Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My tamatave panther is 7 months old and he is always real dark when he’s in his cage. Does anyone have any idea why he’s like that? When I take him out of his cage, he shows some color, but nothing special. I thought it might be stress, but he eats healthy, looks healthy, and acts normal. His cage is usually about 80-85 degrees, and about 95-100 in the basking spot. The humidity is usually around 60%, and his cage is big. He’s perfectly healthy except for the fact that he is almost black while in his cage, and rarely shows any color. Any idea why? I don’t have a picture of him in his cage right now, but he is basically almost black colored.

I also have a Tamatave..you can see his pic on the post above started by PHEve. You said he's 7 months old now so he doesn't have his full adult coloration yet. Do you know what he's suppose to look like (what colors his sire had)? Mine is now a beautiful red/orange with no greens. When he was a hatchling he was dark brown, then turned a light purple/red color as a juvi, and then when he was around 10 months old, after a shed he got his red/orange color. You might have to wait a couple more months before you see this.

Also, I'm assuming he has a uv light too...his heat seems fine and maybe he's darker to soak up more heat or turns darker when he sees you coming. But if you post a pic it would be really helpful!
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

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I'm beginning to think it might be stress because he turns a beautiful bright solid white and red while he is asleep, but while awake and conscious, he is very dark with no real colors. I'm going to stop taking him outside to the sunning cage for a couple weeks and do some other things to reduce possible stressors. I'll post a picture in a minute. While asleep, he looks exactly like your tamatave, except younger, so it's a mystery to me at the moment.

Here is what he looks like all day while in his cage.

I can't comment on the species color but you might want to post all your setup info so others can help troubleshoot. go to link in my sig for list of setup questions

lele
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0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Chameleon Help & Resource Info

I am certainly not the worlds greatest panther expert. But I think the "dark" colors he has on may just be his resting colors. If he gets more colors when he is out, those are more likely his stress colors. Also, my chameleons will turn darker when they are in dim areas of light or are cool, presumably to better soak up the rays.
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Currently
2.0 F. silvestris (NFO)
1.1 F. pardalis (Ambilobe)
0.0.3 D. tinctorius (Suriname Cobalt)
0.0.3 D. tinctorius (Weygoldt)
0.0.~100 E. prosticus

Oh, and he is a son of Eomer from Kammerflage. I think it may be stress. I've moved his cage around a lot lately and keep changing out the plants, and I handle him a lot just to let him crawl on me and take him out to the sunning cage almost every day. Also there is a cat in my room pretty often, so I'm going to keep my door closed, and stop handling him entirely, and stop messing with his cage too. Other than those things I just listed, I take care of him very well in regards to the questions on Lele's list.

That sounds like a good idea....too much handling, cage rearrangement, and the cat is not good for their well being.
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com