I'm fairly new here and I just thought I'd let you guys know about my panther and his setup.
I currently have a 4ft tall x 3ft wide x 3ft deep wired enclosures. This is home to my 8 month old panther, Cheech. He has many perches, vines and leaves to climb on, plenty of hiding places, good shade cover but also access to both the UVB and his basking area (I will get a picture up of his enclosure tomorrow). For his lighting I have a 3 ft long UVB that stretches across the top of the cage which is about 12 inches away from my 75 watt basking light with 7" deflector dome. At night there is a 40 watt red heat/night viewing light. The temperatures during the day under the basking light (warm side) range from 95-100*F and under the UVB light (cool side) 88-95*F, as you go lower in the cage the temperatures obviously dip but not significant at all (just enough so he can move to different levels in the cage to raise/lower his body temperature). At night the temperatures dip but again nothing significant on one side of the cage the temperature reads 79*F and the other side 84*F (this is the side closer to the night light). He usually sleeps 12-18 inches below the light under a few leaves. His lights go on at 7 am and turn off at 7 pm. He is under a mist schedule which runs for 45 seconds 6 times a day at 2 1/2 hour intervals and twice at night for about 10-15 seconds just to keep the humidity up. The humidity is where I seem to have a problem as my cage is so large and is all wire. After misting the humidity jumps up to 50-60% but after an hour or two this dips back down to 35-45% and I feeling that is way too low. I feed him 12-18 large gut-loaded crickets once a day or every other day. Supplemented with 3-6 large mealworms once a day or every other day. He seems extremely healthy, he's always wondering around his cage in search of crickets, changes colors beautifully, very responsive to people and loves to come out of the cage (nearly walks out of the cage onto my hand when I open the door). I have not many concerns for him but here a few minor things and questions I have...
Are my temperatures where they need to be at?
Do I feed him enough? Too much?
Should I be dusting my crickets? If so with what and how often?
Is my humidity a concern? If so how can I fix that issue?
Does he get enough water (with the misting schedule I have)?
I often find him with one eye or both eyes closed during the day when he is basking or soaking up UVBs is this normal or should I be concerned? (this seems to be the only unusual behavior)
Is his enclosure large enough? If not do I need a bigger one now or a bigger one in the future?
How often should I take him out?
I will have pics of him and his enclosure up tomorrow.
I currently have a 4ft tall x 3ft wide x 3ft deep wired enclosures. This is home to my 8 month old panther, Cheech. He has many perches, vines and leaves to climb on, plenty of hiding places, good shade cover but also access to both the UVB and his basking area (I will get a picture up of his enclosure tomorrow). For his lighting I have a 3 ft long UVB that stretches across the top of the cage which is about 12 inches away from my 75 watt basking light with 7" deflector dome. At night there is a 40 watt red heat/night viewing light. The temperatures during the day under the basking light (warm side) range from 95-100*F and under the UVB light (cool side) 88-95*F, as you go lower in the cage the temperatures obviously dip but not significant at all (just enough so he can move to different levels in the cage to raise/lower his body temperature). At night the temperatures dip but again nothing significant on one side of the cage the temperature reads 79*F and the other side 84*F (this is the side closer to the night light). He usually sleeps 12-18 inches below the light under a few leaves. His lights go on at 7 am and turn off at 7 pm. He is under a mist schedule which runs for 45 seconds 6 times a day at 2 1/2 hour intervals and twice at night for about 10-15 seconds just to keep the humidity up. The humidity is where I seem to have a problem as my cage is so large and is all wire. After misting the humidity jumps up to 50-60% but after an hour or two this dips back down to 35-45% and I feeling that is way too low. I feed him 12-18 large gut-loaded crickets once a day or every other day. Supplemented with 3-6 large mealworms once a day or every other day. He seems extremely healthy, he's always wondering around his cage in search of crickets, changes colors beautifully, very responsive to people and loves to come out of the cage (nearly walks out of the cage onto my hand when I open the door). I have not many concerns for him but here a few minor things and questions I have...
Are my temperatures where they need to be at?
Do I feed him enough? Too much?
Should I be dusting my crickets? If so with what and how often?
Is my humidity a concern? If so how can I fix that issue?
Does he get enough water (with the misting schedule I have)?
I often find him with one eye or both eyes closed during the day when he is basking or soaking up UVBs is this normal or should I be concerned? (this seems to be the only unusual behavior)
Is his enclosure large enough? If not do I need a bigger one now or a bigger one in the future?
How often should I take him out?
I will have pics of him and his enclosure up tomorrow.
