COLOUR ME IMPRESSED

How to get an A* in panther chameleon care. We go back to school with Bill Strand, Founder of the Chameleon Academy.

It is no surprise that panther chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) are some of the most desirable of all lizards.

Coming from the remote Northern and Eastern tropics of Madagascar, this species has a uniquely bold character expressed through their broad spectrum of colours, territorial aggression, and vibrant displays. However popular, this species is going through some of the greatest husbandry changes and advancements of all reptiles.

When it comes to contributions to the world of chameleon-keeping, few names are as highly regarded as Bill Strand. Founder of Chameleon Academy, Bill has created endless resources from audio care guides to posters and care sheets, as well as award-winning, public-facing real-time breeding projects. His goal is to improve the husbandry standards of chameleons across the globe using a whole string of outreach projects to achieve this.

“The Chameleon Academy is needed because chameleon husbandry is going through the most dynamic change in 20 years” explained Bill. “In the last five years, we have seen significant shifts in hydration strategy, UVB education, and supplementation understanding. Without a central location to gather and develop this information important parts get lost.”

“I actually started chameleon community education over 20 years ago working with educational websites and founding the chameleonnews.com website back in the early 2000s. I got excited for podcasting as a medium because it made it easy for me to interview breeders, keepers, scientists, and veterinarians from around the world. After over 200 episodes it became difficult to sort through the information and I decided

I needed to create the chameleonacademy.com website that consolidated all the information and became a content index that had text, podcast, and video resources.”

Panther chameleons have been kept in captivity since the very early days of herpetoculture. Since then, the mainstream appeal of the weird and wonderful chameleons of Madagascar has built its own subculture within the hobby.

“Panther Chameleons are one of the top two chameleons bred in the world” explained Bill. “This is due to their hardy nature and incredible colour. Since it has become an entire hobby of its own, it has become the best first chameleon species simply because of how many people have deep experience with them. There is such a well-established support network for people to get started under.”

Panther chameleons in the wild Panther chameleons are a relatively large (sometimes up to 50cm), diurnal species that spends much of their time in small trees. Despite being arboreal, they are generally found much closer to the forest floor, when compared with other chameleon species. They are solitary animals and extremely territorial. Despite often being housed in pairs in captivity, keepers should consider providing separate enclosures for each sex and only pair them up when they reach breeding season.

Although technically endemic to Madagascar, the panther chameleon has been introduced to the nearby islands of Mauritius and Réunion and is considered ‘least concern’ by the IUCN. Like most chameleons, panthers are relatively short-lived with an average lifespan of around 5 years in captivity and less in the wild. Once they hatch, their mission is to get as large as possible, as quick as possible, battling with Madagascar’s volatile seasons. Because of this, they can be ravenous feeders and keepers should be wary not to overfeed their animal.

One of the factors that has helped to establish panther chameleon keeping as its own standalone hobby is the vast range of locales. Almost every colour is exhibited across different populations, except for purple. However, breeding within the hobby has created individuals, proving the gene does exist.

Panther chameleon locales

Despite being able to adjust their vibrant colours, the appearance of each panther chameleon is largely determined by their locale and sex. There are around 20 recognised locales of F. pardalis, all with unique colouration. Chameleons from the Nosy Be Island will typically show bright turquoise and blue colouration, whereas those from Nosy Faly will tend to appear whiter. Chameleons from the Northwest mainland will have pink hues, giving them their colloquial name the ‘pink panthers’. Ambilobe panther chameleons (named after the town in North Madagascar), also have distinguishable orange and blue patterning. Females are generally drabber in their colouration as they do not need to be as expressive in their mating rituals but are almost as territorial as their male counterparts.

Bill added: “Even with the wide range and elevations of panther chameleons there still does not seem to be differences in care across the locales,” explained Bill. “There have been some reports in the past of breeders having more trouble with some locales, but it has been hard to find consistent enough data to pin that specifically on the locale and not on a certain import batch or other parameters. This is actually quite significant considering the vast geographical area that panther chameleons come from so I would have actually expected there to be difference. But it, so far, appears not to be the case.”

Panther chameleon care

Chameleons offer a wonderful challenge to any exotic pet keeper looking to try something a little different. Their specific requirements make them an inspiring pet that demands a good level of ‘new’ understanding beyond the traditional terrestrial set ups we would typically house bearded dragons, leopard geckos and corn snakes in. Panther chameleons can be housed in mesh, hybrid or glass enclosures depending on the level of environmental control available to the keeper. All should be wellventilated and well planted.

Wild panther chameleons typically bask on forest edges, trees overhanging roads or rivers and open areas of vegetation. As such, providing an enclosure that is not too densely vegetated whilst also offering multiple areas that the chameleon can be entirely hidden from view and UV radiation is key to a successful set up.

“Chameleon husbandry is ever evolving, and the community does not move forward at the same

Bill continued: “Over the last few years we have been moving to a nighttime fogging/misting hydration model to better replicate what is encountered in the wild. People implementing this in captivity can notice pretty quickly how the chameleon drastically decreases its drinking during the day. That is because it is not dehydrating during the night. You have a clash of people who have misted during the day for decades and see no reason to change butting heads with progressive keepers who feel that going more natural is a reason to do it in itself. As advisors we must be aware of these two philosophies and be prepared for beginners having a background in one or the other.”

When it comes to reptiles, establishing a good, healthy environment that meets the temperature, humidity and UVB requirements is essential. Panther chameleons should be provided with UVB for vitamin D3 synthesis. The dose of UVB, or how much for how long, is being actively tested in the community. Presently, panther chameleon females have been shown to be able to fully calcify

Bill added: “Much of the community is stuck on believing that chameleons must have screen cages, or they will die. This is an oversimplistic view as proper cage type depends on how much the ambient conditions must change to match the care sheet. The bottom line is that screen cages are great in some conditions and glass cages are appropriate in other conditions.”

“The hardest part of chameleon keeping is often just getting the set-up correct in the beginning. It is when the keeper cuts corners and gets a cage too small or a sub-standard missing system or a cheaper UVB bulb that things start to go sideways.”

Last but by no means least, is the nutrition and heating requirements of chameleons. With the use of good UVB lighting, calcium without D3 should be used most often. Adults should be fed around 5 appropriately sized feeder insects every other day. These should all be dusted with calcium supplements but multi-vitamins and D3 should only be used twice a month.

Bill continued: “We have found that keeping chameleons at temperatures on the high range of their tolerance zone and feeding them a lot of food can produce larger chameleons and larger clutches of eggs. As we humans equate large with healthy, this aspect of husbandry has not been addressed much until recently. Now, we are becoming more aware that the excessive fat pads and extra sized clutches of eggs are placing extra stress on the chameleon’s body. This affects panther chameleons, but it is mostly felt in the Veiled Chameleon community where infertile clutches three times the natural size is routinely encountered and death from egg binding is an ever-present danger. So, we have been working with lowering the basking temperature and reducing the feeding. We must be careful as lowering the temperature too far and reducing the food too much will cause stunting which isn’t healthy either. So, this is a parameter firmly in transition but expect to see more research for both species.”