Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had great success with Veilds, and am think about getting myself a pathner. But are they hard to keep? What are the differences, they they need alot more humidity, should i get a half glass half screen cage? What about temps/UV do I need to take them out during the week, or can I just use UV/ open window for them to thrive? please post as much help and info as you have time thanks and I look forward to reading your experience!

Panthers are not really any harder to keep than veileds. As long as they are watered very well, the humidity doesn't have to be any different than what you provide for veileds....but that being said, I don't consider veileds to be desert animals, so I do provide some humidity for them. I make sure that my panthers and veileds drink well when I mist them...then they also get a dripper.

You said..."should i get a half glass half screen cage?"...the cages I use are glass on three sides and the bottom, and the lid and the door are screen...for my panthers and my veileds. I have kept both in glass cages with screen lids too. Be aware that I live in Canada and its harder to keep the heat and humidity up in the winter here. It follows that if you live in a warmer climate its not a good idea to use glass cages unless the chameleons are kept in an air conditioned house.

You asked..."What about temps/UV do I need to take them out during the week, or can I just use UV/ open window for them to thrive?"...my chameleons rarely go outside...so they get all their UVB from artificial lights....and my supplements are adjusted for life indoors. (Just in case you don't know, sunlight or UVB light should not pass through glass or plastic.) Sunshine is definitely better for them than artificial light. I keep the basking temperatures slightly lower for panthers than veileds.

I mentioned adjusting the supplements if the chameleon is kept outdoors....its the D3 that you need to be concerned with. D3 from supplements can build up in the system. If a chameleon gets sunlight it will produce its own D3 thus enabling it to use the calcium. When exposed to only UVB tube lights, I have found that dusting the insects before feeding them to the chameleon twice a month seems to work to make up for it.

Here's a good site about absorption of UVB light with quite a bit of information about panthers in it....
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/skintests.htm#discussion

Some other good sites...
http://adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/fpardalis.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/