sooo excited panthers are hatching

[suzanne]

i'm soo excited my first clutch of baby panther are hatching we have 1 out and 2 more with heads out they are soo cute, they are red and blue bar ambanja's , loads to go
we live in the united kingdom anyone breed them in this country what temps do you aim for for newborns at this time of year?

thanks

suzanne

 

[joefarah]

Hi suzanne and an excited, "Congrats!" to you! I'm just getting my first Panther hatchlings at the moment too and it feels soooo good after that long wait.

Mine are thriving with an ambient air temp of about 78-82. It is in the mid-high 90's under the basking light and as low as 72 near the bottom of the enclosure. I have found that giving your cham (or any reptile) a thermal gradient so it can regulate its body temps is the way to go.

Congrats again and I hope all the rest hatch and come out big and strong!


OOops I just noticed you're in the UK, so obviously my temps are in degrees Farenheight...

 

[Justin Carl]

well i would shoot for mid 80's for basking.
every cage should have a change in temperature when going from top to bottom.
babies do have a hard time regulating their temperature.

 

[alchemy]

Congrats to both of you on your hatchlings!...

Though I haven't raised hatchlings (yet) myself, from what I've read, Joe, your basking temps seem too high for a baby panther. I would stick to a basking spot of 85 degrees Fahrenheit at max. Their skin can burn really easy and newborns have a hard time thermoregulating their body temps... good luck to you both!

Jim

 

[joefarah]

Ok, I'll drop the basking spot down to the high eighties instead. You guys know better than me. They sure do love that hot spot though... They seem to congregate around it and I have a temp gun that I point right at them. Their body temps usually read high 80s - low 90's during the day. It seems like they'd go for hotter if i let them, but i don't want them getting burned or suddenly over-heating before they can move to a cool spot.

I'll play it safe and move the light a little farther away.

Thanks guys

 

[davider]

congrats, let's see some pictures of the babies and what you keep them in!

David

 

[joefarah]

BTW - my enclosure is a pretty big screen freshair habitat, and that hotspot only represents a small fraction of the enclosure.

At first I started my hatchlings with ambient temps in the low 70s and the basking spot in the mid eighties under the light because i was afraid they'd dehydrate on me while i was at work all day.

When I noticed the hatchlings were always clinging upside down from the top of the screen under the basking light trying to get warmer, I decided to lower the light a bit and see what happened....

Now they are always in the foliage in and around the hotspot and looking amazing. Their appetites have picked up and they just seem robust and active and happy as could be.

I guess i just wanted you guys to know that the hotspot is small and I'm not cooking my hatchlings by not giving them somewhere cool to retreat to...


thanks,

Joe

 

[Brad Ramsey]

BTW - my enclosure is a pretty big screen freshair habitat, and that hotspot only represents a small fraction of the enclosure.

At first I started my hatchlings with ambient temps in the low 70s and the basking spot in the mid eighties under the light because i was afraid they'd dehydrate on me while i was at work all day.

When I noticed the hatchlings were always clinging upside down from the top of the screen under the basking light trying to get warmer, I decided to lower the light a bit and see what happened....

Now they are always in the foliage in and around the hotspot and looking amazing. Their appetites have picked up and they just seem robust and active and happy as could be.

I guess i just wanted you guys to know that the hotspot is small and I'm not cooking my hatchlings by not giving them somewhere cool to retreat to...


thanks,

Joe

I have to say that I generally would suggest a cooler basking spot for babies. It worked well for me when Kitty was only a few weeks old and it also seems to be a generally accepted practice.
But ..........
I also have to say that experimenting with subtle changes (like the one Joe describes) is not a bad practice, and is in fact how you get things just right.
The general recommendations are good and I would stand by them, but I also advocate using them as a guide and tweaking your individual situation.

-Brad