I'm going to get a Chameleon!!!

[Becki]

I was talking to a friend that works at a petstore and I asked him how much thier chameleons went for and he told me $90!!! Is it just me or is that quite a bit of money? Anyways we were talking and I told him that I've always liked them and wanted one but couldn't really justify the initial cost... so he says...Oh, don't even worry about that, I'll hook you up. OMG! Cage, Chameleon(veiled), lights, plants, mister/fogger...everything! I can't believe it! So, I've done some reading before all of this, but if you guys have any good sites or personal advice, let me hear it! I am sooo excited!

[Dena]

Do you know if it was captive bred or wild caught?

The only thing we never really had at the pet store that I worked at was chamelions because we thought they would be too fragile to handle all the noise and chaos of the store so I am not good on prices and care. I do think I have a book so I will look through it for you.

[Becki]

They're captive bred VERY small, I've been told that I should pretty much leave it alone till it get's a chance to get bigger, then some handling will be ok. I've kinda gotten the impression that they're more of a decorative pet than really hands on...true?

[Dena]

Yeah, sounds about right. I didn't get a chance to look at that book but from what I have been told they are more "decorative" than hands on.

[Becki]

That's really perfect for me, I think they look really neat but I've got enough high maintence/attention pets, lol! I still want to hold it and stuff, but it's not going to be something I feel bad if I don't give it individual playtime everyday.

[Lizgirl]

Way cool! I've always wanted to get a Chamelion, but went for the high maintenance lizards instead.

Chamelions need a constant temp. I think in the 75-90 degree range.

Melissa Kaplan's stuff is always good to check out. http://www.anapsid.org/chammie.html

They also need high humidity. I have alwasy seen them with misters.

I can't wait to see pics of the little guy.

[capnsweets]

Very cool!

[Becki]

I just had a brilliant idea...I think I'm going to name it captain Sweets!

[capnsweets]

My goal is to ahve more pets named after me then Barney! LOL

[Scarlette]

LOL!!

Congrats on the soon to be new pet!

My boyfriend has one. He loves crickets and wax worms. He'll take them from our hand with his cool tongue. We handle him every now and then. Make sure there is lots of plants and leaves and sticks in his cage and also keep it moist. My boyfriend sprays the cage with a water bottle and he has this cool waterfall thing in there.

For the food, he got this container that is deep enough to keep the crickets from getting out, but it hangs like on the bottom of the doorway. He got it in the aquatic section at the pet store. It works great! He comes down and sits on it and eats. There's never a cricket leftover!

Good Luck!

[Becki]

I am having such a hard time finding REAL care info, all the pages are the same..word for word mostly
Jessica, could you ask your bf for more specifics for me(what kind of plants, how big, how many....anything he can think of really)? Do you guys have any pictures? Especially of the plants and the set up. That cricket holder sounds neat! Everyone says to give the cham a food bowl, but I've been wondering what the point was if you're feeding crickets, lol.

[Ravnos]

Most care sheets do just copy info from each other... its almost sad really. Basically you just have to read and use common sense to pull out the good info and beat away the useless stuff. Veiled chameleon is a good choice though, but still... I can't stress enough - read, read, read... read more. I spent hours rummaging through book stores before I got mine. Every little bit of information you can find will be helpful. Making sure you're well prepared with all your supplies before hand will be a great help. Get the cage set up, measure and adjust the temperatures before putting the chameleon in. When they are young, every bit of stress is potentially lethal.



Rav

[Becki]

I am reading everything online I can get my eyes on! I figured it was probably pretty similar to chinchilla websites... the bulk of them the same with minor differences, and you just read through it all and gather common sense and the most reiterated bits. I got all the stuff tonite (well, I'm sure I'll need to make another trip to the pet store, but this is so far), and I asked that he not bring the Chameleon till next week so I have time to set it up and get the temps set right and read up some more. Keep in mind this was the stuff I was supplied with, I didn't get to go pick it out (some of it was exactly what I would have though...pleasant surprise!)
Lights
~30" Reptisun 5.0 UVB
~30" strip light hood/reflector
~50 and75 watt Zoo Med basking spot lamps
~ESU red heat 50 watt red phoshor incandescent bulb
~Night Glo moonlight lamp (exo terra) 75w
~Flukers clamp lamp
Substrate/flooring (confused on this issue, read alot of places that said not to use it, it could be eaten. Supplier uses it and reccomended it and packages say harmless if ingested...Haven't decided if I'll use it or not yet.)
~Forest Bed-expands when you get it wet, keeps cage moist and is "harmless"
~2bags Natures Bark-heat sterilized, was told to mix 50/50 with Forest bed substrate and cover with moss
~ESU all natural terrarium moss-to cover the looser substrate with and keep terrarium moist.
Cage/Accesories
~20L (30") Aquarium (I know, it's just for now, the chameleon is still tiny...will graduate to a screen/mesh cage shortly)
~One VERY shallow water bowl (not sure why, I was under the impression that they won't drink standing water, and are very succeptible to drowning...)
~one slightly larger, natural stone looking bowl for later
~Thermometer and a Humidity gauge
~Plastic plants
~Flukers Repta+Aid (energy/fluid support for malnourishment/dehydration) never heard of it, but looks good.
~Zoo Med Reptivite to dust the crickets with.

Whew, can you believe all that stuff was given to me brand new!?! I still need to buy real plants (going with pothos and hibiscus I think), and some climbing sticks or branches.

Any additions or subtractions that anybody can think of?

[Becki]

Ooh, I forgot to add, that is a gorgeous chameleon you've got there!