Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking into getting a panther cham this time (had a veiled a while back) and I wanted to refresh my knowledge on chams. I was looking into care sheets, but only found a small handfull with any real useful info. I also tried searching on here, but I don't know the secret to pulling up exactly what I am looking for (I followed the search guidelines, and only ended up with 3 references to panther care sheets, but no actual link or website to find one). I'm ruling out the ones htat don't give specifics (like humidity, day/night temps) and ones that suggest that a 18x18x30 cage is big enough for an adult male panther... Can anyone post some links or suggested places to look for good care sheets? I have the adcham one & another from a pet store...
Thanks!!
~Chrissy =o)
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1.1 Crested Gecko (Anton/Angelina & Harley)
1.1 Crazy dogs (Alex & Sadie)
0.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee)
0.1 Amazing Wife =o)
Charlie - RIP 9-8-05 (Veiled Cham)

I have to agree that the available care sheets for panthers are lacking. I got more than three sites...but still there was not much information...
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q="panther chameleon" AND care&btnG=Google Search&meta=

Thanks. I am looking at them now. These are better than the ones I managed to pull up when I did my search.

Am I pulling the correct info?:
->Temps: between 75-90 for gradient (lowest thru basking spot).

->Humidity: 50-80% (I would let my veild's humidity drop to about 30% during the day to help avoid mold/fungus... should I do that with the panther as well?)

->Adult cage size: 2x2x4 min (I'm a fan of bigger spaces, so my ultimate goal would be a free-range set-up in a green-house style room once we settle in our house... years from now)

->Juvi cage: ? not much info on the pages I looked at... would a med sized fresh-air habitat work for about 4-6 months? Should I go bigger? Or would a 18"x18"x30" screen cage work? (still undecided on initial caging).

->live plants: hibiscus, ficus, pothos, schefflera (sp?), or something similar

->mesh bottom w/o substrate & container for drainage

->H2O: misting 2-3x's/day dripper, eventually replaced with a misting system in adult cage.

->feeding: gut-loaded & dusted (Ca 1x/wk, Vit 3x/wk?) crix, silkworms, & possibly roaches... tho that will take a bit of convincing with the wife.

->lighting/heating:UVB (reptisun 10), basking bulb, sunlight bulb (not needed, but my apt is pretty dark so I want to ad it)

->branches & vines as needed for decoration & basking/walking spots

Did I forget anything? I know juvi's need more humidity than adults. They also need more frequent feedings. I just read thru Lele's posts about Cyrus, and I am wondering about the supplamentation, tho I will start out with that at least until I perfect the gut-loading. Did I get all my info correct? I def. want to do this right. I know I have the info down from when I had Charlie, but I feel like I am forgetting things... Thanks for any & all help!!

~Chrissy
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1.1 Crested Gecko (Anton/Angelina & Harley)
1.1 Crazy dogs (Alex & Sadie)
0.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee)
0.1 Amazing Wife =o)
Charlie - RIP 9-8-05 (Veiled Cham)

I keep my adult panther's basking area in the mid to high 80's and the rest of the cage can be in the high 70's to low 80's. At night the temperature drops to about 70F. I keep babies at more moderate temperatures since their smaller bodies dehydrate, warm and cool quicker than adults.

I let my cages dry out during the day too. I have found that with panthers, the humidity isn't as critical as the amount of water you provide them for hydration. As long as they are well hydrated they seem to be able to tolerate lower humidity.

You said..."Adult cage size: 2x2x4 min"...as you said bigger is usually better, but that size is fine for one adult.

You said..."Juvi cage: ? not much info on the pages I looked at... would a med sized fresh-air habitat work for about 4-6 months? Should I go bigger? Or would a 18"x18"x30" screen cage work? (still undecided on initial caging)"...for the first month or two I keep mine in aquariums (12" wide X24"long X15" high)...several per cage. I gradually separate them out by growth and aggression levels and increase the size of the cages.

I always use well-washed (both sides of the leaves) pothos plants....but you can use the others that you listed.

I never use substrate for arboreal chameleons.

You said..."H2O: misting 2-3x's/day dripper, eventually replaced with a misting system in adult cage"...I don't use a dripper until the chameleon is at least two months old. There have been cases where the water has been aspirated and killed the chameleon. I keep the misting fine too so that large drops and pools of water won't form anywhere.

You said..."feeding: gut-loaded & dusted (Ca 1x/wk, Vit 3x/wk?) crix, silkworms, & possibly roaches... tho that will take a bit of convincing with the wife"...I gutload the crickets with a variety of greens (dandelion, kale, collards, ROMAINE lettuce, endive, etc.) and veggies (potato, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, carrots, etc.). I dust with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings since insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. I dust with a vitamin powder lightly twice a month. I use one with a beta carotene source of vitamin A since preformed can be overdosed. There is some controversy over a chameleon's ability to use beta carotene though....but it hasn't seemed to be a problem with my panthers. Since my chameleons get UVB from tube lights (no direct sunlight) I also dust twice a month lightly with a D3/calcium powder. D3 from supplements can build up too, so don't overdo it. UVB light from either direct sunlight or tube lights should not pass through glass or plastic.

You said..."lighting/heating:UVB (reptisun 10), basking bulb, sunlight bulb (not needed, but my apt is pretty dark so I want to ad it)"...I use regular incandescent bulbs in a metal hood with a ceramic fixture for basking and a reptisun 5.0 as well as a second florescent tube light to light the cages.

You said..."branches & vines as needed for decoration & basking/walking spots"...yup!

If you get a female remember that she can lay eggs without having been mated so she needs a place to dig in her cage. (Ask me more if/when it applies.)

You said..."Did I forget anything? I know juvi's need more humidity than adults. They also need more frequent feedings. I just read thru Lele's posts about Cyrus, and I am wondering about the supplamentation, tho I will start out with that at least until I perfect the gut-loading. Did I get all my info correct? I def. want to do this right. I know I have the info down from when I had Charlie, but I feel like I am forgetting things... Thanks for any & all help!!"...what I have told you about the setup and the supplementation and the gutloading is my way of doing it for my panthers. They reproduce, the adults seem to live healthy lives usually and although I don't break any longevity records with them, I beat the averages. I haven't had a CB chameleon to the vets for a long time. (WC's are another story...they come in with issues most of the time.)

Now its my turn to wonder if I covered everything!
Good luck!

n/p
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1.1 Crested Gecko (Anton/Angelina & Harley)
1.1 Crazy dogs (Alex & Sadie)
0.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee)
0.1 Amazing Wife =o)
Charlie - RIP 9-8-05 (Veiled Cham)

I have a care-sheet that is, I think, fairly comprehensive. I'd be happy to share it with you. I could email the pdf version. It's what I give anyone who buys a young NosyBe from me.

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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada

sandra, i would love to see your care sheet. could you email it to jonthefb@hotmail.com?

thanks a bunch!
jon

tried to send the care sheet to jonthefb@hotmail.com but got failure notice. PERM_FAILURE: Parse Error: Illegal To: address (invalid domain name): jonthefb@hotmail.com?

Sorry?
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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada

hmm thats curious, ok well then can you please send it to jonthan dot garnett at comcast dot net. i didnt want to type it as a link so as to limit its availability for spammers!

cheers~!
jon