Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm in the process of researching and I'm considering getting a panther chameleon. Originally I was planning on using a screen cage 2x2x4, but I was wondering, once the chameleon got to be a certain age, would a large ficus tree be doable? I'd get a pretty large ficus tree and a significantly large pot and it'd be lit by a 160 w mercury vapor bulb. It'd be fed by having crickets in a small rubbmaid container hung on the tree. I'd have a modified humifier aimed near the tree to keep the humidity up. Can I get any suggestions as to whether or not this is doable?

Thanks.

Definately doable! I have had a Panther chameleon on a 6 foot ficus
since it was young until today. I too hang a feeding cointainer on the tree, or just hand feed. You can find ways atach a UVB and heat source to your setup. Just needs a litle imagination. some people believe that their chameleons are tamer and get more used to humans being around with this kind of setup. There are some risks involve of course, such as your cat making a meal out of your cham or your cham escaping(which can be easily solve by placing cardboard barriers), but i am sure you've thought of it.

I've had several panthers in large ficus tree's, one tree is over 13' the other around 7-8'. The only problem is they try to wander sometimes and you need a way of preventing it. A high smooth fence buried in the dirt around the pot that sticks up around 1'. Like plesiglass or some other cheap smooth material like plastic, as long as it can be curved easily and cannot not be scaled by the panther.

I was thinking of locating the ficus tree in a small narrow hallway putting heavy drapery to prevent it from roaming too much. It's a very small hallway, probably 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.