Free, practical care guides based on how we actually keep our animals. No paywall, no email signup, whether you buy from us or not.
Our approach
Almost every chameleon problem we see comes from treating care as a list of numbers to hit rather than an environment that has to work together.
Your basking temperature depends on your ambient temperature. Your humidity depends on your ventilation. Your UVB requirement depends on how far the bulb sits from the animal and whether it fires through screen. Change one thing and you change the others.
These guides give you the numbers, but they also try to explain why the numbers are what they are, so you can adapt when your room, your house or your season is different from ours.
Our husbandry leans heavily on the work of Bill Strand at Chameleon Academy. If you want to go deeper than these pages take you (and eventually you should), his podcast and care resources are the best free education available for chameleon keepers anywhere.
We also draw on Petr Necas at chameleons.info, whose work overlaps with Strand’s on much and diverges on some of it. Where they disagree, or where our own practice differs from either, we say so on the page rather than blending it into one voice. Throughout these guides, “we” means what we actually do here; “Bill Strand recommends” and “Petr Necas argues” mean theirs. Each guide lists its sources at the foot of the page.
We are not affiliated with either, and everything on these pages is written by us in our own words. We just think you should know where to find the experts. Husbandry guidance moves as people learn more, so these guides get reviewed rather than written once. Last reviewed September 2026.
A one-page Panther Chameleon Care Guide: temperatures, humidity, UVB, misting, feeding and the supplement schedule, all on a single sheet you can print and pin up next to the enclosure. Same guidance as these pages, compressed to what you need at a glance.
This is the sheet that comes home with every chameleon we place. Revised September 2026.
New to chameleons?
If this would be your first chameleon, read the guides in order: enclosure first, then lighting, then hydration. Those three decide whether everything else works.
Then work through the pre-arrival checklist and get your enclosure running for a full week before an animal ever goes in it.
The library
Hybrid enclosure construction, the chimney effect, sizing, drainage, planting and building a proper bioactive base.
UVB selection and placement, basking temperatures, photoperiod, grow lights and the errors that lead to metabolic bone disease.
Misting schedules, drippers, the daily humidity cycle, night-time humidity and reading urates to check hydration.
Feeder variety, gut loading, calcium and vitamin schedules, and how much to offer at each stage of life.
Reading body language, spotting problems early, shedding, when to call a vet, and a realistic view of handling.
A printable list of everything that must be in place and tested before your chameleon comes home.
Quick reference
Numbers for a healthy adult. Read the individual guides before relying on any single figure. Context changes everything.
| Parameter | Target | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enclosure, adult male | 24 × 24 × 48 in minimum | Larger is genuinely better. Enough height for a gradient, then width. |
| Enclosure, adult female | 24 × 24 × 48 in minimum | Same as the male. Plus a lay bin once she is mature. |
| Basking temperature | 80–85 °F | Measured at the animal’s back and head, not the branch surface. |
| Ambient, daytime | 72–80 °F | A real gradient from top to bottom is the point. |
| Night-time drop | Down to 62–68 °F | The drop is beneficial, not something to prevent. |
| Daytime humidity | 40–50% | Should dry out properly between mistings. |
| Night-time humidity | 80–100% | Held up by fogging during the cool hours, then allowed to dry. |
| UVB | UVI 3 at the chameleon’s back | Linear T5 HO only. Never a coil bulb. |
| Photoperiod | 12 hours on, 12 hours off | Consistency matters more than the exact split. |
| Lifespan | Males 5–8 yrs, females 3–5 yrs | Females are shorter lived because of egg production. |
Ask us. We answer husbandry questions from anyone, whether you bought a chameleon from us or not.
