As with many animals, I keep keep panther chameleons in different sized cages, depending on the situation. Hatchlings are kept in 10 - 20 gallon glass aquariums with metal screen tops. Thin, wooden dowels are used as branches. I run the dowels from bottom corners to opposite top corners (4 per enclosure). I set artificial plants into the network of dowels to provide cover. The plants also give dripping water a pathway to take. Panther chameleons often drink water as it is dripping off of leaves. Heat is provided by a 100-Watt light bulb attached to a dimmer switch. Once the animals are eating 3 - 5 week-old crickets, I move them to larger enclosures. My adult cages measure 18”x18”x36”. The panels on these cages come in a variety of configurations. Some have glass on three sides and screen on one side. Others have screen on all sides. Some have a side access panel towards the bottom of the cage. Others have the side access panel towards the middle of the cage. All have sliding screen tops. Again, the cages are dressed with wooden dowels and plastic plants. These large cages are also heated with 100-Watt light bulbs. This time, I do not use dimmer switches. I am able to achieve the appropriate temperatures in the higher portions of the cages. If it gets too hot, the animals can move to a lower portion of the cage to thermo regulate. I have always kept my chameleons outside for at least part of the year. When they are outside, they are kept in enclosures which measure 24”x24”x48”. They are constructed of wooden 2x2’s attached with Simpson Strong Tie connectors. Aluminum window screen is stapled to the outsides. Dowels and plastic plants are again used to dress the insides of the cages.
Maintaining adequate temperatures for Panther Chameleons can be tricky. I recommend getting your enclosure set up completely before bringing home your first animal. This way, you can closely monitor the temperature throughout the enclosure at different times during the day to make sure everything is within the necessary parameters. In Care and Breeding of Chameleons, published by Advanced Vivarium Systems, it is stated that the temperature of the Panther Chameleon’s cage should fluctuate between 65° F (18.3° C) at night and 90° F (32.2° C) during the day. I try to stay within these ranges. Incandescent light bulbs are placed on top of my indoor cages to maintain a 90° F basking area during the day. I use 100 watt bulbs a on dimmer switch to achieve the desired temperature. Thermometers are placed throughout the cage when I first set it up. I feel that it is important to give all captive reptiles a temperature range so that they can thermo regulate It is important to note here that if you use light bulbs to heat your animals, the bulbs should be located outside of the cage or in such a way so that the animal cannot come in contact with the bulb. It is easy for an animal to burn itself on a hot light bulb. At night, all heat sources are turned off and the temperature is allowed to drop. I suspect it may drop into the high 50’s in my snake room at night during the winter. As long as the animals have access to heat during the day, they seem to do just fine. When the animals are kept outside, there is no artificial heat source provided. Chameleons are good at warming themselves up when the sun is shining. They often flatten their bodies to expose more surface area to the sun and assume a darker coloration as a means of thermo regulation.
In most of my chameleon cages, I use paper towel as a substrate. It’s easy to clean, I can see very easily if animals are defecating on a regular basis (a sure sign that they are eating), and there is really no chance of them accidentally ingesting substrate during feeding. Some of my enclosures have potting soil in them. Indoors, I use 10-12” of potting soil in the cages of pregnant females. This gives them adequate substrate to dig tunnels and lay eggs.
Chameleons are not in the habit of drinking water from a dish. They drink water as it is dripping through their environment. There are several ways that I offer water to my panther chameleons. One way is to set up a water container with some pinholes in the bottom of it. Place the container on top of the cage. Fill it with water and let it drip through the vegetation within the enclosure. Play with the size of the holes so that the water drips fairly slowly. I like to achieve a “slow leak”. Also, play with the size of the container. It is not necessary to flood the cage every time you offer your animal a drink. I have also used ice cubes on top of cages. As the ice melts, it drips into the cage and animals usually drink off of leaves. I have some animals who are “trained” to take water from an eye dropper. This works well because I can be sure they are drinking and I know exactly how often they are drinking. If you have the time, this is a neat way to connect with your pet. However, don’t forget to water them once a day or so. Outside, I have a drip system on a timer. This system causes it to rain every 3 hours or so for 5 minutes at a time. This is nice because I can be sure water is offered consistently. In the heat of the summer, this is also a good way to cool the animals down.
The only live food I offer my chameleons are crickets. I keep crickets in a separate enclosure prior to feeding them off. The crickets are given fresh water on a moist paper towel and they are fed a diet of Maintenance Formula Cricket Food by “Rep-Cal”. I try to make sure my crickets are healthy and loaded with nutrients before I offer them to my lizards. I also supplement the chameleons’ diet by adding powdered vitamins and minerals to the crickets immediately before they are offered. The size of the cricket, the frequency of feedings, and the amount and type of vitamin supplementation varies with each particular chameleon. Young animals (hatchlings - 4 to 6 months) are offered as many crickets as they will eat everyday. This usually involves some experimentation. I will begin by offering 5 appropriately sized crickets. If they are devoured ravenously, I will offer more. I don’t like to leave lots of extra crickets in the chameleon cage because the lizards seem to get used to them being there. I have much better feeding responses when I introduce as many crickets as I think they will eat once per day. Every three or four days I will usually skip a day, just to keep the growing animals’ appetites up. Every time I feed a young chameleon, I make sure to supplement the diet with a 50/50 mix of Herptivite (a multi-vitamin) and Rep-Cal (a source of calcium with added Vitamin D3). The mixture is put into a plastic bag along with the crickets. The bag is shaken until the crickets are thoroughly covered with the powders.
As babies mature, I cut down on feedings a bit. Currently, I have an adult male who is eating 5 - 8 crickets every other day. I supplement his crickets once per week with the vitamin coating. He is not growing as quickly and does not need the extra calcium to add to bones. I do not want to risk overdosing him on fat soluble vitamins (such as D3) that are contained in these powders. For adult females, their diet depends on their reproductive status. If I have a female that is pregnant or is ready to breed, she eats whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Her food is always supplemented with the vitamin coatings. If I am not planning on breeding a female in the near future, I alter her diet dramatically. I employ a strategy I call “maintenance feeding”. This is where very little food is offered and almost no vitamin/mineral supplementation. A female who is being maintenance fed is offered 2-3 crickets every three days. The vitamin/mineral coating is applied once every other week. This may sound a bit cruel but my reason for maintenance feeding is this; Females who have extra fat reserves seem to produce eggs whether a male is present or not. Many times, these infertile eggs are dropped from a perch over the course of a week or so. Producing and laying these eggs can be very stressful on the female’s body. There is also a chance that she can become “egg bound”. This condition results when eggs are trapped in the oviduct and cannot be released from the body. I have seen many animals die from this condition and would like to avoid it. It seems to me that females who are maintenance fed live longer lives than those that are continually pressured to lay eggs. Anyone considering a female chameleon as a pet should consider this type of feeding schedule. From late spring to early fall, my chameleons spend a lot of time outdoors in their screen enclosures. During this time they have access to unfiltered sunlight. This promotes the production of vitamin D3 within the animal’s own body. For this reason, when my animals are kept outside, the “Rep-Cal” calcium supplement is replaced with “Miner-All” by Sticky Tongue Farms. This is a calcium supplement without the added vitamin D3 . It is still mixed 50/50 with “Herptivite”. This practice was recommended to me by Liddy Kammer of Kammerflage Kreations and seems to be working very well.
Lighting can be a very controversial topic. My beliefs may not be in line with other breeders but this is my site and I'm sharing my experiences. Many people who keep diurnal lizards keep them under artificial fluorescent lighting. They do this to give the animals exposure to UVA and UVB spectrum lighting. Some reptiles can see into the UVA part of the spectrum. Providing this type of lighting can help them to feel more “comfortable” in their environment. UVB lighting is used by the reptile’s body to synthesize a precursor to vitamin D3, Vitamin D3 is then used by the body to metabolize calcium. It is my understanding that without vitamin D3, the body cannot use the calcium it is ingesting. I do not provide my animals with a source of artificial UV lighting. I have always believed that supplementing their diets with “Rep-Cal” gave them all the D3 they needed. In addition to diet supplementation, I keep my chameleons outside for 3 or 4 months out of the year. During this time, they are exposed to natural sunlight and all of it’s benefits. The decision to use artificial lighting or not is completely up to you. As such, I recommend that you do some research. Consult other sources, and decide for yourself. If you decide to keep your chameleons under artificial UV lights let me offer a few guidelines.
1) Use fluorescent lights, not mercury vapor bulbs. Mercury bulbs will put out too much heat for the size of the enclosure you will be using.
2) Make sure that your source of UV light is in the cage with the chameleon. A thin pane of glass and even fine screen will filter UV light and render your bulbs useless.
3) Make sure that your source of UV light is no more than 24 inches away from your animal. For reasons that I do not quite understand, the UV coming out of fluorescent bulbs dissipates quickly. Any farther than 24 inches and your animals are not benefiting from the light source.
4) It is important to replace fluorescent UV bulbs on a regular basis. Even though the light is still shining, it may not be emitting UV light. Generally, these lights need to be replaced every six months. I recently read an ad that claimed no dramatic UV loss after 10 months of use.
Newly acquired chameleons of all ages should be given time to get used to their new homes before they are handled. Once you have your chameleon set up in it’s new enclosure just watch them for a few days. Offer crickets and then back away. Once they have been observed eating, drinking and defecating on a regular basis (for a week or so), then it is O. K. to try and handle your new pet.
Babies can be both nervous and delicate. I usually don’t do any handling of my chameleons until they are 4 to 6 months old. I would rather not stress them out and I don’t want to take the chance of them dropping to the floor if they jump out of my hands. If you put off handling a young animal it’s O. K. You can always tame them down later.
At 4 to 6 months of age I will begin handling the animals on a regular basis. I start by putting a finger in front of them and letting them crawl aboard. I avoid using any kind of grip to handle my chameleons. they really don’t seem to like to be restrained. Allowing them to walk freely from one hand to the next is the best way to handle them. Start slow, 10 minutes a day or so. If, after you return the animal to it’s cage, it seems to be behaving normally, try again tomorrow. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend with the animals. If the animal’s behavior ever indicates stress (refusal to feed is a big indicator) then back off a little bit.
One of the things I love about panther chameleons is their ability to get used to human interaction. I keep a chameleon in the classroom where I teach. Students often handle the animal. In fact, the students tamed him for me! I’ve had panther chameleons that were so tame that they would crawl right out of their cages onto my fingers.
Once they have tamed down, the more handling the better with a few considerations. You may not want to handle the animal after a large meal. No one likes to be jostled around with a full stomach. In cold weather, I don’t bring my chameleons out as much. They can take cool temperatures at night as long as they have a place to warm up during the day. But I don’t like to push it. If your home is cold, keep handling times to a minimum, 10 to 15 minutes.
Panther chameleons are really not difficult to maintain once you have the proper environment. I will spot clean cages with soil for substrate once per week. This involves picking up dried feces with tweezers. Paper towel cage liners are replaced once per week. In my outdoor enclosures, I hose down the bottoms of the cages in the fall after I move the animals inside.
