Too much foilage?

[DeviousMike]

Is this ficus just too big for a 16x16x20 cage? My panther is pretty much just in the heart of the leaves most of the time so I'm wondering if i should trim it down a little for more space.

 

[sandrachameleon]

a picture would help.
Most of my panthers have always prefered less foliage and more open spaces. I think the best thing is to have one vertical half planted, and the other more open with just branches and vines. Let the animal choose what it wants.

 

[DeviousMike]

I was in a rush to get out of the house so I totally forgot to paste the pic LOL. Tell me what you think...

 

[chameleon884]

nah dude thats fine!

 

[Sang]

honestly its fine, they need to feel comfortable, add a few more branches, dowels sticks to give extra climbing opportunities.

 

[DeviousMike]

There are actually about 6 branches going through the plant and he does not go on them. Probably still acclimating

 

[KCcham]

As a side note, what kind of lighting do you have? Also, how old is your panther?

 

[Jamelon]

As a side note, what kind of lighting do you have? Also, how old is your panther?

yeah im wondering what kind of lighting you have as well, i dont see a linear tube bulb there, is your UVB a coil bulb? If it is i would suggest changing it, they can cause eye problems

 

[Ace]

i agree. the setup is fine, but i hope u r not using a cfl uvb light, mostly cfls can damage the chameleon's eyes due to the fact they may give out too much uvb, like the old r-zilla one, but i have heard some "safe" cfl bulbs, linear tubes reptisun 5.0 is recommended and one regular hardware bulb or heat about 60 watts should be good....

 

[DeviousMike]

Gonna get the linear UVB soon. The heat bulb is a 60w incandescent bulb. He is about 3 months now. I got him from lance here on the forums.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Id add a couple branches or a vine on the open side, slightly diagonal. Otherwise its fine in terms of foliage.

 

[rcutchens]

Could be another one of Rico's brothers! We got Rico from Lance as well and he's just about 3.5 months old.

I don't think there's too much foilage but we have Rico's cage pretty full of it so my perspective is probably skewed. We have five live plants in his cage, the whole back screen we've draped silk ivy and there are as many as 10 branches in his cage. When you look at our setup we have live plants and fake ones pressed up against different sides of the cage and it's really just a myriad of palnts and branches.

I'm betting others would look at Rico's setup and say it's too miuch but it give him a lot of different levels and pathways to climb on plus he has tons of level of exposure both to curious humans as well as to his UVB and heat lights. We sometimes have to "hunt" to find him but in the end I feel like his comfort is more important than our needing to see him at every moment of the day.

If you get a chance please post some pictures of your chameleon!

 

[DeviousMike]

He's very skittish right now and moves when I try to take pics. My best camera is an iPhone 4 so the following 2 pics are the best I could do.

Trying to hide in the ficus

Caught him when he was sleeping. You can see a little bit of the red coming out.

 

[rcutchens]

Cute little dude! I think him and Rico may be brothers - was his sire Lucifer?

 

[DeviousMike]

Cute little dude! I think him and Rico may be brothers - was his sire Lucifer?

Yes I believe he was.