I'm going to add to some of what
@Gloriawood suggested. See my answers below in orange
6 month old panther chameleon, I have had him for exactly 1 week today! I do not handle him (only once after 4 days because I needed to clean the bottom of his cage and he did not like that at all).
good not to handle him, but make sure that you work on building trust with him so that if you need to take him to the vet in the future or when you take him out for cleaning, it will be easier. I let my guy stay in his enclosure when I spot clean his cage. Totally agree with this I am feeding him 5 Dubia roaches (they are small and he seems to be really hungry) and 1 hornworm per day.
I believe he should be eating a bit more than this, but let’s see what @elizaann2 says. He should be eating at least 12-15 small feeders every day. Adding a variety of bugs would also be great, BSFL are excellent feeders because if you dont feed them off quickly enough they hatch into flys and then you have an enriching bug to feed because they have to hunt it down. These are my panther's favorite feeders besides superworms. I'm attaching a list of other great feeders for you to add a variety for your little guy if you would like. I have gut loaded the dubia roaches with spring mix, sweet potato, and apple.
I would actually ditch the spring mix, keep the sweet potatoes and apples and then add collard greens or mustard greens. I've attached a list of great gut load items for you below. I think the hornworms that I ordered from TC insects are already gut loaded with the smelly light brown stuff they come with but I’m not sure.
yes that is their food. No need to gut load these guys.Yep If you ever order silkworms, they will come with green smelly stuff, this is the silks gutload. I feed him in the morning around 9 when I get up. I use the misting technique and I have a humidifier. In the morning I turn on the humidifier for 20 mins and then mist the cage manually for 5 minutes. Then I turn the lights on. At night before I turn off the lights I mist for 5 minutes and I see him drink (which I heard may be a bad thing?)
not always a bad thing. They tend to be shy drinkers though. If he is openly drinking, you may try running a dripper during the day to see if it helps with hydration. This is something that varies for everyone depending on where you live. Humidifiers, drippers, foggers and misting are all tools we can use to achieve the right humidity and hydration. It can take some playing around with to get it just right. There is no set in stone way to do it, it’s what works for you and where you live. Just monitor your humidity and his urates and adjust as needed. You want high humidity with low temps at night and then low humidity with higher temps during the day. I would recommmend using your humidifier at night not in the morning or during the day. My fog machines run 30 min on, 30 min off from 12-6 am. I mist at 7:30 am, this creates dew for my chameleon to drink if he needs. My lights turn on at 8 at which point my enclosure starts to dry out for the day. For a panther chameleon you want 50-60% humidity during the day. I install a dripper at 3 pm and let it run for about 10 minutes. My chameleons do not drink often so I know if I see them drink I need to adjust somehting, I'll add another dripper during the day or up my fogging. I mist again at 10:00 before I go to bed (I also manually hand mist). You want your urates to be nice and white, a little orange at the end is ok, poops you want to be moist and solid, nut not super squishy. (yuck). This schedule may not work for you knowing you live in a more humid state, but if your baby is dehydrated then I would suggest adding at least something similar to the above schedule. then I turn off the lights and turn on the humidifier for 20 mins. For his fecal droppings i think they look a bit like he’s dehydrated, I will send a picture when he poops today! I am using a live pothos plant and today I am changing him to a 2x2x4 today and getting a lot more sticks and live plants.
great! Would love to see pics of the set up when it’s done! Agreed! Please share your creation when you are done. Besides seeing everyone's chams, my second favorite part is seeing the beautiful environments people create for their chameleons.He was in a temporary enclosure while we were waiting for this one to ship! The cage is all screen and I have it placed on a high table. He’s in my guest bedroom with the door closed and not in a high traffic area. Lastly, I live in Georgia! Oh and for supplements I have calcium without D3 and the reptile vitamins with D3!
sounds like you are on the right path! perfection!!
. Oh also he ate from my palm today which is super huge I think!! He’s warming up to me for sure!
