paranoid mother of new panther

[kuteygurl18]

I recently purchased my first male panther chameleon. This isn't my first chameleon ever but it is the first one I have gotten in about 10 years. my set up is good. I have an automatic mister, UVB bulbs that are 5.0, a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter, plenty of vines, a real pathos plant, a waterfall and fogger ( only on part of the day), and he was immediately cup trained to crickets who are gutt feed and dusted daily. I don't know the daily habits of a panther so I could just be a silly new mom but I am worried. he seems to have slowed way down on eating, he hasn't gotten the skin off his head from his last shed at about 1 1/2 weeks ago and when I check on him he sits on one vine, darkly colored and looks like he might fall. when I pick him up he seems fine and when he moves around he seems fine, but when he sits like that I am worried he isn't doing well. he is just a baby still so I am super paranoid. for more specific details just ask but I am looking for advice if I should be worried or not?

 

[SaintJimmy]

Please post a picture of the chameleon and enclosure so we can see if there is anything wrong besides what you are describing.

I would use the waterfall for decoration and get it out of the chameleon cage. Chams usually don't drink out of waterfalls, and more likely poop in them. And some even drown in them. And they harbor a place for harmful bacteria to live

Unless you feel like keeping the waterfall clean every single day and monitoring it very closely it is not a good idea.

The panther might be stressed out a bit from the environment change.

Again, pictures are great!

 

[ReptiGeek]

I agree with SaintJimmy, the waterfall won't really serve your chameleon any good. It could do more bad then good actually. I would also suggest switching the ceramic heat emitter for a regular basking bulb (60W house bulb should be okay). A ceramic heat emitter does not give off any light, thus it doesn't appear to be a sun at all. The dark colouration that your panther is displaying could be from lack of heat. Maybe he is having a hard time deciphering where the heat source is coming from, thus not getting to warm up properly throughout the day.

 

[Kate]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Hi welcome to the forum. We could take a look at your husbandry if you copy and paste the form above. Chameleon keeping has changed over the last 10 years, there may be able to suggest some things that would keep your little guy happy.