Panther chameleon angry at me

K

KiraDrake558

Member
Hi, so I’m a first time chameleon owner. I got my male panther chameleon a couple months ago and I was told he’s a little over a year old (do not know exact age). When I first got him, he was a bit timid but he ate and drank and I was able to hold him (not forcefully). But the other day, I did take him out of his cage and he seemed to not like it so I put him back. Since then, he doesn’t even like me being near him. Will barely let me clean the bottom of his cage without freaking out at me, I can’t stand near the cage without him being uncomfortable and yesterday he even did the puffy neck and open mouth at me while I was just standing next to his cage to turn his light off. He still eats and drinks, and will even eat crickets out of the small container I feed him with using my hand. But he just wants nothing to do with me now and I don’t know how to fix it. He also climbs the cage in a strange way, in what seems like he wants out. But the second I open the cage, he backs off a bit and just stares at me and can slowly start to get mad. (I do not try to grab him during this, just put my hand close to see what he wants to do). Am I doing something wrong? Or is this just something chameleons can do. I just want my boy to be happy again.
I have attached photos of his cage and I have a thermometer to check his cage temps with are normal. I’m at a lost and just want to make sure that he’s doing okay.
 

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Oh and here’s a couple photos of me holding him.
 

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KiraDrake558 said:
Hi, so I’m a first time chameleon owner. I got my male panther chameleon a couple months ago and I was told he’s a little over a year old (do not know exact age). When I first got him, he was a bit timid but he ate and drank and I was able to hold him (not forcefully). But the other day, I did take him out of his cage and he seemed to not like it so I put him back. Since then, he doesn’t even like me being near him. Will barely let me clean the bottom of his cage without freaking out at me, I can’t stand near the cage without him being uncomfortable and yesterday he even did the puffy neck and open mouth at me while I was just standing next to his cage to turn his light off. He still eats and drinks, and will even eat crickets out of the small container I feed him with using my hand. But he just wants nothing to do with me now and I don’t know how to fix it. He also climbs the cage in a strange way, in what seems like he wants out. But the second I open the cage, he backs off a bit and just stares at me and can slowly start to get mad. (I do not try to grab him during this, just put my hand close to see what he wants to do). Am I doing something wrong? Or is this just something chameleons can do. I just want my boy to be happy again.
I have attached photos of his cage and I have a thermometer to check his cage temps with are normal. I’m at a lost and just want to make sure that he’s doing okay.
Click to expand...
Hi there welcome to the forum. I am going to suggest you fill out this form with detail. There are multiple issues just from looking at the pictures. Cage size is far to small and you have the incorrect UVB lighting. By filling out the form we can make sure you have not been given other incorrect advice about their husbandry.

Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Panther male chameleon. A little over a year, could be close to a year and a half. I’ve had him about 3 months
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? i handle him maybe 2-3 times a week
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?crickets and occasional horn worms. I feed him 6-8 crickets daily between 8-10 in the morning. The crickets are fed carrots and baby kale with a high calcium cricket dust/powder
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I dust the crickets with repta calcium which has vitamin D3. I dust the crickets once every 2 weeks.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?i have a make shift water dripper that I try to have continuous dripping throughout the day. I must 2-3 times a day for a couple of minutes. I have seen my chameleon drink.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?brown poop with white in the poop as well. He has not been tested for parasites to my knowledge
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I got him from a reptile store. He was happy and healthy when I got him and actually was really fond of the lady who was helping us. She said she is a special bond with all the reptiles there.

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?screen cage with glass door. 16-16-30 size cage
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? I don’t remember the brand. Just threw the box out. But I have a uvb light for 12 hours a day and a 75 watt heat lamp 24 hours uvb is on from 8 am to 8 pm
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?cage floor runs probably around 65 middle cage runs about 75 and his baking is between 80-85. I have a small temp reader hanging in his cage
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I do not have a way for texting humidity levels yet. Don’t know what product to buy for these so any info on humidity would be really helpful. I must his cage to keep humidity up
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I do not have live plants. Only fake ones.
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?he is located in the corner of my room. No vents but a ceiling fan is in the middle of my room. His cage sits at the top part at just under 6 feet
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? I live in California about 15-20 minutes away from the beach

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
Just maintaining proper care for my guy.
--------------
 
Please see my responses and questions in red bold. This will be a lot of information so please take it piece by piece.

Chameleon Info:


  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Panther male chameleon. A little over a year, could be close to a year and a half. I’ve had him about 3 months
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? i handle him maybe 2-3 times a week
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?crickets and occasional horn worms. I feed him 6-8 crickets daily between 8-10 in the morning. The crickets are fed carrots and baby kale with a high calcium cricket dust/powder. You should be feeding him every other day at this age. Gutload needs to be improved on. You can add other fresh leafy greens. I will post an image for feeders and gutloading. Please take a picture of the high calcium dust you are using.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I dust the crickets with repta calcium which has vitamin D3. I dust the crickets once every 2 weeks. You will need to get a multivitamin and a calcium without D3. Calcium without D3 should be used at each feeding and then you alternate every week between a calcium with D3 and a multivitamin.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?i have a make shift water dripper that I try to have continuous dripping throughout the day. I must 2-3 times a day for a couple of minutes. I have seen my chameleon drink.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?brown poop with white in the poop as well. He has not been tested for parasites to my knowledge
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I got him from a reptile store. He was happy and healthy when I got him and actually was really fond of the lady who was helping us. She said she is a special bond with all the reptiles there.

Cage Info:


  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?screen cage with glass door. 16-16-30 size cage. Way too small for him. He needs a minimum 24x24x48 enclosure.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? I don’t remember the brand. Just threw the box out. But I have a uvb light for 12 hours a day and a 75 watt heat lamp 24 hours uvb is on from 8 am to 8 pm. The UVB compact bulb you are using is not adequate for a chameleon. You need to get a T5 HO fixture that will run the width of the enclosure with a 5.0 linear uvb bulb. Without this he is high risk for developing MBD.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?cage floor runs probably around 65 middle cage runs about 75 and his baking is between 80-85. I have a small temp reader hanging in his cage
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I do not have a way for texting humidity levels yet. Don’t know what product to buy for these so any info on humidity would be really helpful. I must his cage to keep humidity up. They have humidity gauges you can buy. Look on amazon and get a digital one. It is important to know the levels.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I do not have live plants. Only fake ones. Live plants are much better for them as far as drinking off them and stabilizing the ambient humidity level.
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?he is located in the corner of my room. No vents but a ceiling fan is in the middle of my room. His cage sits at the top part at just under 6 feet
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? I live in California about 15-20 minutes away from the beach

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
Just maintaining proper care for my guy.

He is acting this way because he is stressed. Trying to get out because he is not happy in the small cage. Once they are fully matured like this boy they have to have a proper enclosure to thrive. Panthers tend to be much more friendly unless they are stressed.

Here are additional links that will help you.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
great podcast https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/
Amazing enclosures worth every penny https://dragonstrand.com/
great learning resource https://chameleonacademy.com/

chameleon-food(1).jpg
chameleon-gutload.jpg
 
KiraDrake558 said:
Thank you so much for the help. I will get him a bigger cage and new light and plants today or tomorrow and will read into the links for more information.
Click to expand...
You're welcome hun. Let us know if you have questions. :)
If you have money to spend I highly recommend the Dragon strand cages. They are amazing and well worth the price for what you get and the cage quality.
 
Beman said:
You're welcome hun. Let us know if you have questions. :)
If you have money to spend I highly recommend the Dragon strand cages. They are amazing and well worth the price for what you get and the cage quality.
Click to expand...
Those are the like thousands of dollars cages right? I can’t afford that much now but it will be an investment for me! Right now I am just going to look for the best suited cage I can get for around 200-250
 
KiraDrake558 said:
Those are the like thousands of dollars cages right? I can’t afford that much now but it will be an investment for me! Right now I am just going to look for the best suited cage I can get for around 200-250
Click to expand...
Dragon Strands are about 300 - 350.
 
Yeah exactly what @AnamCara said... With the dragon strand you get a drainage pan and dragon ledges to mount everything higher including branches. They are also made where the over spray from misting can be reduced or eliminated completely. So pricing is a bit more.

The DIY Cages do not rust and are better then the zoo med reptibreeze brand.
 
Just wanted to do an update and thank you guys again for all the help! My cham is still a little testy but I’m aware its how they are and that he’s adjusting to his new environment. I do have another question tho. His humidity is ranging 40-45. How do I get that up? I purchased the monsoon timing mister and that seems to help but not elevate it where I need.
(also, I feel horrible for having him in such a small space. He is much happier with all this new room to run around❤️)
 

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