Petco veiled chameleon?

vladdimir26

vladdimir26

New Member
Hi guys

I am planning on getting my veiled chameleon this Christmas! I saw them about a week ago and they seemed pretty healthy to me. They were a nice green color and they were pretty active! The thing that really upset me was that they were in a glass tank :(. So this really made me think. But I have gotten all my pets from Petco and they have all turned nice and healthy. I got my ball python, teddy bear hamster, and two australian parakeets there so I am really having no doubt that this store does not mistreat them like a lot of the other pet stores do. What do you guys recommend? Other online website breeders bring the price with shipping to about $125.... compared to Petco which is 80$. Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

-Alejandro
 
Chams are masters ar disguising illness until it's serious. Only you can tell us, some will sell obviously dying chams, some are okish, can you describe the full setup? Size, flooring, water available, lighting? I often see them with one twig, a water dish that's dirty, and no UVB.
 
I look at it like. Yea you can probably get a good chameleon, but if possible try to support someone that is small time breeder or helps the community. These companies are just no good in my eyes. They still have healthy animals most of the time especially petco at least. Put an ad in the Wanted Classified section to see if anyone locally has any available. I have gotten healthy geckos from Petco, Now a days I will search for local breeders if possible. Our Petco make you order chameleons therefore they don't have to be put through the stress of being taken care of in store. Which I think is better.
 
i got both my veileds from petsmart they are both healthy they are both healthier than one that i got from a breeder! it doesnt matter where you get one from as long as your happy with it some petco and petsmart take care of them and some dont i see it as this way if you already got happy healthy animals from them why not?
 
danibug23 said:
i got both my veileds from petsmart they are both healthy they are both healthier than one that i got from a breeder! it doesnt matter where you get one from as long as your happy with it some petco and petsmart take care of them and some dont i see it as this way if you already got happy healthy animals from them why not?
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Alot of them are wonderful in everything except chams.
 
KarmaChameleon1337 said:
Alot of them are wonderful in everything except chams.
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a lot of them are awful with everything, unless the person working in that section knows and cares enough to fix it. :p

edit : i think if you know what to look for you could buy one wherever you wanted. my initial look over would be looking for straight bones, eyes open and not walking on the bottom..
 
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KarmaChameleon1337 said:
Chams are masters ar disguising illness until it's serious. Only you can tell us, some will sell obviously dying chams, some are okish, can you describe the full setup? Size, flooring, water available, lighting? I often see them with one twig, a water dish that's dirty, and no UVB.
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They had a bunch of small chameleons I am guessing in 3 months of age, maybe younger. They were maybe 3 inches? They had a little dripper(which was turned of because it was night) he had two lamps so I'm guessing he had uvb and uva. They were pretty green and they seemed to be active. The only thing that I did notice that ALL pet stores fuck up is with their glass cage. I can't remember what their cage floor was. I think it was carpet or some sort of grassy dark thingi :p. They had a lot of plants in there so it wasn't really 1 twig. It was pretty dense in there so they camouflaged very well. The glass tank wasn't really that big since they were little, but it was taller than wider. Hope this helps
 
Since you are new to chameleons I would highly recommend that you start out with a nice healthy chameleon from a small time breeder that has gave the animal allot of time and special care. If you were experienced then a pet store cham might be ok because if it did end up with problems you would know more about dealing with the different issues that chams can have. I would also recommend a little bit older cham instead of 2 months old get a 3 to 6 month old. If the cham made it to 4 or 5 months old with no health issues then hopefully you will have a healthy cham because by that age a good breeder that pays allot of attention to their chameleons should have noticed any healthy issues by that age. Set yourself up for success.
 
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veiled

I can highly recommend chameleons finest. I've bought a veiled and a jacksons from them. Both arrived in great health and are thriving. My veiled has doubled in size since I got him.
 
jannb said:
Since you are new to chameleons I would highly recommend that you start out with a nice healthy chameleon from a small time breeder that has gave the animal allot of time and special care. If you were experienced then a pet store cham might be ok because if it did end up with problems you would know more about dealing with the different issues that cham have. I would also recommend a little bit older cham instead of 2 months old get a 3 to 6 month old. If the cham made it to 4 or 5 months old with no health issues then hopefully you will have a healthy cham because by that age a good breeder that pays allot of attention to their chameleons should have noticed any healthy issues by that age. Set yourself up for success.
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Unfortunately, there are no specialized chameleon breeders here in New Hampshire, USA. The only option to get my chameleon other than from a petsore would be from FL Chams or LLLreptile. But a juvenile cost 75$ plus the shipping the chameleon comes up to a $125....... and one from Petco which seems healthy is about 80-90$ I also think the they come with like a 2 month guarantee if i see him unhealthy, i can just return him.
 
Fl chams and lll reptile are not small time breeders anyways, you just have to have patience and Post some ads on the wanted sections you can probably get 1 from a member for your price ranged shipped too.
 
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vladdimir26 said:
Unfortunately, there are no specialized chameleon breeders here in New Hampshire, USA. The only option to get my chameleon other than from a petsore would be from FL Chams or LLLreptile. But a juvenile cost 75$ plus the shipping the chameleon comes up to a $125....... and one from Petco which seems healthy is about 80-90$ I also think the they come with like a 2 month guarantee if i see him unhealthy, i can just return him.
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Trust me after having him for more than a day it won't be as easy as "just returning him"
 
I just actually dealt with Petco over the past month with a juvenile male Veiled. Like you, to me they seemed to look healthy at the store. Ive had a veiled a few years ago, and was fairly familiar with what I should be looking for. Certainly no expert, but I looked for a few of the tell-tale signs.

I can say in my experience dealing with them, they certainly were not knowledgeable about these animals. The one rep who helped me, I knew more than her. Again, in a glass cage, but Ive read that's not AS important when theyre so small. Obviously I would agree that a screen enclosure would be best. One of them had a small burn on the side. The one I was looking at, was dropped behind the cage enclosures as she was taking them out. And when I asked her where the one I was looking at went, she was clueless, and said "thats weird, weve been losing them". So I realized then when she slid the screen top off, she pushed him back and he fell behind. After looking around a little bit I found him on some wires behind the cages.

I got a good deal on him, as all reptiles were 50% off that week. But after taking him home, he didnt eat for a week. The morning I returned him he actually ate two crickets. He tried going for more, but kept missing and dropping them. He also had a RI. This probably isnt something youre going to notice in the store after looking at them for a few minutes. He also didnt drink the whole week either.

They were fine about returning him, as long as it was within a 15 day period. They even gave me a few options such as trading him, straight up return or giving him back with the option of getting him back once the vet took care of him.

I chose to return him and actually went with a jacksons bought from a local reptile store. Who had them set up in a much better enclosure.

All in all, I would say buy the actual animal from a specialized store. Hit petco up for the accessories, Vines dripper etc.
 
mattj said:
.

All in all, I would say buy the actual animal from a specialized store. Hit petco up for the accessories, Vines dripper etc.
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I would not buy anything from them. Why support them in overpriced supplies for reptiles. This only encourages them to keep stocking the animals.
 
I know the Chameleons that I see in the stores around here...Petcos, Petsmarts... all seem fine. But the people that work there are taught by their care sheet (which if you read you will find many mistakes on) It was a hard decision for me as well recently getting mine... I could just hop down to Indy and have all the supplies and Chameleon in and hour.. Or order from a small breeder who knows these babies from the minute they arrived. I chose to my veils from a site sponsor and my panthers from individual members of the forum. I now I will have great support form the breeders as they they care very much for these babies. If I have a question I can shoot a text or email or call. I would rather keep quality of quantity anyday. Now I will say Petco and Petsmart has gotten alot of money from me in supplies!! But I think I will keep with the breeders who finacially go into a whole just caring for these babies ... their is no profit if the care for them is proper. JMHO for what is worth.:)
 
This is a tuff one... I know it's tempting to go with the "easy" option of getting your animals from a large chain store.

I adopted a Veiled about 3 months ago. I recently contacted the previous owner to give him an update and get some background on the Cham itself!!

He did mention that it came from a PetSmart in NJ. It has been perfect in my care, granted i pamper and spoil all my pets.

I choose to support the "Labor of Love" people i call them. I have a PetCo and a PetSmart along with about 5 PetLands in my area. I now do ALL of my orders online and with small breeders.

Often with promotion codes and free shipping over a certain amount you make out pretty good.

I now have 2 other Chams that i have not had a single issue with . They both spent well over 24 hours in transit and was great about eating and drinking and being active straight out of their packages. That tells a lot about the husbandry they reveiced prior to being shipped.

I also recently ordered with LLLReptiles and an item was broken, i contacted them and a NEW one was sent out at no cost to me . And they said to just keep the broken one. NO QUESTIONS ASKED!! .:)
 
There are no local reptile stores in New Hampshire, USA! And if I bought a pet from LLL reptile or FL chams I am not going to pay them 75 plus shipping= 125$ for a juvenile veiled chameleon.....
 
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