Thoughts on my first enclosure

[Jared910]

I'm getting a juvenile panther Cham tomorrow and have his enclosure all set up, yet I wanted to see if you guys approve of the set up. I put a lot of work into it, but now I'm somewhat concerned that there is too much material inside of the cage. I know this is supposed to be a good thing, but I still wanted to run it buy you guys and see if you think it's fine.

 

[broderp]

Does your Cham use the little Chair? Looks really good, but if I would critique anything it would be that most of the branches are at 45 degrees or so. I may be wrong, but Chams typically like horizontal branches. I'm betting you did the branches the way you did for the same reason I did, to give your cham a path to go from place to place. I would only add a few extra horizontal branches towards the top to give more level crawling space. (just below the horizontal vine like in the basking area.)

Be sure to check temps at the highest point. How are you going to control or add humidity?

 

[Jared910]

Does your Cham use the little Chair? Looks really good, but if I would critique anything it would be that most of the branches are at 45 degrees or so. I may be wrong, but Chams typically like horizontal branches. I'm betting you did the branches the way you did for the same reason I did, to give your cham a path to go from place to place. I would only add a few extra horizontal branches towards the top to give more level crawling space. (just below the horizontal vine like in the basking area.)

Be sure to check temps at the highest point. How are you going to control or add humidity?

He hasn't used the chair yet but I'm hoping I can get a photo of him sleeping on it at some point! And I definately agree with the more horizontal stick suggestion, I'll do that. As far as humidity, I've been spraying it periodically during the day and it seems to stay in the 70% range for the most part. I also have a humidifier en route that I will be using in the same room. One concern I have is that I'm using a 100watt bulb but then asking area seems to sit just about at 80 degrees. I know this is a little low and once he gets a little older I'll have to upgrade, but is this temp range ok for a young guy? Not sure his exact age but here's a photo of that can help.

 

[broderp]

Looks like a young panther to my uneducated eye. (He looks like my little Sherman) Basking temps should be in the low 80's, around 82-83 F. That temp goes up to 85-90 when they are adults. I'm not sure how much 1-2 degrees will make, but I would always go over, you can always raise the light or use other means to control the temp.

Humidity should vary between 50-70%. I'm not sure if a constant 70% is good or if it should drop and rise as you mist to create a variety. I do know that a drop in temp and humidity is supposed to help in their digestion or something so It's ok to let the temps drop into the 60's as well as let the humidity drop at night.

 

[joshuadh2310]

I agree with everything above. Also the humidity should have a drop in it a bit and come back through out the day. I was talking with someone about humidity being higher at night times and it was an interesting conversation with some great points on how humidity actually rises at night in Madagascar and how people don't monitor it during night time and try to boost it back up during the day. Just something to think about I would like to see what others have to say about it. But other than the above your cage looks great for starting out!

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

I am curious about your drainage and how you are planning to handle the excess water. Plants look great (in wish I could get mine to look like that, I'm still working it). And another thought (I cant tell from the pic alone), are the dowel rods the right diameter (not to big?) for a juvenile's ovenmits?

 

[Jared910]

I am curious about your drainage and how you are planning to handle the excess water. Plants look great (in wish I could get mine to look like that, I'm still working it). And another thought (I cant tell from the pic alone), are the dowel rods the right diameter (not to big?) for a juvenile's ovenmits?

The drainage was something I was planning on putting off until later, I guess I'll be home enough to keep the bottom nice and clean for the most part, and some of the dowels are definately too big for his baby oven mitts, but I was planning ahead and going to let him stay in this same enclosure until he gets big too. He seems to like crawling through the vines even more than the dowel's anyways!