Weird black color pattern on panther chameleon. Probably stress marks?

JoseCermeno

Member
Hello everyone. I have a baby male ambilobe. He is 3 months old now. I have him since he was only 11 days old. I know that I shouldn't have bought it that young. But he is doing great until today I noticed a weird black color pattern. I believe that there are stress signs. I believe that because I recently changed his timer for the lights. I wanted him to get 12hrs of light and 12hrs total darkness; 7:30am to 7:30pm. It used to be 8:00am to 7:00pm.

Lighting: I have a 10.0 uvb that is working very well so far. I have some 5000k lights for his umbrella plant and split leaf plant. And a house bulb that gets 79°f max.

Cage: I recently changed him to a bigger cage. He eats better and drinks more from the umbrella plant. He used to be in a 18in tall 17in wide. Now that he is 3 months old I moved him into a 3 feet tall - 18 wide. He is being there for a week now.
Temp: Is gets could so I have a ceramic bulb conected to a temp controller set up so that it doesn't let temp get below 60°f at night.

Food: crickets fed with bug buger, fruitflies, Phoenix worm. Calcium w/o D3 every day on one pray if it's a cricket or a worm. If it's fruitflies I dust around 10 of them. D3 I do the same but 2 times a month. Also vitamins ever 2 weeks.

Water: I make sure he drinks water every day by dripping water on the umbrella plant for couple of minutes every couple hours through out the day.

Like I said. He is doing great. I have experienced on veiled chameleons but this is my first panther chameleon. I'm concerned about those black patterns.
 

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Got a solarmeter? Most of the time 10.0 is too much for a panther, especially a baby. But that is heavily dependent on many factors.

Its possible they are sunburns from the 10.0 but I need to see the entire set up before you panic.
 
Got a solarmeter? Most of the time 10.0 is too much for a panther, especially a baby. But that is heavily dependent on many factors.

Its possible they are sunburns from the 10.0 but I need to see the entire set up before you panic.
Today I got a repti sun 5.0
I still see some black marks on him from yesterday.
 

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How much are you handling your chameleon?

Nothing to do with the color but needs mentioning..
I would suggest feeding/gutloading the crickets with dandelion greens, kale, collards, mustard greens, endive, escarole, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, squash, carrots, zucchini and a very little bit of allies, pears, melon, berries.
 
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How much are you handling your chameleon?

Nothing to do with the color but needs mentionin...
I would suggest feeding/gutloading the crickets with dandelion greens, kale, collards, mustard greens, endive, escarole, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, squash, carrots, zucchini and a very little bit of allies, pears, melon, berries.

I hope this helps:

Chameleon Info:

  • Chameleon Specie - Panther chameleon probably a mixed blue & red bar ambilobe. Breeder told me he is a male. He has been in my care since he was only 11 days old. Now he is 3 months old. He was born on 10/01/19

  • Handling - I rarely handle him. Only 1 time every 2 weeks I guess.

  • Feeding - Mostly crickets fed with bug burger. Fruitflies and Phoenix worms. He eats daily around 2-5 crickets and 6-10 fruitflies and maybe 1-2 Phoenix worm through out the day. I offer everything and let him eat all he wants. Sometimes he eats a lot and sometimes he doesn't

  • Supplements - Rep-Cal is the brand I use for all the supplements
  • Calcium w/o D3 dusted on 1 cricket every day
  • Calcium with D3 2 times a month
  • Vitamins every 2 weeks

  • Watering - I used the dripping water method on an umbrella plant. 3 times a day for around 30min.

  • Fecal Description - a lot of dark brown/back with a little bit of white at the end. This chameleon has never been tested for parasites
  • History - Like I said I have him since he was only 11 days old. He was very tiny but grew up really fast. He used to be on a 17inches × 18in screen cage. I moved him to the large cage he has been there for 1 week. He used to have a 10.0 uvb now I switched to the 5.0 because the possibility of a burn by uvb. His light schedule used to be 8am - 7pm

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Screen, glass combo.
  • 3 feet tall 18in wide
  • Lighting - currently I use a 3 head grow light full spectrum, 15" Repti Glo 5.0 uvb, silvania halogen flood 39w (50w replacement) I recently changed the light schedule so that he gets exactly 12hrs of light and 12hrs of total darkness. 7:30am -7:30pm.
  • Temperature - I used digital thermometers; 80° top, middle around 67 ° and low is around 60°
  • Lowest overnight temp is 60 I use a temperature control to not let temperature drop below 60
  • Humidity - always around 60% and I use spray on the umbrella plant so that he can also drink.
  • Plants - umbrella plant and split leaf plant at the bottom of the cage.
  • Placement - Cage is in my room. My room is always empty. No traffic. He barely sees any movement other than me when I check on him.
  • Location - Sacramento California

Current Problem - I'm concerned about the very unusual coloration when he was getting ready to sleep.
 
I haven't seen a pattern quite like that...I don't think it's anything to worry about though. Just my opinion. Just keep an eye on it if you're worried.
 
Hi!
I don't think you have anything to worry about. It's definitely not a burn. Is the thermostat probe on his basking spot? If you've recently moved him to a larger enclosure it may be slightly colder since the ceramic bulb is higher up, and young panthers sometimes go darker when temps are a little off. You'll want to gradually increase his basking temperature as he gets older (86°-89° as adults), so perhaps bumping his temps up by a degree or two will help. I'd switch back to the 10.0 UVB, and make sure theres plenty of places for him to limit his UV exposure in the shade. As for humidity, I aim for a peak of 85-90% when misting, which can drop to 50% before misting again. This is important to avoid respiratory infection, and misting just before the lights come one will simulate morning dew and allow him to drink as he would in the wild ;)
 
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