role of temperature on baby Panthers

[distortionz]

If you have read any of my last threads you know I have some baby Panthers right now.. first time I've ever had babies. They are 6-7 weeks old or so now.. I have been battling slight dehydration it seems since they hatched no matter how much I would mist.. I have the mist king running 8 cycles a day and running a little dripper. Other than the little orange in the poo they seemed very healthy.. over the last week or two the runt of the clutch seemed to do a 360 and wasn't doing well keeping one eye shut a lot... still eating but not moving around much.. I have kept the temp around 72-74 and was scared to up it because they were already a little dehydrated.. well over the last few days I've upped it to around 80 and the runt has made like a complete turnaround and all the others even seem way livelier.. he has his eyes open constantly roaming.. looks ten times healthier. The others have seemingly doubled in size since hatching and he has stayed around the same size maybe got a little bigger I was very concerned he was not going to make it... but now it's like he has a second wind all with a little temp change..

My question... have you experienced breeders noticed this before that a few degree variant on temp can cause such a drastic change in your babies activity?

 

[BobS346]

I have a couple questions. First, with an ambient temp of 72-74, did you have any night time drop in temp? Second, did they have any type of basking area where they could get warmer if they wanted to?

As for comments, I think a constant temp of 72-74 seems a little cool to me. Yes, they will be slower to dehydrate, but they will,likely be slower with everything, including drinking. I prefer the upper 70's for an ambient temperature, and even with that I provide an area that is few degrees warmer with more direct light if they want to bask. I am not the most experienced chameleon guy around, but I have raised a number and that worked for me.

I look forward to hearing what people with a lot of experience think!
Bob

 

[BobS346]

As a more direct answer to your last question, yes, I have noticed a significant change in activity with a few degree change in temperature.

 

[distortionz]

I had a 25 watt bulb I experimented with the first 1-3 weeks probably that was keeping it around 76-78 degrees in a basking area.. then the input I got from a lot of breeders was just to use the uvb light for the first 6 weeks or so and no basking bulb.. And try to keep it around 74-76 degrees so I was doing that. at the top of the cage it was nearly a constant 74 give or take a degree or two both ways.. towards the bottom around 68-72.. And to answer your question yes at night it dropped to about 66-68 (winter in Ohio, house is set at 72 but cages stayed a little cooler) however I was told that's an okay night temp. over the last week I reintroduced the basking light which is just a 40 watt house bulb.. giving them a spot of 80 up top on one side and an ambient anywhere between 72-76.. now they all seem to be thriving

 

[BobS346]

It sounds like the condition you are at now are around what I normally shoot for. Glad they are doing better!

 

[fluxlizard]

I keep my temps the same for babies as for the adults for pretty much the same reason as your little one's turnaround. I just don't feel like babies are as hardy when the temps are abnormally low.

That said, I make very sure they can escape the heat also- I provide gradients so they aren't forced and cooked. Some care and thinking has to go into the setup sometimes to make sure they can cool enough as well as heat.

In nature they use the same sun as the adults to thermoregulate. They just spend shorter periods basking and cooling.

I do this for all species I have bred, not only panthers- I've got baby jacksons a couple of months old now with a 60 watt bulb for basking (now feeding on 1/4" food items no problem), I did the same for melleri (75 watt actually but my building was cooler during the day in those days), veileds, etc.

For night temps again, pretty similar as for my adults- I've had new hatched baby panthers getting nights right near 50 with no problems in the past. I am a bit more cautious with veileds and jacksons- new hatched/born I still keep 50 and above, but after a few weeks, 45- my adults I go 40 for those.

 

[Rango3d]

I agree with Flux lizard. I keep my babies temp pretty close to Adults. Maybe just a slight hair cooler. I've notice they do better and grow way faster that way.

I've been in your shoes. I also started the same way you did. Just UVB.
The warmer temps is when they took off. So I kept it that way and never gave it much thought until I read this post. Lol

 

[distortionz]

Thanks for the input both of you.. I wish I would have kept it warmer to begin With but now they seem to be doing great... And in the future I'll know lol