Panther Chameleon Care

Panther chameleons are a popular species of chameleon in the reptile world because of their bright coloration's. Madagascar and nearby islands are their native habitat and panther chameleons are labeled by their natural geographic location, often referred to as locale. Chameleons are not beginner pets, but the panther chameleon is the best beginner species for the chameleon trade.  

Proper panther chameleon care begins with the cage size. The proper size depends on age and sex, though the more space your chameleon has the happier they will be. Young chameleons, male and female, can be housed in a smaller cage, 16"W x 16"D x 30"H is a great starter cage. The starter cage isn't so big that the young chameleon can have a harder time finding food and not so small you will have to replace it in two or three months. Adult Males should be kept in a 2'W x 2'D x 4'H cage and adult females can be kept in an 18"W x 18"D x 36"H cage. Housing an adult female in a 2'W x 2'D x 4'H cage is recommended as it will be easier to provide a needed nesting box, we will talk about that later.  Here is an amazon affiliate link for the repti breeze cage, https://amzn.to/3W46Jwp.

Cages should be full screen or a mix of glass and screen, a full glass cage without forced ventilation should not be used for chameleons. Proper chameleon care requires lots of ventilation to prevent respiratory issues, high humidity, a high basking temperature, and ambient heat. If you live in an area with lower temperature and humidity a hybrid cage can be used to keep proper environmental levels, I prefer to use a full-screen enclosure and adjust how much I mist the cage. Good panther chameleon care and chameleon husbandry will help you and your panther chameleon enjoy each other for a long time.

Since Madagascar has a tropical climate, proper chameleon care requires the ambient temperature inside the cage to be 72-77 F with a basking temperature of 85-90 F and a night temp of 60-70 F. Ambient temperature is how hot the cage is from the middle of the cage to the bottom and the basking temp is the top of the cage. Your chameleon is going to bask under the heat source at the top of your cage and will move up and down in height to warm up and cool down. The heat bulb should be mounted above the cage and not sitting on top. Chameleons can burn themselves from basking to close so having a higher wattage bulb that is 6-12 inches from the top of the screen is best. Try starting with a 75watt incandescent bulb 6 inches from the top. If your chameleon is spending a lot of the day directly under the heat or climbing onto the top of the cage under your heat source, try a higher wattage bulb. Your chameleon should bask in the heat and after warming up explore their cage looking for food. Here is an amazon affiliate link for a temperature and humidity gauge combined, https://amzn.to/443GyrI.   

Humidity should be around 50 to 65 percent during the day and 75 to 100 percent overnight. To recreate the environment the panther chameleons live in, we want high humidity during the night, lots of dew in the morning, and hot and dry during the day. All these humidity and temperature requirements can make proper chameleon care sound scary but it is easy to do properly. I accomplish proper humidity by running my mister for at least 1 minute right before the lights turn off as well as right before they turn on in the morning. I also schedule two short mistings, 30 seconds, throughout the day to keep the humidity levels proper. I use a mistking system to handle all of this as it is easy to schedule everything and all you must do is make sure there is distilled water in your supply container. The misting in the morning is the most important one because it supplies your chameleon with water to drink. Chameleons do not drink from standing water; they will drink water off plant leaves in the morning or while it is raining. Proper panther chameleon care will help your chameleon live a long and happy life. Here is an amazon affiliate link for the mistking mister, this is what we use on our systems, https://amzn.to/3Jq0wng.

Good chameleon care means your chameleon should have a varied diet to make sure they do not get tired of what you are feeding them. I also like to feed different insects to my chameleons for enrichment. There are two main ways keepers like to feed their chameleons, bowl feeding and free-range feeding. There are benefits to both styles, bowl feeding makes it easy to see how well your chameleon is eating while free-range feeding gives them the chance to hunt for food like they would in the wild. For proper panther chameleon care, I recommend using both styles. I use a bird feeder that I poke through the sides of the cage to feed things like mealworms and superworms. I also let crickets and dubia roaches loose in the cage, for the chameleons to hunt. I will also buy black soldier fly larvae and purposefully let them turn into flies so I can let them loose in the cage. Here is a list of common feeders for chameleons.

Crickets

Meal and super worms

Black soldier fly larvae and flies

Dubia roaches

Hornworms (this is a treat and should not be fed daily as they are high in fat) 

Supplements are particularly important for proper chameleon care to prevent health problems. The chameleon’s food should be dusted with calcium daily and vitamins once a week. If your chameleon does not get enough calcium in its diet, it can get metabolic bone disease(MBD). MBD causes brittle and malformed bones in the chameleon because the chameleon absorbs calcium from their bones instead of from their food. For proper panther chameleon care, we recommend repti calcium without D3, your chameleon can get too much D3 if your calcium has it so make sure to get it without D3. We also recommend Repashy superfood calcium plus LOD, once a week. To dust the food simply put some calcium or vitamin dust into a cup, drop in your feeder food and swish around prior to putting it in the cage or feeder bowl.  Here is an amazon affiliate link for supplements, 

Calcium - https://amzn.to/448b183

Vitamin - https://amzn.to/3UnMad2

It is important to supply the correct type of light for chameleon care, UVB lighting. Having the correct lighting on your panther chameleon will help prevent MBD and other health issues. A lot of chameleon kits will provide the small coil type UVB bulb but that is not proper lighting for your chameleon care needs. You must use a T5 5.0 HO (high output) bulb that covers the entire cage. I position my UVB lights from corner to corner going through the middle of the cage, this leaves enough room for the basking bulb in an adjacent corner. You should use a 24” hood/bulb to ensure you are providing adequate UV lighting coverage. Here is an amazon affiliate link for a UVB light bar, https://amzn.to/4b1C5rJ and another link for a digital outlet timer, I use these timers in my setup and they are quick and easy to work with, https://amzn.to/4aSbD4q.