Open mouth panther chameleon and other health questions

[Martythechameleon]

Hello how's it going I'm new to these forms and a new panther chameleon owner!
My panther Marty is about 3 1/2 months old now and I am keeping him in a reptibreeze cage 24x24x48 inches the biggest one I have the back plexi glasses to help with humidity. I have a solar-bright 100w light bulb and a heat bulb 75w on the top. And I most of the time run another uv buld not a tube light just a standard light u could screw into a normal slot with the three round prongs I don't know the name or brand. I have a monsoon misting system that goes off every 2 hours for 120 seconds and even sometimes give Marty a little hand spraying when I think he looks thirsty. His basking spot ranges between 96-80 I'm checking this with a digital thermostat that also checks humidity which I don't trust sometimes it acts up and I have an analog one stuck on the side of the cage in the middle portion that reads 76-80 or so depending I also check the basking spot with a inferred gun that usually reads about 85-90 in basking, and an ambient temp of 75 -80 throughout the cage. Humidity on my analog reads in the 70%while on the digital it ranges mostly reading 40% but I don't know if I trust ether. I have a humidifier That I run most of the time turned about half way up. And he is very good a it eating I dust once a week and feed him guy loaded crickets and meal worms a mixture of the two and would love some other feeding options I usual leave some fruits in there for him and haven't seen him take to any yet. I have had him for a week and a half now. If any other questions about the enclosure feel free to ask.

The problems I am running into with Marty right now is that sometimes he will hold his mouth open for a bit, allot of the time he is bright in color but I mean sometimes he is brownish or just darker. Usually near the basking spot Now I have only seen this happen maybe 3 -4 times in the past 3 days but again that's only what I have seen. I looked in his mouth and didn't see any mucous that I could tell and there is no build up around his nose and I must him allot so I'm sure he has allot of access to dripping water. So I am just unsure in why he is doing this it freaks me out. I don't know why he would be doing this. Any ideas?!

My next question is he supposed to be a darker brownish or green in the day at all. He will only sometimes bring on a darker color usually around the basking spot though depending and I don't know if this is normal or if he is stressed if I offer to feed him when he is in this state he will eat no problems.

He also likes to chew on sticks or bark in the cage is that normal?

Sorry for all the questions I am new to owning one but I am happy I do I love my little guy and can't wait to watch him grow up.

 

[carol5208]

Hi and welcome to the forums. I am not familiar with the 100 watt solar bulb. Is that a uvb and heatbulb??? If your chameleon is gaping with mouth open under the basking light, then your temp is too hot. 96 is high and I would lower that to maybe around 88-90 and see if that does not rectify the problem. You can use a regular white housebulb for basking. The wattage depending on what temp you are trying to achieve and the temps in your house overall..

 

[Martythechameleon]

Well on my digital it reads 95 and on my inferred it reads 85 -88 on different parts of the cage I'm not sure which to believe any ideas? The solar bright is supposed to give him all the UVA and UVB he needs while also providing heat but that freaks me out so I still run a standard UVB the know that fits into a normal light bulb slot and has the three u shaped tubes.

 

[jamjam]

I'm sorry it's 3am and I'm on my phone and such small writing to read the whole thing but instantly can tell you your temps are too high for a 3.5 month old. Max temps many would recommend 84-85 to be the max. Most general rule I've thumb I've come across is 80F max for basking until 2 months than increase of one degree a month until 88-90F is reached than keep it there

 

[Martythechameleon]

This is the set up and I turned off the heat lamp and I'm in. The 80-88 depending but now he spends allot of time under where the fog blows out and has been staying a darker color unless I'm feeding him or his mister comes on any ideas??

 

[Juliaf3]

More foliage, less heat. He's probably hanging out under the fogger because he's to hot.


How long have you had Marty? I'm unsure about the stick biting deal. Mine has never done that.

 

[Martythechameleon]

I have had him coming up on two weeks, I'm about to put a hibiscus in the cage with him so that should help but he has been a darker color recently even after I dropped the heat I mean when I feed him he will brighten up usually but is that normal for his coloration to be darker? And I have a digital thermometer and an inferred which is better to trust? This is my digital they are off by about 8- 10 degrees