Salutations Cham folk

[Bushido]

New Panther Chameleon owner here.

He's 3.5 months old, and I purchased him from Sunshine Chameleon's. Here's a picture of his sire, who is a wild caught Ambilobe named Stinger. I'm hoping that my little dude turns out to be as colorful as his ole' man when he gets older.

I'm sure I'll end up getting another Panther before the year is over as long as everything goes well with this guy. I did a lot of reading on this website, so thanks to all the very informative posters on here for sharing their knowledge and experience.

Here is a picture of his enclosure, nothing fancy [yet], but he has plenty of room to hide and I have vines all across the top of his cage, and pretty good sized umbrella plant at the bottom.

Photo was taken at night. He spent most of the day towards the top absorbing the natural sun light that was coming through the window. I removed the curtains so that he could soak it all in. I have a 60w blue day light and a 5.0 reptisun bulb, but I don't think the 60w is producing enough heat, so I may switch it out with a 100w.

I live in Florida, so it's pretty hot/humid down here (duh). Is it okay if I move his set-up outside during the afternoon for a few hours? And how long does it take for them to look like the one listed as the sire?

Thanks

 

[sharp229]

He looks very nice, seems like a lot of color for that age. I can't see the second pic though.

I am sure he will love all the foliage in your enclosure. That schefflera looks like the same hybrid I have. The only thing I might do is add a few more vertical and horizontal branches and vines. I've noticed that my panthers spend most of their time on the vines and branches as opposed to the plants themselves. What is the ambient and basking temp of your enclosure?

I think there are a number of people here who keep chams outdoors in Florida, so I am sure they can give you lots of advice on that. Having shade and cool areas at all times is obviously critical since even a short exposure to extreme heat can be lethal.

 

[Bushido]

I plan on adding more vines once Petsmart/Petco re-stocks. It seems that I cleaned them out earlier this week as they only had two packs.

The basking spot reads anywhere between 84-88 if I put my hand on the vine (using one of those heat reading guns where you point and click), but when I move my hand away and measure the same spot, but just the actual vine, it reads anywhere between 76-78. I'm not sure what the true measurement is? I might use a regular basking bulb instead of the blue bulb.

 

[Psychobunny]

Welcome to the forum, cute little guy you have there

I know lots of people use them, but I personaly do not recommend laser thermometers.
They only read solid surface, not the surrounding air, there is a big difference.

I recommend a digital thermometer with probe. Place the probe in the basking possition and monitor the temp for an hour or so.
You would likely need to experiment with bulb wattage, and branch distance.

The basking branch I see from your pic looks too close to the source of heat/light unless you are using a really low watt bulb.

Using a 60W incan bulb, with polished dome fixture, I get about 86F at 10'' away.
Temps can very depending on cage, and room temp though.

Just a suggestion