this is basically all you will get there is no feeling of love or feelings for their human keeper just to help you. This is what I would do
 
O.J. is gorgeous! (Wish I could offer more help by answering some of your questions, but as a novice chameleon keeper I really don't have any good answers. Just wanted to let you know how beautiful I think your boy is!)
 
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