Good beginner Chameleon

[pcw_phoenix]

Hi all, i was curious what is a good beginner chameleon i should start with, so i can do some research on it before i buy it.

Thanks

JZ

[bfofre]

Veiled or panther.
Veilied being the best for a beginner.

[pcw_phoenix]

umm what about Pygmy Chameleons? are they good starters? i'm looking for something that is small

Thanks

[Collide]

pigmys are not good beginners IMO they are short lived and hard to determine problems for a beginner. A CB senegal is a good starter (not easy to find though) half the size of a veild and hardy only as CB though WC are quite hard to deal with.

Veild is by far the best for bigginer and always buy a male as yoru first chameleon no matter what species.

[pcw_phoenix]

oh ok..so senegal is smaller then the veild and bigger then the pygmy chameleons?

[Collide]

yes there are many small species of chameleons but most are all advanced species and dotn take well to any erros in care. Your best bet is a veild or panther

[peterm15]

out of curosity how much of a bigenner.... if you have or are keeping other herps fine but if not make sure to do all the reasearch possible and then do about a months worth more..

[pcw_phoenix]

i've kept turtles for about 10+ yrs....tortoises for 2 yrs...leopard gecko for 1/2 yr(but not anymore)...

[DragnDrop]

Chams are in a world of their own as far as pets go. They evolved in relatively stable environments (note stable, not wonderful and delightful but stable, relatively little change, slow changes, dependable from one day to the next). There was no need for them to compromise, they got the same old environment day after year after century. Captive chams don't have much leeway when it comes to care - you do it their way, give them what they need or they die. Simple. No arguing.
A beginner cham would be vield chams that have the most 'compromise' in care, they don't die as fast as some of the others. Panthers are a bit finickier, but still 'hardy' for a cham.
It doesn't matter how many 'tough as nails' herps you've cared for, even if you've kept hundred of them successfully.... it's how much care can you give a finicky animal? 500 leopard geckos for 10 years gives you next to no useful experience towards cham keeping.

[vipervenom]

Either way, chameleons care differs grealty from most of your ordinary lizards, so do as much research as you can. If you really want to start easy, purchase an adult male, that way you don't have to go through it's growth stages.

By the way, if you ever find cb senegals, let me know! :P

[pcw_phoenix]

well, i'm meeting up a friend on friday..his got pygmy and senegal and some other chameleons....but i'll do as much research before i get one from him..

[vipervenom]

I highly discourage you from getting the pygmy. Even for experienced cham owners they can be a handful, go for the cb senegal if possible.

[peterm15]

i was just asking because for a first herp a imo any chameleon is a no no...

i did ALOT of reasearch... im talking months on every page on the net, except forums... books from librarys buying them, asking pet stores ( breeders that work in pet stores) and i still made some mistakes... so just be careful...

and one piece of advice i could give would be to have the full cage set up weeks in advance and check then doubble check daily to make sure humidity and temps are right.. then go for an adult or sub adult... many may disagree but thats what i wish i had done...