Suggestions on Husbandry and Breeding

[bhollowell]

Hi! I've recently delved into the world of chameleons and honestly its so amazing. I have a 4 month old female ambilobe panther chameleon as of now and want to breed her after she gets a year old. I am purchasing a cute little 3 month male from someone on this site and I will be raising them to pair for breeding in a year or so (so plenty of time to prepare and think about it, either way they'll be my pets). Here is my husbandry information for the female. For the male I am setting up a 2x2x4ft screen enclosure this weekend before I get him.

• Your Chameleon - Ambilobe Panther Chameleon, Female, 4 months. Care- One Week. Received from Roberson Reptiles
• Handling - She doesn't show any aggressive behaviors when she is hungry so I've been working on feeding her to gain her trust. I personally don't need to handle her a ton- I just love to watch her do her thing.
• Feeding - I've been feeding her about 4 large crickets in the morning and a couple around 5pm. I also occasionally feed her superworms that are in an edible substrate from Josh's Frogs. ( I will say I do not know much so PLEASE any food advice would be so helpful) Crickets are fed flukers orange cube.
• Supplements - I have been dusting the crickets; I feed her with Zoo med repticalcium every feeding. The dusting is more of a light sprinkling on the floor of the crickets terrarium and they get it on their legs. I plan to dust them with vitamin D3 twice a month.
• Watering - I mist her cage in the morning until water drops form on the foilage and start to fall and at 5pm. At night I have a mister that runs for about 6 hours on a very low misting setting. It is a humidifier that is pointed into the enclosure.
• Fecal Description - Sally has not been tested for parasites. I can ask the breeder if he tests them though. I also have a reptile vet nearby. Her poop looks very similar to the healthy poop connected to the urate in the poop thread in the health portion of the forums. I normally only see them after they've dried out but the urate is a pale whitish with a little yellow.
• History - N/A
• Egg Laying- I have a deep round black trash can that I filled with moist dirt for her laying. She hasn't laid anything yet though.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen zoo med 16 by 16 by 36. I am getting a new 2x2x4 made for her.
• Lighting - I am still using the dual bulb zoo med tropical light fixture. Zoo med 5 UVB reptisun bulb and a zoo med reptibasking spot lamp white light.
• Temperature - The temp range is around 78-80 at the top and 70 at the bottom. My home is at 69-71 degrees.
• Humidity - I'm measuring humidity with a gauge from petsmart- it was cheap. The humidity untouched is normally around 40% and when I mist it goes up to 70%. Nighttime misting almost reaches 100%.
• Plants - No live plants. I am going to add a few soon as of now I am using artificial reptile vines and leaves.
• Placement - My cage is placed on top of my high dresser in the corner of my bedroom. My bedroom gets closed off until I come back from work at 5pm. There are no vents nearby.
• Location - I am in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I've attached pictures of the enclosure and my girl.

 

[Beman]

Hi There welcome to the forum. I will go through your form now.

 

[Beman]

Please see my feedback in red bold. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Your Chameleon - Ambilobe Panther Chameleon, Female, 4 months. Care- One Week. Received from Roberson Reptiles
• Handling - She doesn't show any aggressive behaviors when she is hungry so I've been working on feeding her to gain her trust. I personally don't need to handle her a ton- I just love to watch her do her thing.
• Feeding - I've been feeding her about 4 large crickets in the morning and a couple around 5pm. I also occasionally feed her superworms that are in an edible substrate from Josh's Frogs. ( I will say I do not know much so PLEASE any food advice would be so helpful) Crickets are fed flukers orange cube. So feeder size should be appropriate for her. 4 month old should be getting 1/4-1/2 inch feeders depending on her size. and she should be getting many more feeders. Panthers really should be fed minimum 12-15 small feeders daily up until 6 months old. I would get something like bug burger to make for insect food. The orange cubes do nothing but hydrate. With bug burger it is food and hydration. Just follow the directions for mixing it. I will post an image for feeder variety.
• Supplements - I have been dusting the crickets; I feed her with Zoo med repticalcium every feeding. The dusting is more of a light sprinkling on the floor of the crickets terrarium and they get it on their legs. I plan to dust them with vitamin D3 twice a month. These supplements are ok. You want a multivitamin with D3 and vitamin A like Repashy calcium plus to give two times a month then at all other feedings you would use calcium without D3. You also want to make sure your lightly dusting the entire feeder. Cricket shakers are wonderful to use for supplements so that you are dusting correctly. You do not want to put the supplement on the floor of the cricket container. This just makes it disgusting and then your feeders end up eating it. Which in turn can cause die offs.
• Watering - I mist her cage in the morning until water drops form on the foilage and start to fall and at 5pm. At night I have a mister that runs for about 6 hours on a very low misting setting. It is a humidifier that is pointed into the enclosure. This is fine. Make sure the humidifier is running when the cage is at its coolest.
• Fecal Description - Sally has not been tested for parasites. I can ask the breeder if he tests them though. I also have a reptile vet nearby. Her poop looks very similar to the healthy poop connected to the urate in the poop thread in the health portion of the forums. I normally only see them after they've dried out but the urate is a pale whitish with a little yellow. I would have her tested. And I would also make sure that you do not cross contaminate between chameleons until you get him tested as well. There are parasites that are very easily cross contaminated.
• History - N/A
• Egg Laying- I have a deep round black trash can that I filled with moist dirt for her laying. She hasn't laid anything yet though. So egg laying really is specific. Doing a lay bin that is far too deep is not a benefit for her. I will post links for this. But you also what to use moist play sand. I would add the lay bin by the time she is 5-6 months. Ideally you want this to be a permanent fixture in her enclosure. So you are not stressing her further by removing her to another area.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen zoo med 16 by 16 by 36. I am getting a new 2x2x4 made for her. good you will need the extra space for the lay bin.
• Lighting - I am still using the dual bulb zoo med tropical light fixture. Zoo med 5 UVB reptisun bulb and a zoo med reptibasking spot lamp white light. So this is not going to work for her. You will have to get t5HO fixtures and 5.0 or 6% UVB bulb. Then basking branch would be 9 inches below the uvb for the correct uvi level. The compact ones are not adequate and they will develop MBD with them. This needs to be replaced asap. If your going to have two 2x2x4 enclosures next to each other then you could get 48 inch fixtures to run the width of both enclosures. Please note if you do this you have to have a solid panel between the enclosures so that they can not see each other.
• Temperature - The temp range is around 78-80 at the top and 70 at the bottom. My home is at 69-71 degrees. These temps are perfect for her. No hotter then 80 at basking. Your male should never be hotter then 80-85max at basking level. temp gauge with a probe tied in at basking is a good way to ensure temps are correct.
• Humidity - I'm measuring humidity with a gauge from petsmart- it was cheap. The humidity untouched is normally around 40% and when I mist it goes up to 70%. Nighttime misting almost reaches 100%. 50-60% daytime is perfect. Make sure it is a digital gauge because the analog ones are not accurate. adding live plants will help your humidity levels.
• Plants - No live plants. I am going to add a few soon as of now I am using artificial reptile vines and leaves. Live plants are really important. They help keep the air cleaner and provide soft natural surfaces for them to drink off of. See link below for safe plants list. You really want to change to real branches from non sap producing trees. This is particularly important with panthers as they drink off branches and will even bite their branches. Artificial ones pose risk for impaction, not drying out and growing bacteria, and getting pieces lodged in their eyes if they rub on them.
• Placement - My cage is placed on top of my high dresser in the corner of my bedroom. My bedroom gets closed off until I come back from work at 5pm. There are no vents nearby.
• Location - I am in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I've attached pictures of the enclosure and my girl.

You might consider getting dragon ledges and a drainage tray. You really want the floor to be bare for easy cleaning. Dragon ledges allow you to attach branches and plants higher in the cage. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/

Please keep in mind she must be at least a year old before breeding ever happens and should lay an infertile clutch prior to ensure she lays without issues. I would really look into this as it is a process and you have to have many many enclosures to house the babies separately.

At 6 months you will reduce food intake to 5 small food items every other day then down to 3 small food items every other day.

Some resources for you.
https://chameleonacademy.com/panther-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/egg-laying-and-the-laying-bin.345/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video.77225/

 

[bhollowell]

I will get some plants that are safe for her this weekend. I do really want to switch in live plants, especially since the artificial ones seem to emit a chemical smell when misted. I need to remove them so they don't hurt her.

I am getting some smaller crickets tomorrow and setting up a breeding bin for them so I'll make sure to start feeding them the bug burger instead. I'm also getting some hornworms as a treat for her. As for the superworms how many can I give her? They are very easy to keep so I was hoping they could be used fairly often.

I definitely love these ledges and am gonna get some. Thank for showing me those!

There is going to be a lot of updating and adjusting as the new cages come in. I plan to place the male in one corner of the room and female nearby. Will they still be able to see each other if they are across the room? If so should I just place them side by side with a barrier to make it easier? How far apart do they have to be to be considered quarantined from each other? I won't ever be introducing them to each other until mating when the female is at least a year old.

 

[Beman]

I will get some plants that are safe for her this weekend. I do really want to switch in live plants, especially since the artificial ones seem to emit a chemical smell when misted. I need to remove them so they don't hurt her.

I am getting some smaller crickets tomorrow and setting up a breeding bin for them so I'll make sure to start feeding them the bug burger instead. I'm also getting some hornworms as a treat for her. As for the superworms how many can I give her? They are very easy to keep so I was hoping they could be used fairly often.

I definitely love these ledges and am gonna get some. Thank for showing me those!

There is going to be a lot of updating and adjusting as the new cages come in. I plan to place the male in one corner of the room and female nearby. Will they still be able to see each other if they are across the room? If so should I just place them side by side with a barrier to make it easier? How far apart do they have to be to be considered quarantined from each other? I won't ever be introducing them to each other until mating when the female is at least a year old.

Make sure you make the upgrade to the UVB lighting right away. This is an extremely important aspect.

Personally I would not have a male and female in line of sight of one another. They have extremely good vision and this will cause them stress because he will want to get to her and unless she is receptive then she will want to get away from him.