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Panther Chameleon Venue
RECOMMENDED READING: "Care and Breeding of Chameleons" by Philippe de Vosjoli and Gary Ferguson

CHARACTERISTICS: Panther chameleon males are noted for their brilliant colors ranging from blue, purple, green, and pink. Panther chameleons are hardier than most chameleons, and they are noted for being friendly, and they will tolerate handling for short periods of time. However, they may not tolerate frequent handling or handling for long periods of time, as chameleons are very independent lizards. Although slow-moving and not as active as other lizards, the colorful brilliance of male panther chameleons and the way they go about their lives makes these diurnal lizards fascinating to watch.

DESCRIPTION & LIFE SPAN: Adult male panther chameleons will reach sizes of 20" from snout to tail. Females are significantly smaller, at approximately 13-14" from snout to tail. Panther chameleons are generally identified by a white stripe on their sides that extends horizontally from the base of the neck to the base of the tail. Also,

DIFFICULTY: Chameleons are very sensitive reptiles, thus making them one of the harder reptiles to keep in captivity. However, if you pay attention to your panther chameleon's requirements, and make a habit of it, it will make it much easier for you in the long run. One other side note, panther chameleons are much hardier than most chameleons, so you should have an easier time with your panther chameleon; provided they are captive bred.

PANTHER CHAMELEON LOCALITIES: Nosy Be Blue, Ambanja, Diego Suarez, Red Tamatave, Sambava, Juan, Nosy Boraha

RANGE & STATUS IN THE WILD: Panther Chameleons thrive in Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa. However, they are losing their habitat due to deforestation.

Housing
Chameleons are very territorial lizards, this includes panther chameleons. So, it's highly recommended that panther chameleons are housed individually. Males should not be kept together, as they may attempt to kill one another. Females are slightly less likely to fight, but they stress easily from not being kept alone. Hatchlings and juveniles that are not ready for breeding are more tolerant of being kept with other chameleons, but you must provide plenty of vegetation to give each chameleon a sense of security. Individuals that have their own cages is always a better idea.

You should also keep in mind that chameleons stress very easily when other animals and people are often in sight. It's best to keep your chameleon cage in a quiet room with little traffic. If you must keep several chameleons and other animals in view at all times, use towels to block your chameleon's view of them.

The size of your panther chameleon's cage depends on the size and gender of your chameleon. A strictly minimum sized cage would be 18" wide by 18" deep by 24" high. Females and young chameleons can live in smaller enclosures, but bigger is always better. Remember, panther chameleons are very arboreal, so cages that are taller than wide are a must. Also, unlike most reptiles, chameleons should not be kept in glass cages. This is due to their territorial nature; their reflections in the glass stress them out. You will need to provide an arboreal cage made entirely of screen. One type of cage that works best is called a Reptarium. These are easy to clean, and come in a variety of sizes. The big plus is they are cheaper than almost any cage.

One extra side note: Chameleons do not require any type of substrate due to their highly arboreal nature. With a gravid female, you will need to provide several inches of soil in a container to allow the female to lay eggs.

Furniture
Chameleons are not highly active reptiles as a bearded dragon or a monitor would be. So, there really is only one essential piece of furniture a panther chameleon will need. First, panther chameleons will need a live tree, no fake ones here. They can tell the difference, and fake trees stress chameleons out. There are various trees you can use such as: ficus, hibiscus, dwarf citrus, pothos, schefflera and a few others. Other trees may be toxic, but these are the most commonly used. However, ficus have been known to cause eye problems in chameleons from time to time. A hide box won't be necessary because it won't be used by your chameleon. The foliage of the tree you provide will provide all the hiding requirements.

As for water, you have two choices. You can either use a waterfall or allow the water droplets from your misting to drip down the leaves, and your chameleon will drink off these leaves. This is the most natural method of providing water for your chameleon. If you provide bowl with standing water, your chameleon will not drink from it, so you will need to provide moving water. This is provided by a waterfall (one that runs), or allowing drops of water to run down the tree leaves.

Feeding
Panther chameleons are insectivorous lizards. This means they eat nothing but insects. What kind of insects, you ask? There are various prey items you can feed to your panther chameleon. They usually come in various sizes. Use their size according to the size of your panther chameleon. Any prey item must be no longer than the length of your panther chameleon's head, and no wider than the distance between its eyes. Impaction may occur if prey items are too large. It is highly recommended you get your insect prey from pet stores or insect retailers because these insects are proven to be safe for all reptiles.

There are several types of prey items you can use. The most common and easily obtainable are gray crickets (achteca domestica). They come in various sizes from pinheads to six-week-old 1" long adults. There is one downside to feeding crickets but it can be easily avoided. Crickets left in the panther chameleon's living quarters may die and begin to smell. The ones that stay alive become hungry and seek out your panther chameleon's soft tissue at night when it is sleeping and defenseless. This can be easily avoided by removing excess crickets once your chameleon has finished eating.

Another type of prey item that is easy to get are meal worms (tenebrio molitor). Mealworms can cause impaction due to their hard exoskeletons. The best time to feed mealworms is when they're freshly molted and are completely white because they're temporarily lacking exoskeleton and they're at their softest. Again, don't feed mealworms that are wider than the distance between your chameleon's eyes. I've noticed that worm-type prey can be fed longer than the chameleon's head because they pass through the body easily just like spaghetti. I suggest you don't try king mealworms because they are given steroids to make them grow larger. The last thing you need is a drugged-up panther chameleon on 'roids. The king mealworms exoskeletons are also much harder due to the effect of steroids. Thus, leading to a higher risk of impaction.

Yet, a third option is super worms (zoophoba morio). Super worms resemble king mealworms. Do not confuse them with king meal worms because super worms reach their large size naturally. Another bonus is that super worms don't have the hard exoskeleton that mealworms have. The only problem is the fact that super worms are big, so you need to wait until your panther chameleon grows to at least 7" to be big enough to eat a super worm.

Wax worms are another option but they should never be fed regularly, only as treats. Wax worms are high in fat content and highly addictive and are comparative in nutrition to Twinkies. Twinkies are delicious, but high in fat content. So, it would be a bad idea for a person to eat Twinkies regularly just as it would be a bad idea for your panther chameleon to eat wax worms regularly. Wax worms should be fed once or twice weekly to gravid females due to the deprivation of fat from egg laying.

There are also different types of roaches and fruit flies you can feed your panther chameleon. These are harder to obtain. Fruit flies will be turned down by the larger panther chameleons because they are very small, approximately the size of a pinhead cricket. You can also catch insects in your yard and feed them to your panther chameleon if you know that insecticides and pesticides are not used. This is also not the safest idea because some insects may be poisonous to your panther chameleon.

WORD OF WARNING: DO NOT feed your panther chameleon fireflies. Fireflies are extremely poisonous to your panther chameleon and your chameleon WILL die after ingesting a single firefly. There are several web sites that describe the dangers of feeding fireflies in addition to horror stories of reptiles that have died from eating fireflies.

One extra note, you will need to gut-load your insect prey before feeding them to your panther chameleon. What this means is to feed your insects 24 hours before you feed them to your chameleon. What are the pluses of feeding gut-loaded insects, you ask? Gut-loading insects increases their nutritional value because they are filled with food. Also, your panther chameleon will grow faster from being fed on full insects. Remember, insects are what they eat, and chameleons are what they eat, which are insects. Therefore, your panther chameleon is what your insect eats. You can feed your crickets different types of food such as fish food, or various vegetables. Provide slices of oranges to give your insects something to drink. If you provide water, many insects will drown inevitably, especially crickets. I've had crickets drown standing up in ¼" of water in the leopard geckos' water bowl. As for gut-loading your worms, provide potatoes and other "meaty" vegetables for food and water. No mealworm or super worm can turn down potatoes.

Also, when feeding insects to your panther chameleon, tie a bowl to a low branch on the tree to allow your chameleon to see inside and eat the insects. Make sure the top of the bowl is clear and unobstructed by a nearby branch to allow your panther chameleon to have a clear view of the insects in the bowl. Make sure the sides of the bowl are deep and smooth enough to prevent insects from escaping. You might be thinking, don't the crickets hop out? Yes, they can, but pulling out the cricket's big jumper legs so they can only walk easily solves this. An added bonus of keeping insects in the bowl is that they can't climb on the tree and eat away at your panther chameleon while it is sleeping. Also, cleaning will be much easier when all the dead insects are in the same bowl. You can use a deli type bowl approximately 3" deep as a food bowl for your chameleon.

Heating
Panther chameleons originate in the rainforests of Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa. So, they are best suited to a very warm and humid environment. On a side note, panther chameleons are one of the hardiest chameleons, so they can tolerate a wide variety of environments for short periods of time (excluding freezing temperatures). The temperature in your chameleon's enclosure should vary from 65°F-70°F in summer nights, and from 90°F-95°F during the daytime. The higher temperatures for each photoperiod should be under the basking spot to allow your chameleon to thermoregulate by moving in and out of warm and cool spots. This is done by all reptiles to control body temerature because all reptiles are cold-blooded, meaning their body temperature is affected by their surroundings. Also, Madagascar, where the panthers originate, is near the Equator, so the autumn and winter seasons drop 5°F-10°F during the day and night photoperiod. Regardless, panther chameleons are diurnal, so they will need to be provided bright light year round. The drop in temperature is not necessary for chameleons you don't intend to breed, but it can be done by lowering the temperature on the thermostat or using bulbs with lower wattage.

With the need for bright light in mind, we must not forget that panther chameleons are diurnal, so they depend on the ultraviolet rays of the sun to process calcium in their liver. For the majority of us who don't live in a climate that is similar to the Madagascan rainforest, we must provide some kind of ultraviolet light bulb to allow our panther chameleon produce calcium in their liver. Without any source of ultraviolet light for a long period of time, a panther chameleon will develop (MBD) Metabolic Bone Disease, and eventually die if left untreated. The best brands out on the market are the ZooMed Repti-Sun 5% bulb, or the ZooMed Iguana Light 5% bulb. These two are no different as to which is better. However, no light bulb can ever closely resemble the intensity of the sun's UV rays. Keeping your panther chameleon out in unfiltered sunlight for 15 minutes roughly equals the same amount a panther chameleon can receive from unfiltered rays of a UV bulb for 8 hours.

Therefore, keeping your panther chameleon in the unfiltered sunlight during the warm/hot summer days for a number of hours will do wonders for your panther chameleon. It is fairly simple to provide your chameleon with unfiltered UV rays. In the cham's enclosure, there should be a screen between the panther chameleon and the UV bulb, because plastic/glass filters out most, if not all of the UV rays a panther chameleon needs. The same is true for sunlight. Keep your panther chameleon outdoors in a screened enclosure, as a plastic or glass enclosure will filter out UV rays, and heat up quickly and cook your panther chameleon. You should always provide some sort of shade to cover approximately half the cage to allow your panther chameleon to cool off, and to prevent overheating. This is advisable even though your chameleon should be able to seek retreat in the leaves.

If you are concerned about your panther chameleon escaping or being stolen outdoors, you can put a screened cage next to a window screen on warm summer days. As usual, provide shade, and make sure there is no plastic/glass to cook your cham. One other thing, make sure there are not too many indoor/outdoor objects obstructing the light and warmth of the sun. If so, move your cage to another window, or supervise your panther chameleon on their tree outdoors.