Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is Seppi my Ambanja Panther Chameleon. He is 5 months old and is over 13" already. I Have been feeding the hell out of him, but is he growing too fast?? Ive seen a few pictures of 5 month old's and none of them were nearly his size. This is my first panther, so Im still a little new to it. I have done tons of research and read all the books, but I still have a few questions. I have been noticing him walking on the gournd a lot during the day. He isnt' falling over, he's actually getting pretty good at walking on the ground, but what does this mean. His cage has the right heating, about 95 in his basking spot, 85 in the middle and room temp in the bottom. I have 2 18" UVB bulbs and 2 24" plant bulbs. His cage is 4x4x2.5 and has 1 dwarf umbrella and 1 ficus, and 5 small plants that are low to the ground. He has been eating a ton of food and drinks everytime i spray him down. He is very active and is still a little afraid of me. I never take him out of his cage and have had him checked out at the vet a few times. Why is he walking on the ground?? and am I over feeding him??

ps. Since i cant post 2 pics on one pst, im going to post a few times...

Thanks,
Greg

This is him at 3 months....

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

This is him 2 weeks ago...

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

2 weeks ago...

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

a few days ago...

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

5 days ago....

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

4 days ago...

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

3 dyas ago...

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

2 days ago...

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

I really like this one from 2 days ago....

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

Nice Ambaja. For $125 you sure got a great deal for the quality of panther that you recieved. His coloration and his large apetite suspects me to believe that he must have Ambilobe blood in him. Note his orange throat coloration and the top half of him is green while the bottm half is yellow. This was seen in your last post. This coloration is normally seen in Blue-Bar Ambilobes. Note that your little er big guy has blue bars. Ambilobes are also known to have much larger apetites. Mine, when I first got him, could eat 10 superworms or 15 crickets or 3 adult silkworms in a few minutes at 5 months of age. But I know that you said he is an Ambaja but his colors are a little strange.

In my opinion you have somewhat of an Ambilobe on your hands judging by that last picture.

thanks, and im really impressed with this guys colors. When I compare his colors to other locales, i deffinatley see alot of ambilobe in him, but when i got him i was told he was a ture ambanja. Maybe ill email audry and see if she has any more info on his parents....
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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

Believe it or not, he was true Ambanja. At least I know that his parents were both Ambanjas. Don't know about the grandparents. But I hatched this cham from a clutch of eggs from a CB Ambanja female that I had bred to a CB Ambanja male.
Believe it or not,
Cricket

thanks audry. if you ever come across any pics of his parents, i would love to see them. I still cant believe how nice that guy is turning out. Hes eating like a pig and drinking like a siv(sp?). I am getting a lady for him from kammerflage soon and i cant wait to see what his babies will turn out like. I was thinking of trying to breed him with an ambilobe, i think there colors would be amazing.

Thanks,
Greg
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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

Hi Greg,

I smiled when I saw all your posts! There is a way to place more than one photo in a post. I am not sure how many you can do this way but even 4 or 5 at a time would be better! LOL!

Here you go:
***go to the gallery
***bring up your photo
***right click on it
***choose "properties
*** “hi-lite” address/URL
***right click, copy
***go to message body back here
***type what I put in bold except without the quotes:

""

hope that makes sense!
lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Thanks for the tips. I tried to do thios before and i just got red x's, and shutterfly's url is really long. Ill have toi try it one day on old posts to see if i can get it...

Thanks,
Greg
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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

just remember to put IMG in the brackets and to end the IMG with the /. Also, don't try to write the whole thing out but do the copy/paste commands

are your photos in the KS Gallery or on a separate site?
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Hey Greg,

your cammy looks like it's growing-up and showing nice coloration. But if I may...may I "suggest" something?

Don't take too many pictures of him.

I noticed that you have taken ALOT of pictures of a relatively new chameleon; and in most of the pictures his coloration is REALLY BRIGHT, as well as him being PUFFED-UP. This is a sign that he is scared, stressed, or warning you to "get away". If done on a continual basis, there is "a chance" that this stress will weaken his immune system.

Just be sensitive to this little "living creature," and try to ensure that he is comfortable with his new life..NOT poked and prodded every day to show him off. (Not saying that you do, but just using that as a way to describe what I am trying to convey to you).

Beautiful cammy, Greg!!!
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In Christ: Raymond

I don't know if he does this or not, but what I do with my male veilev cham is get a pic when he is puffed up and colourful. When he is mad he does turn bright colours, but not qutie as bright as when he is hoping to find a mate with random super-bright colours. I never find him his brightest when he is mad, just puffed and basking. I do agree however, that constant poking and prodding every day isnt the best thing. Once or twice a week would be fine, though.

A few things that make them "fire up":

1) Mess with them when they don't want to be messed with.
2) Suddenly have animals, WHICH THEY'VE NEVER SEEN come into the room.
3) Place another chameleon (male or female) in front of them, or withing their site.
4) Come up on them unexpectedly, and see what they do when they get surprised.
5) Come up to them very early in the morning, when they haven't fully woken-up, and try to handle them.
6) Introduce a "foreign object" to them; like a camera, a new branch, a new climbing vine, a new plant, etc... (And that not even mentioning the flash of the camera).
7) Placing a mirror in front of them. (A photographers favourite trick).
8) When a female is rejecting a male for reproduction.

There are so many more...but if you leave them alone, you'll see cool, beautiful colors. But when irritated, THAT'S when the bright contrasting colors come out.

Notice the list above. They are all UNPLEASANT circumstances that make them produce the colors we all like to see/show-off.

But you're right, not all of these things will stress the cammy out, and not all cammies have the same character. (Some things will freak one cammy out, and then again, some things won't). But let's not be like a child who does not know better. Let's be considerate of another life, and treat them in a way that keeps them happy. (Isn't that one of the reasons we took-up the raising of our little critters)?

Just an observation.
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In Christ: Raymond

i really dont do anything to make him mad. i notice the green and yellow coloring on him just about all the time. I dont bother him more than 10 mintues a day, and i have only taken him out once or twice, and that was when he climbs on me. basically whenever i walk near his cage he gets mad. i am making a new stand for his enclosure to raise it to the ceiling. Hopefully that will help....

Thanks for the tips,
Greg
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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

Cool, Greg...

it sounds like you DO love your little critter. (It's a labor of love to see that your cammy will feel more comfortable and safer in a higher enclosure, and you are taking the time to hand-make an enclosure that will meet that need).

Let's see the pix of the enclosure when you are done.
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In Christ: Raymond

Here is a pic of just the cage. I am currently making 2 stands with cabinets and shelves, and 1 more cage thats the same size as this one. I am getting a female soon, so iwant to have everything ready for her. this cage is 4x4x2.5. it is also heavily foliated with leaves and branches. I just added an umbrella tree and a few pothos. Ive had a ficus in there for a few years now(i had a veiled before), so i got a new one of those and lots of plants to cover the ground almost like a substrate. there is probally over a hundred dollars worth of plants in his cage alone. i also just bought a Mr. Moisture Jr. misting syster for both of them as well.

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1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Leopard Gecko's

Greg,

here's a picture of my crested gecko's cage. (Sticky). It was done "kinda like" what you're describing you want to do to your chameleons enclosure.

It was built to be HUGE for my single cresty (cuz I want them to live very comfortably)...so he's living like a king in his own Taj Mahal. (Is that how you spell it)?

Originally it was NOT tall enough to satisfy me - so I designed and built a higher base. And now with his new base, the whole thing stands at 64" inches. (About 5" feet, 4" inches tall).

Use the legs like I did, and make them into shelves or something.

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In Christ: Raymond

Here's a picture I just took od the bottom cabinet of my chameleon's enclosure.

I took the picture to show you how I have the "Mr Moisture" system set-up.

I also mist his enclosure about 8-times a day, and have a good number of plants in there. (More will be added soon, as this helps to keep the humidity up, as well as absorbing some of the water).

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In Christ: Raymond

And here's a picture of the nozzle, lites, and the top screen of his enclosure.

Sorry bout the "dark photo"...but I didn't want to spen time playing with the exposure-time on my camera. (I took two quick pictures, and used the best one). Hey...call me lazy!!

Enjoy!

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In Christ: Raymond