Species Common Name: Panther
Chameleon
Scientific Name: Furcifer
pardalis
Adult Size: 25-30cm
for females, 40-45cm for males (including tail)
Captive Life Span: 2-4
years for females, 5-7 years for males (potentially more)
Data for this
species in the wild
Natural Distribution: Northern
half of Madagascar and extending down the east coast along with most of its offshore
islands. It has also been introduced to Mauritius, Reunion Island and some
parts of Florida. Generally found at lower elevations below 900m but some
isolated populations do occur above this elevation (we found individuals in
Joffreville at 1150m elevation).
Habitat Type: Variable
across its range, they are an adaptable species and can be found in relatively
arid scrub, coastal woodland, low elevation rainforest and are frequently found
in farmland and proximity to human habitation.
Activity Pattern: Diurnal,
only active by day.
Activity Zone: Strictly
arboreal. Younger individuals are often in shrub height foliage, adult males
can be found from virtually ground level to the top layers of tree canopy. Adult
males will often sit in relatively exposed areas atop trees and “pancake” their
body to display to others and claim a territory.
Summer Temperature Range: Varies
across their range, in full sunlight extreme highs in the Northern populations
during the dry season can reach up to 40+c. Across most of their natural range
the summertime highs reach low to mid 30s. In our expeditions to Madagascar, we
have personally recorded adults in full sunlight during the dry season at 42C
in French mountain reserve at the northern extent of their range. At the end of
the wet season, we recorded them at 34C near to Toamasina on the east coast
towards the southern extent of their range. Summertime highs on Nosy Be, Nosy
Komba and the Ankify Peninsula on the west coast were rarely above 32C. Within dense
forest where they were most often encountered the daytime temperatures were
much more stable around 30-32C by day and 24-27c by night.
Winter Temperature Range: Winter
temperatures can drop to 18C in exposed coastal areas but within a forested
environment where they are most frequently found the temperatures are more
stable and are likely to stay higher than this. Some of the populations that
live at elevation will also experience lower temperatures overnight but this is
an exception rather than the norm.
Wild Diet: They
are opportunistic predators, they will eat all manner of insects and smaller
reptiles, there is an astounding variety of species of butterflies,
cockroaches, grasshoppers and crickets in the areas they reside. They will not
hesitate to consume smaller lizards and even smaller chameleons.
Keeping them as
Pets – The Basics
Captive housing Minimum
Size: 24 x 18 x 36in (60cm x 45cm x 90cm high) is the
absolute minimum but we strongly recommend that you provide a larger enclosure
than this for mature males. We would suggest a minimum of 36 x 18 x 36in (90cmx 45cm x 90cm) if using a glass or glass/mesh hybrid enclosure. If using an all-mesh
enclosure like the Zoo Med Reptibreeze range, you need to use a 24 x 24 x 48in(60cm x 60cm x 120cm). These are the largest standard sized enclosures made for
chameleons but if you are constructing your own or having one custom built,
larger is always better.
Cage Material
Construction: Good ventilation is essential. All
mesh enclosures are commonly recommended, but you may struggle to maintain
stable temperatures in an all-mesh enclosure here in the UK unless you have a
dedicated reptile room. When using all mesh enclosures people often resort to
blocking up some of the mesh sides with PVC or plastic board to increase
thermal stability. Alternatively, you can opt for a part glass part mesh
enclosure, some designs like the Exo-terra glass terrariums have mesh tops and
a ventilation strip below the glass. This meets the minimum ventilation requirements,
but people often choose to add a small fan to the top of this style of
enclosure to provide additional air flow. Other designs of glass tank such as
the Habistat glass terrariums have additional mesh panel inserts that you can swap
into the enclosure to increase airflow. Wooden or melamine enclosures are not
suitable for keeping chameleons as they lack the required levels of ventilation.
Social Structure: Solitary.
In the wild, in favourable habitat, they occur in a relatively high population density,
but they do not tolerate living with others when kept as pets. Babies and young
can be reared in small groups for the first few months of life but they need to
be split up and housed individually by the time they are 3-4 months old. Males
and females must never be cohabited, even in large enclosures, as they can
cause serious harm to one another if kept like this.
Daytime Hotspot / Basking
Temperature: 32-35C maximum
Daytime Ambient
Temperatures: 27-30c
Nighttime Ambient
Temperatures: 20-25c
Preferred Heat source: ArcadiaSolar Basking flood, either 75w or 100w.
UVB Requirement Ferguson
Zone: Zone 2-3 Occasional basking / Partial sun basking. We
recorded them in the wild at UVI ranging from 1 all the way up to males
displaying in full midday sun at a dangerously high UVI of 14! Recommended UVI levels
between 2.5 and 4.5 across 50-75% of their enclosure is more appropriate when
kept as pets.
Preferred UVB Source: ArcadiaPro T5 with a 6% UVB tube if mounted inside the enclosure or if mounted on top
of mesh screen you may need to use a 12% UVB tube to account for some of the
UVB being blocked by the mesh.
Humidity Requirement: High,
regular misting is required. Make sure to allow the tank to dry out partially between misting’s
though as a permanently wet environment can lead to increased fungal and bacterial
growth.
Preferred Humidity Source:
Some
people recommend the use of a fogger at night with chameleons and while this is
essential for many montane species or those from cooler microclimates, we find
the benefits are minimal for low elevation species like Panthers and we would
always recommend regular misting as being the best way to maintain humidity. Automatic
misters like the Habistat rainmaker or the Mistking starter system can be used
to make regular misting throughout the day easier.
Water Requirements: They
will rarely, if ever, drink from standing water, they need to drink water
droplets off leaves and cage furnishing to stay hydrated. Most individuals will
make use of water fountains, but it is essential that you keep these clean. Most
individuals will learn to take water directly from the keeper when offered
water from a pipette or syringe.
Substrate: We
recommend using a substrate that will hold humidity such as Orchid bark, or
coir. If you have a bioactive set up, Arcadia Earth Mix will work best for your
plant growth.
Recommended Décor: To
make good use of the enclosure space means you need to provide lots of thin
branches and liana’s for them to climb around on, especially horizontally.
Bendable jungle vines can also be used to create more of a network of walkways
within their environment. Some people choose to add either plastic or wooden
trellis to the sides of the enclosure to increase the climbing space within
their environment. The use of live plants is pretty much essential to maintain
humidity and provide cover. Plants that work well include Ficus Benjamina,
Dracaena surculosa and Epipremnum but there are many others that are also
suitable, if you’re not sure what plants you need, we do a chameleon plant bundle to help.
Captive Diet: Insectivorous,
we feed a mixture of locusts, crickets and dubia cockroaches, we also offer
silkworms and morio worms occasionally. When feeding crickets and Dubia
Cockroaches you will need to offer these in an elevated feeder, we use the ProRep Arboreal Chameleon feeder for this, and it works very well. “Gutloading” your
live food on a high-quality formula like Arcadia Insect Fuel or Repashy Super
Load is essential.
Feeding Frequency: Panther
chameleons grow incredibly fast, their food requirements in the first 9-12
months of life are astonishing. They should be offered food every day for the
first 9 months with around 15 insects per day. After this they should be fed
4-5 times a week with 8-10 insects per day. From 12 months onwards they will
have reached maturity so they only need to be fed 4-5 insects 3-4 times per
week. It is normal and natural that in adults you will find a seasonal shift in
their appetite between winter and summer. In winter they may only eat once or
twice per week or go for extended time frames without eating. In summer you may
find that their appetite goes into overdrive.
Supplementation: There
is a wealth of different guides regarding the supplementation of chameleons, it
would be very easy to get into the rather confusing pros and cons of lots of
these different methods. Live food should always be dusted with a good quality
calcium supplement on every feed. We’ll keep it simple and say that with the
correct lighting you shouldn’t need to regularly provide dietary preformed
vitamin D3 in their supplementation regime. We prefer to use the Arcadia EarthPro A supplement as our daily supplement as this has added mineral clays, carotenoids,
B vitamins and bee pollen in it. But once a week we supplement with ArcadiaEarth Pro Mg for the added magnesium and once per fortnight (for growing babies)
or once per month (for adults) we supplement with Arcadia Revitalise D3 to
provide a low level of added vitamin A & D3.
Cleaning: Spot
clean enclosures daily, full clean for non-bioactive enclosures every 6 weeks,
bioactive enclosures should have a partial clean and refresh every few months. When
you perform a substrate change you should also disinfect the entire enclosure
and all furnishings using a reptile safe disinfectant, our preferred ones to
use are either the Vet Ark Ark-Klens or F10 reptile disinfectant. If you are
using a water fountain you should be cleaning this at least twice per week to
ensure there is no build-up of pathogens.
Handling Suitability: Panther
chameleons will normally tolerate handling. For a chameleon they are definitely
the best for handling, (most other chameleons are too fragile or stress too
easily for them to be handled and are definitely a hands off pet). Some
individuals will be very keen to come out of their enclosure and will readily
climb onto the keeper to be removed from their enclosure. For particularly
outgoing individuals like this you can set up other areas in the house for them
to climb around and explore either large houseplants or rope netting suspended
off the floor for example. Occasionally some individuals may be more shy and
less keen to come out, for those you should not force them to come out as that
can be stressful to them.
Recommended Starter Kit: Click here for a link to our recommended starter kits
Advancing your
care:
Simple ways to advance
your care can include opting for a larger environment for your Panther
Chameleon both in terms of length and height, however, it would need to be
custom built. Ensuring regular variety to their diet is also a simple step that
is easily achievable for most keepers. Although most Panther Chameleons show a
preference for Locusts try to maintain diversity in their diet as it’s a lot
easier to gut load other live food species effectively. It worth noting that adult
females can be prone to obesity if overfed, this can lead to further health
complications especially when laying eggs. Obesity is less common in males but
potentially still possible if fed large volumes of high fat foods. Other ways
to advance your care can be by using some of the most cutting-edge heating and
lighting equipment. The Microclimate Evo 2, Evo 3 and Evo Connected range of
thermostats all have the capability to program varying temperatures throughout
the day to mimic early morning temperatures, heat of the day and late evening
temperatures with fully customisable options. This can be especially good for
species like Panther Chameleons which exhibit “biphasic” basking patterns in
the wild which means they would often bask in both the morning and the late
afternoon while avoiding the hottest part of the day, you can provide these
varying temperatures by using these cutting-edge thermostats. Some Keepers
advocate only having the basking site switched on at certain times of day
rather than being on continuously, again this can be programmed into these advanced
thermostats quite easily. While on the topic of making temperatures more
natural and varied throughout the day, consider providing seasonal variation,
many chameleons will benefit from a period of slightly lower temperatures over
winter, combine this with a shorter day length and lower provisions of food
rations. Providing seasonal variation and “down time” over the winter is one of
the best ways to promote longevity in chameleons rather than keeping them in an
eternal peak summer season. By using the Arcadia LumenIZE range of UVB fixtures
you can also program your lighting to simulate dawn and dusk to provide a much
more natural range of UVB exposure throughout the day. The LumenIZE range can
also be adjusted at different times of year to account for seasonal variance. Another
often overlooked factor is the general brightness inside the enclosure and
although we may think of the UVB bulbs as being quite bright, they are nothing
when compared to natural sunlight. It is now a well-recognised method to improve
the environment for lots of species of reptile to add LED fittings as well as
the UVB just to increase the general luminosity (brightness) within the
environment. Again, these are available in the Arcadia LumenIZE range so that
they can have variable levels of brightness to simulate dawn and dusk. The
provision of LED lighting will also work wonders for the plants within your
enclosure ensuring lush growth. Consider also providing your chameleon with
natural sunlight by providing them with an outdoor enclosure for use over the
summer, this should be a fully mesh enclosure just be sure to provide plenty of
dense foliage to allow them to shelter from the sun as well.
Additional
Information:
Follicular stasis (Egg
Binding) is very common in female Panther Chameleons as they are genetically
programmed to live fast and produce large numbers of eggs at a comparatively young
age. When opting for a pet you should choose a male to avoid these reproductive
risks. It is only the males that have the bright colours, females although
pretty in their own right are only ever shades of pink, orange and some
individuals can be a blueish grey, it is the males that have the fantastic
colours.
Although when young they
are all generally grey or blueish grey, male panther chameleons’ adult colours
are determined by the region that their ancestors were collected from, this is
referred to as their “locality”. Localities are often named after the nearest
town or settlement to where the individuals originated e.g Ambilobe, Ambanja or
Sambava. Some localities are named after geographic features, e.g Cap Est (East
Cape) or Ankify which is named after the Ankify peninsula. Some other localities
are named after the offshore island that they originate from. Any locality
starting with the word “Nosy” is from an offshore island (sometimes spelled
Nosey or Nosé) as Nosy is simply the Malagasy word for Island E.g Nosy Be (Big Island), Nosy Faly (Happy Island), Nosy Mitseo (Honey Island). Most localities
have an iconic colour scheme for their region but there is often some
variability both in the wild and captivity. Some localities can be very
variable in terms of colouration, Ambilobe, one of the most popular localities
are also the most variable in terms of colours, they are always very colourful
individuals but can have many different combinations of red, blue, green, orange,
and yellow markings. Other localities normally “breed very true” meaning there
is little variability in their markings, examples being Nosy Mitseo or Cap Est
which show very little variability in their colours or markings. Some
localities like Nosy Be have also been selectively line bred to enhance a
particular colour “true blue Nosy Be” is more a term for line bred individuals
with very strong turquoise blue colours and little barring or red speckling
rather than an accurate representation of what they all look like in the wild.
In the wild, very few Nosy Be individuals were turquoise, most Nosy Be we found
were not as vibrant as this line bred “True Blue” being more of a blue/green
showing some banded patterning and with more red speckling on them.
When discussing localities
there is some scientific support that the different colours of panther
chameleons may represent different species altogether. What we deem to be a
panther chameleon may be a term that describes 4 different but very similar
species loosely separated by geographic boundaries. Should you be
scientifically minded then the following is a reference to the scientific paper
in question.
Grbic, Djordje, et al. "Phylogeography and support vector machine
classification of colour variation in panther chameleons." Molecular ecology 24.13 (2015): 3455-3466.