College student looking for books

Arouth

New Member
Hey everyone so I’ve been looking into getting a chameleon for a while now. I’m 18 and have wanted one for the last few months. Only thing is I’m going to college in January and will graduate June of 2020. So I will not be getting a chameleon until after I graduate. In the mean time I want to study up on them and so in a couple years I will be extremely prepared. I’ve seen so many things online about how they are mistreated due to people not knowing enough so I don’t want to make that mistake, so I feel like 2 years of study will be enough...hopefully haha. Anyways now that y’all have some back ground I was wondering if there were any good books or resources y’all would recommend for study. My goal eventually is to have binders all with information on different parts of keeping (first few days, feeding, humidity, routine care, general health or something along those lines). Thanks in advance for the help!!

-Axel
 
This forum is an excellent resource but if you want hard copies then you could look at the book store on this site and I'm sure there are other books people will reccommend.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/bookstore/
Okay great Thank you!! Do you think I should be well prepared by then to get one? My cousin looked into in for like 2-3 months and got one and it died from improper care (I didn’t have a part in taking care for that one he lives on the other side of the country haha). But it just made me nervous but at the same time I really really I want one haha
 
Okay great Thank you!! Do you think I should be well prepared by then to get one? My cousin looked into in for like 2-3 months and got one and it died from improper care (I didn’t have a part in taking care for that one he lives on the other side of the country haha). But it just made me nervous but at the same time I really really I want one haha

Plenty of time. Check out @Tony_S 's threads -- he has been putting in great work getting ready for his. I did very minimal planning when I purchased my chameleon (Bad idea, I know...) but with this forum and to be frank, cash money, I was able to get her husbandry fixed up quickly. Once you have all the equipment and knowledge keeping chams is actually not hard, in my opinion.
 
You should have your cage set up and running for a month or so to make sure you have it set correctly and the plants settled in. You should take your time and do your research and when you are settled somewhere more permanent then consider getting started. Chameleons take a lot of care much of it is keeping their feeder insects alive and gut loaded for feeding.It's not impossible but it does require time and commitment.
I will attach some threads and links you will want to read to give you an over view. There are some great pod casts out there also.
 
Plenty of time. Check out @Tony_S 's threads -- he has been putting in great work getting ready for his. I did very minimal planning when I purchased my chameleon (Bad idea, I know...) but with this forum and to be frank, cash money, I was able to get her husbandry fixed up quickly. Once you have all the equipment and knowledge keeping chams is actually not hard, in my opinion.
I’ll have to check it out! And oh I gotcha, good to know!! Thanks!
 
Here are some old prices https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/average-cost-of-owning-a-chameleon.522/ to get you started
From the resource page a brief overview
The following resources were created to help provide a positive foundation for new chameleon keepers. We recommend people read every resource listed here before purchasing a chameleon.

 
You should have your cage set up and running for a month or so to make sure you have it set correctly and the plants settled in. You should take your time and do your research and when you are settled somewhere more permanent then consider getting started. Chameleons take a lot of care much of it is keeping their feeder insects alive and gut loaded for feeding.It's not impossible but it does require time and commitment.
I will attach some threads and links you will want to read to give you an over view. There are some great pod casts out there also.
Interesting, I’ve always had fish growing up so I always would cycle a tank for about a month without any fish I never thought of doing that for a reptile. I mean id definitely set it up early but that’s a good idea to run for a month. And okay great Thankyou!!
 
Here are some old prices https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/average-cost-of-owning-a-chameleon.522/ to get you started
From the resource page a brief overview
The following resources were created to help provide a positive foundation for new chameleon keepers. We recommend people read every resource listed here before purchasing a chameleon.

Oh wow thank you so much!!!
 
@Arouth you have don't necessarily have to wait a few years to research care for one and acquire one. Basically the biggest upfront cost of getting a cham is the cham itself and it's setup. Honestly just research this forum for info on care for the species you want and once you are confident enough setup the cage and run it for a few days before you get your cham to figure out how often and long you need to mist your enclosure to maintain humidity and dial in your basking spot temp if you prefer to run more of a manual care setup. If you choose more of an automated setup, it's still a good idea to run the enclosure without a cham for a few days to make sure everything works properly. After you've had the enclosure parameters stable in the range they need to be for your selected cham species, have a crack at keeping a chameleon. If you run into issues or concerns, you have to the forums to help you, we all care immensely about our chams here's and are dedicated to helping others who have run into problems.
 
Although if you plan on breeding chams, then I would definitely say waiting a few years to do research and make info binders would be a the way to go, as chams can reproduce at a very young age. The care of chams changes with the intention to breed, it's a whole different world than just keeping chams because so much can go wrong from the very beginning, such as a female being unreceptive. Stuff can also go wrong easily during the incubation, hatching and rearing of the babies, hence why I would recommend heavy research prior to breeding chameleons.
 
Plenty of time. Check out @Tony_S 's threads -- he has been putting in great work getting ready for his. I did very minimal planning when I purchased my chameleon (Bad idea, I know...) but with this forum and to be frank, cash money, I was able to get her husbandry fixed up quickly. Once you have all the equipment and knowledge keeping chams is actually not hard, in my opinion.
You know you are part of the family when someone tags you in a thread. I feel so at home here. :)

I've wanted one for about a year now. Been buying stuff for almost 3 months now and just this week started to actually build my enclosure. I can confirm it is not a cheap hobby to get into. I'm thinking of naming my new guy Benjamin cause every time I turn around he is costing me another $100 and I don't even have him yet :LOL:
 
You know you are part of the family when someone tags you in a thread. I feel so at home here. :)

I've wanted one for about a year now. Been buying stuff for almost 3 months now and just this week started to actually build my enclosure. I can confirm it is not a cheap hobby to get into. I'm thinking of naming my new guy Benjamin cause every time I turn around he is costing me another $100 and I don't even have him yet :LOL:
I kinda know that feeling lol. I usually just buy what I need and try not to keep track of the cost because then I realize that my chameleon is the most expensive animal I own lol
 
@Jevin thanks for the information! And I’ve considered it but mainly been thinking of it just from a pet standpoint. But I kinda want to learn as if I’m going to be a breeder just cause if I have that much knowledge then there’s no reason my chameleon won’t be totally healthy and happy! Haha
 
You know you are part of the family when someone tags you in a thread. I feel so at home here. :)

I've wanted one for about a year now. Been buying stuff for almost 3 months now and just this week started to actually build my enclosure. I can confirm it is not a cheap hobby to get into. I'm thinking of naming my new guy Benjamin cause every time I turn around he is costing me another $100 and I don't even have him yet :LOL:
Haha that’s nice! And oh wow!!! And hahah sounds like a saltwater fish tank!!
 
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