Feel Good Chameleon Keeping stories

[Sonny13]

Another feel good story from Ranjo my little adventurer, see his complete story here https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/the-most-unbelievable-but-true-story.187712/

This fella is still going strong after his escape and return home. This species is so underrated but truly fascinating. He shows me how intelligent these little creatures are and how strongly they can survive. From last January 2022, I started free ranging him and yes he’s really small and you need to be careful not accidentally stepping on him, this guy uses every inch of space available for him (also the floor). Meaning, morning routine waking up going up from his sleeping towards the uvb and heat light and after 1 hour, his on the move. Leaving his free range and heading out for the room, always visiting us on our desk or laptop and then hangs around on a cord close to us. Then he’s back towards his free range to score a midday snack and then goes back to adventuring. Around 04:00pm he’s back in his free range for another uvb session till he heads down towards his sleeping spot. Next day same story and so on…….
love this little fella sooo much

@dinomom yes he‘s free ranging

Mr. Ranjo himself

 

[Beppo]

He is s cuuuuuute

 

[MissSkittles]

Another feel good story from Ranjo my little adventurer, see his complete story here https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/the-most-unbelievable-but-true-story.187712/

This fella is still going strong after his escape and return home. This species is so underrated but truly fascinating. He shows me how intelligent these little creatures are and how strongly they can survive. From last January 2022, I started free ranging him and yes he’s really small and you need to be careful not accidentally stepping on him, this guy uses every inch of space available for him (also the floor). Meaning, morning routine waking up going up from his sleeping towards the uvb and heat light and after 1 hour, his on the move. Leaving his free range and heading out for the room, always visiting us on our desk or laptop and then hangs around on a cord close to us. Then he’s back towards his free range to score a midday snack and then goes back to adventuring. Around 04:00pm he’s back in his free range for another uvb session till he heads down towards his sleeping spot. Next day same story and so on…….
love this little fella sooo much

@dinomom yes he‘s free ranging

Mr. Ranjo himself
View attachment 334984

I always wonder how much space my chameleons would use if it were given unlimited. Sounds like Ranjo‘s range of territory is as big as his personality. So much to be packed into such a small little cutie.

 

[Sonny13]

I always wonder how much space my chameleons would use if it were given unlimited. Sounds like Ranjo‘s range of territory is as big as his personality. So much to be packed into such a small little cutie.

Same here and luckily I can witness it with my crew. Most are less active during winter or out of the breeding season with roaming around their available space. While the K. Boehmei stands out with its active behavior, this species is soo different than the others I own and definitely has a parsons size personality in a tiny package

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Im sorry i can not edit the post to say this is how it was in the 90's. We have come a long way. Still even in 2010 this forum was recommending not getting T8 10.0 and sticking with T8 5.0. And i feel we still had healthy chams back then.

I still cant nail down how beginners get it so wrong. Its not a very hard recipe, but still we get MBD posts when that would have been cured with just about any calcium with D3 reguardless of lighting. We still get URI posts but i got by 20 years without a mister, we have only had hobby misters for about the last 10 years, with a wee bit of diy kits before that uses RO pumps.

I guess the newest is just edema, and distance issues with the new high power lights. And correctly cleaning the mister/humidifier. We didnt have those issues 10+ years ago.

This is how newbies get it wrong. My crested gecko died. I saw a Cham for adoption. Ok, if I can care for a Crested, I can care for a Cham. Adopted a Cham from the animal shelter- only requirement was a picture of the enclosure (12×12×12). walked away with a adult Cham.
Day 1 - PANIC - enclosure too small.
Day 2 - Pet store advice. Wrong supplements, bulbs, enclosure, fake plants, water tree, wrong -wrong.
Day 3 - Vet - "you have a female, make a lay bin".
Day 4 - Back to the store for lay bin supplies.
Day 5 - Exhausted, and told myself based on what I read, I have a male.
Day 6 - internet search. Confused. Found Cf and asked for help.
Day 7 - PANIC - ITS ALL WRONG AND I HAVE A MALE!
Day 8 - currently Re-Do of everything. I've got it right. My guy is thriving.

 

[Beman]

This is how newbies get it wrong. My crested gecko died. I saw a Cham for adoption. Ok, if I can care for a Crested, I can care for a Cham. Adopted a Cham from the animal shelter- only requirement was a picture of the enclosure (12×12×12). walked away with a adult Cham.
Day 1 - PANIC - enclosure too small.
Day 2 - Pet store advice. Wrong supplements, bulbs, enclosure, fake plants, water tree, wrong -wrong.
Day 3 - Vet - "you have a female, make a lay bin".
Day 4 - Back to the store for lay bin supplies.
Day 5 - Exhausted, and told myself based on what I read, I have a male.
Day 6 - internet search. Confused. Found Cf and asked for help.
Day 7 - PANIC - ITS ALL WRONG AND I HAVE A MALE!
Day 8 - currently Re-Do of everything. I've got it right. My guy is thriving.

Pretty much.

I fell in love with Beman at Petco. Went home watched the wrong videos and found all the wrong sites for 2 days. Thought to myself ok seems easy even though I never had a reptile. Went back and bought him along with ALLLLLLLLL of the wrong stuff as a present to myself for my 38th birthday. Spent $500 that day. Then found the forum and Bill Strand's podcasts (at the time chameleon academy did not exist). I lurked in the forum for a month too scared to post that I was an idiot that impulse bought from petco. Listened to hours and hours and hours of Bill's podcasts for two days straight. Complete panic set in. I had the cham death kit, wrong lights, fake plants, wrong vines, wrong supplements, and my feeders were far too large. Within that week totally changed up the cage ordered new lights started stalking the dragon strand site for the right cage and spent another few hundred just to make the cham kit work temporarily.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Pretty much.

I fell in love with Beman at Petco. Went home watched the wrong videos and found all the wrong sites for 2 days. Thought to myself ok seems easy even though I never had a reptile. Went back and bought him along with ALLLLLLLLL of the wrong stuff as a present to myself for my 38th birthday. Spent $500 that day. Then found the forum and Bill Strand's podcasts (at the time chameleon academy did not exist). I lurked in the forum for a month too scared to post that I was an idiot that impulse bought from petco. Listened to hours and hours and hours of Bill's podcasts for two days straight. Complete panic set in. I had the cham death kit, wrong lights, fake plants, wrong vines, wrong supplements, and my feeders were far too large. Within that week totally changed up the cage ordered new lights started stalking the dragon strand site for the right cage and spent another few hundred just to make the cham kit work temporarily.

Pretty much.

I fell in love with Beman at Petco. Went home watched the wrong videos and found all the wrong sites for 2 days. Thought to myself ok seems easy even though I never had a reptile. Went back and bought him along with ALLLLLLLLL of the wrong stuff as a present to myself for my 38th birthday. Spent $500 that day. Then found the forum and Bill Strand's podcasts (at the time chameleon academy did not exist). I lurked in the forum for a month too scared to post that I was an idiot that impulse bought from petco. Listened to hours and hours and hours of Bill's podcasts for two days straight. Complete panic set in. I had the cham death kit, wrong lights, fake plants, wrong vines, wrong supplements, and my feeders were far too large. Within that week totally changed up the cage ordered new lights started stalking the dragon strand site for the right cage and spent another few hundred just to make the cham kit work temporarily.

@Beman this is how it starts. I just left the pet store. The little one in the pic - eyes closed, 3 piles of poop in enclosure, red light, eyes sunken, water dish. My said yes. My experience said no. However, I spoke to the Manager and demanded the cleaning of enclosure and refused to leave until it was clean. They were nice and cleaned right away.

 

[Beman]

@Beman this is how it starts. I just left the pet store. The little one in the pic - eyes closed, 3 piles of poop in enclosure, red light, eyes sunken, water dish. My said yes. My experience said no. However, I spoke to the Manager and demanded the cleaning of enclosure and refused to leave until it was clean. They were nice and cleaned right away. View attachment 335003

Yep when you can't take them home, advocating for the correct care is always a great thing to do.

 

[bruce the cham]

I became a chameleon fan in the 1980's. I had the good luck to work at a couple of vet practices that treated reptiles and birds along with the regular small animals. We almost exclusively treated MBD in reptiles. Iguanas, turtles, tortoises and the rare chameleon all came in with fractures and almost no bones showing on x-ray. I don't recall if it was due to lack of availability of supplements, a quality issue or thriftiness but we had clients grind up human calcium supplements to dust their feed. It was probably a combination of the three. Lighting was an issue but I was in southern California so outdoor keeping was a possibility. Ultimately because I was renting, I opted to wait until I had a more stable living arrangement.
My friends son got a chameleon several years ago and while researching for them on an eye problem stumbled across the Forum and rekindled my desire for a Jackson's Chameleon. I lurked for quite sometime and read everything. I ultimately joined just to contact a member for the purchase of "Scimitar" my avatar. I know it's unusual to start with a more difficult species but I was prepared. I ran my cage for a month before I moved him in so I could dial it in.
I've now raised a few clutches that were given to me and those from the breeding of "Falchion" and "Trident". "Falchion" and "Jian" I've had since they were 2 & 3 months old and they are about to turn 5 years this month and next. "Falchion" is going strong and is as feisty as ever. "Jian" has a minor tongue issue but still eats well.
I could breed another generation as I have 8 healthy adults, several that are not related but life is a bit too challenging right now. Perhaps next year will be better and I can get to that third generation.

P.S. I use commercial supplements, misting systems, Climist and MistKing, live plants, fogging at times of the year, gut loaded feeders, T5HO lighting monitored with a UVI meter and a host of other modern conveniences. Yes, I know we are starting to see diseases of affluence, obesity or over supplementation, in chameleons these days. It will take time but we will reach a balance if we continue to work together spreading what we have learned.

View attachment 334783
"Trishul" son of "Trident" and "Falchion"
View attachment 334785
"Bowie", "Bayonet", "Falchion" and "Jian"

cool how there all in the same place at the same time

 

[bruce the cham]

t my petco everytime i went there there was wrong uvb and no heat bulb so every time i went there i said something and a year later ther is a heat bulb and proper uvb

 

[JacksJill]

cool how there all in the same place at the same time

Feeding time

 

[crosscutts]

Lets just rip this band-aid off.

Ive been doing this a while. Here is about the min you need to have a happy healthy cham. Here is a 30 tall with a screen top, a vita-lite without reflector, and no live plants. Raised on crickets as as much pinkies he would eat. Supplements sticky tongue farms indoor (very low dose D3) and the sticky tongue vita-mix. The indoor was given every feeder every feeding, and was a great match to the low dose UVB bulb that was probably 1.0 at 3" and .3 at 6" and maybe .1 at 9". Always got good marks from the vet, and lived about 6 years. I had to save up about $300 for him, because i didnt want to buy one of those cheap parsons that were not very hardy

View attachment 334700

because i didnt want to buy one of those cheap parsons that were not very hardy

That was the best finish in a comment I read in a long time !! so funny

 

[MzLaurie11]

I don’t want to derail this positive thread with us arguing back and forth.
It is amazing that your chameleon did so very well for you and speaks for your dedication and care to give him the best life possible in the late 1990’s. I will be the first in line to give you massive kudos. We can absolutely have a discussion about how much has changed since then. Just don’t imply that what you did back in the day is all anyone needs to do now and their chameleon will have a long happy life. You read the same posts that the rest of us do - newer keepers who haven’t followed the current standards and now their poor chameleons are on their way to that big tree in the sky. We do say, “you’re killing your chameleon if you don’t do it exactly as the academy says” because that has unfortunately been proven out time and time again. We have come such a very long way since the 90’s and have so many great tools and supplies now. Let’s use them and teach the standards and then if keepers want to mess around with stuff or experiment with alternate ways of keeping, they can.

I am in agreement Vikki. First you should preface it with "In the early 90's there was no internet, no amazon, nothing! No dos no donts.just what ever info you could get from another keeper or a vet." Then add your setup etc.. I believe the reason why your cham lived so long and was healthy is because you kept him out of his cage most of the time and probably took him outside a lot. also, you two probably had a great bond. If i am right, add it. You do kind of make it sound like this is the minimum requirement that you need to give a cham a happy healthy life which you know now is not true. Sorry dont want to continue the derailment but this was supposed to be an uplifting sharing thread that hopefully will allow others to learn and see different types of setups. Your post is the second post , rip the bandaide off? intentional? Hmm

 

[Beman]

I am in agreement Vikki. First you should preface it with "In the early 90's there was no internet, no amazon, nothing! No dos no donts.just what ever info you could get from another keeper or a vet." Then add your setup etc.. I believe the reason why your cham lived so long and was healthy is because you kept him out of his cage most of the time and probably took him outside a lot. also, you two probably had a great bond. If i am right, add it. You do kind of make it sound like this is the minimum requirement that you need to give a cham a happy healthy life which you know now is not true. Sorry dont want to continue the derailment but this was supposed to be an uplifting sharing thread that hopefully will allow others to learn and see different types of setups. Your post is the second post , rip the bandaide off? intentional? Hmm

I would prefer this just gets dropped completely.... No need to keep commenting on it. It was done and over with when the post happened. By continuing to comment it just derails the thread further which defeats the purpose of me starting it.

 

[Doolingdogs]

Can't wait to have a feel good story

 

[bbyoda]

I've wanted a chameleon since I was a child, but never had the space or funds to care for one. Once I moved to Florida and had a bit more stability, I started voicing my desire to get a chameleon more frequently even stating things like "Is it even Christmas if no one gets me a chameleon?" My partner is a super sweet guy and for Christmas he got me a fake chameleon, a carrying case, and a chameleon husbandry book. He also had researched some breeders and found chameleon forums basics info to get me started. I was overwhelmed and anxious and cried on Christmas day, hahahhahaha. I can definitely say never get pets for gifts. Too much! However, his encouragement and jump start on husbandry research helped me get started and take the plunge. I lurked on chameleon forums trying to get an initial setup going, then got Yoda (at the time baby Yoda) in March 2020. I've had him for just about three years now!

I think the top two things I've enjoyed learning taking care of Yoda and being a part of this community are:
1. The value of cultivating an environment with clean up crews and good bacteria - and how to caretake the bioactive system to keep it running smoothly.
2. Ways to assess what a good resource is versus uninformed or unhelpful opinions (listening to Bill Strand talk about metrics of success with breeder husbandry is so helpful).

Those two things set me up for success in taking care of my guinea pigs and have also helped me prepare to get backyard chickens! With help from the forums and a good vet recommendation, Yoda has gotten through a coccidia diagnosis and is recovering well from a liver infection. The forums also helped me understand and process the death of my carpet chameleon sweetie, Sabine.

Here's some fun pictures of Yoda for comparison!

Yoda on his Gotcha Day: 3/17/20



Yoda enjoying the Florida sun post Hurricane Ian, September 2022



Big boy cage setup in August 2020 (post coccidia and a flooded bioactive substrate)



Current setup after plants died or were eaten, this is the no muss no fuss version for me! March 2023

 

[Ghostbirb]

I've wanted a chameleon since I was a child, but never had the space or funds to care for one. Once I moved to Florida and had a bit more stability, I started voicing my desire to get a chameleon more frequently even stating things like "Is it even Christmas if no one gets me a chameleon?" My partner is a super sweet guy and for Christmas he got me a fake chameleon, a carrying case, and a chameleon husbandry book. He also had researched some breeders and found chameleon forums basics info to get me started. I was overwhelmed and anxious and cried on Christmas day, hahahhahaha. I can definitely say never get pets for gifts. Too much! However, his encouragement and jump start on husbandry research helped me get started and take the plunge. I lurked on chameleon forums trying to get an initial setup going, then got Yoda (at the time baby Yoda) in March 2020. I've had him for just about three years now!

I think the top two things I've enjoyed learning taking care of Yoda and being a part of this community are:
1. The value of cultivating an environment with clean up crews and good bacteria - and how to caretake the bioactive system to keep it running smoothly.
2. Ways to assess what a good resource is versus uninformed or unhelpful opinions (listening to Bill Strand talk about metrics of success with breeder husbandry is so helpful).

Those two things set me up for success in taking care of my guinea pigs and have also helped me prepare to get backyard chickens! With help from the forums and a good vet recommendation, Yoda has gotten through a coccidia diagnosis and is recovering well from a liver infection. The forums also helped me understand and process the death of my carpet chameleon sweetie, Sabine.

Here's some fun pictures of Yoda for comparison!

Yoda on his Gotcha Day: 3/17/20

View attachment 335946

Yoda enjoying the Florida sun post Hurricane Ian, September 2022

View attachment 335951

Big boy cage setup in August 2020 (post coccidia and a flooded bioactive substrate)

View attachment 335952

Current setup after plants died or were eaten, this is the no muss no fuss version for me! March 2023

View attachment 335953

omg he is so cute as a baby!!!! and hes so handsome now! oh and his gotcha day is coming up!

 

[elizaann2]

I've wanted a chameleon since I was a child, but never had the space or funds to care for one. Once I moved to Florida and had a bit more stability, I started voicing my desire to get a chameleon more frequently even stating things like "Is it even Christmas if no one gets me a chameleon?" My partner is a super sweet guy and for Christmas he got me a fake chameleon, a carrying case, and a chameleon husbandry book. He also had researched some breeders and found chameleon forums basics info to get me started. I was overwhelmed and anxious and cried on Christmas day, hahahhahaha. I can definitely say never get pets for gifts. Too much! However, his encouragement and jump start on husbandry research helped me get started and take the plunge. I lurked on chameleon forums trying to get an initial setup going, then got Yoda (at the time baby Yoda) in March 2020. I've had him for just about three years now!

I think the top two things I've enjoyed learning taking care of Yoda and being a part of this community are:
1. The value of cultivating an environment with clean up crews and good bacteria - and how to caretake the bioactive system to keep it running smoothly.
2. Ways to assess what a good resource is versus uninformed or unhelpful opinions (listening to Bill Strand talk about metrics of success with breeder husbandry is so helpful).

Those two things set me up for success in taking care of my guinea pigs and have also helped me prepare to get backyard chickens! With help from the forums and a good vet recommendation, Yoda has gotten through a coccidia diagnosis and is recovering well from a liver infection. The forums also helped me understand and process the death of my carpet chameleon sweetie, Sabine.

Here's some fun pictures of Yoda for comparison!

Yoda on his Gotcha Day: 3/17/20

View attachment 335946

Yoda enjoying the Florida sun post Hurricane Ian, September 2022

View attachment 335951

Big boy cage setup in August 2020 (post coccidia and a flooded bioactive substrate)

View attachment 335952

Current setup after plants died or were eaten, this is the no muss no fuss version for me! March 2023

View attachment 335953

What a beautiful boy!!!!

 

[MissSkittles]

Squee! Yoda was sooo tiny! Now he’s a big gorgeous man-Cham. Good thing Stella can’t see him.

 

[bbyoda]

Squee! Yoda was sooo tiny! Now he’s a big gorgeous man-Cham. Good thing Stella can’t see him.

Bahahah. Dr. Bruce really thinks Yoda is a looker too. My grandma is proud to have the calendar because her grand-scale-baby is on it!