My newest (soon to be) reptile!

ErikBush97 · 10-15-13, 01:28 AM

So I've been trying to decide on my newest reptile, and I was trying to choose between a GTP, a JCP, and an ETB.. I was in a pet store the other day, and saw a beautiful reptile I TRULY want... My newest pet is going to be a Veiled Chameleon!

I'm going to read a bunch of care sheets and whatnot and I'll let you guys know once I get one. That may be awhile so please don't wait up o.o one thing that I'm concerned about is that Lizards eat daily and I'm pretty busy. Do you give them all their food at once or several meals?

Starbuck · 10-15-13, 04:55 AM

honestly, i would rank chameleons as 'very difficult' in terms of care and upkeep. Not as difficult as say, a savannah monitor, but more so than most other small lizards. You will need to mist every day (potentially several times) or invest in a quality misting system. You will need to change out your UVA/B bulb every 6 months. You can feed them 1x per day, but it should be a varied, high quality invertebrate diet (dubia, crux, wax worms, etc etc). Make sure you get a male, as females are highly susceptible to reproductive failure.
I'd do some poking around on chameleonforums.net (?) to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into beforehand.

I had a pair of veileds as my first reptile pet, the female died at 2 the male lived to be 7, but his last two years were pretty rocky :/

**lady_bug87** · 10-15-13, 06:44 AM

If you have attention to detail and you actually pay attention to what you're doing there aren't really any commonly bred species that are 'hard to keep' this hobby gives all of us the tools. We just have to be smart enough to use them.

As to the reproductive failure. From what I gather, egg binding most occurs when females are not given adequate nesting conditions. I could be wrong though.

boosh96 · 10-15-13, 07:07 AM

If you can make the commitment to keeping a chameleon, then I'd go for it. You may also want to sign up for the Chameleon Forums if you haven't done so already. It's true that chameleons are a lot of work but my little guy's so worth the effort it's not even funny.

Here's a few care sheets on some commonly kept chameleon species. If you decide you want a Senegal/Flapneck/Graceful, then you'll probably want to make a special effort to find a captive bred individual-a lot of these guys are wild caught if I'm not mistaken.
Chameleon Forums - CCR - Care Sheets

Starbuck · 10-15-13, 07:49 AM

I think by that logic you could say giants and hots are not any more difficult to keep than a corn or bp... and maybe that is tru(in terms of husbandry), but the individual responsible for the care has to agree and commit to a certain level of responsibility. I'm not trying to tell the op that they shouldn't get a Cham (sorry if that's how it sounded), I'm just trying to tell them that there is quite a bit more involved in their care than most pet shops Will admit. Of course it can be done, and they are really interesting wonderful pets, but they aren't for everybody.
Do your research and you will be fine.

boosh96 · 10-15-13, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbuck

I think by that logic you could say giants and hots are not any more difficult to keep than a corn or bp... and maybe that is tru(in terms of husbandry), but the individual responsible for the care has to agree and commit to a certain level of responsibility. I'm not trying to tell the op that they shouldn't get a Cham (sorry if that's how it sounded), I'm just trying to tell them that there is quite a bit more involved in their care than most pet shops Will admit. Of course it can be done, and they are really interesting wonderful pets, but they aren't for everybody.
Do your research and you will be fine.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I disagreed with you. If anything I agree with you on pretty much everything.

To the OP-The bottom line of what I'm trying to say is that chameleons are a lot of work but you'll be rewarded with an amazing, beautiful, and unique pet if you can properly care for it.

**lady_bug87** · 10-15-13, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbuck

I think by that logic you could say giants and hots are not any more difficult to keep than a corn or bp... and maybe that is tru(in terms of husbandry), but the individual responsible for the care has to agree and commit to a certain level of responsibility. I'm not trying to tell the op that they shouldn't get a Cham (sorry if that's how it sounded), I'm just trying to tell them that there is quite a bit more involved in their care than most pet shops Will admit. Of course it can be done, and they are really interesting wonderful pets, but they aren't for everybody.
Do your research and you will be fine.

You're confusing difficulty with severity. Hots would probably be the exception since some species don't acclimate well to captivity.

Aside from sheer size giants aren't difficult to keep. It just takes the attention of the keeper.

ErikBush97 · 10-15-13, 12:37 PM

I have read a bunch of care sheets, and care videos, and I think I am going to wait. Very beautiful reptiles, but I don't really have a lot of time so daily feeding, and misting may not be possible :/