First Chameleon!

[AllFallDown]

Hi! We got our first chameleon a few days ago. A female Jackson. She is about 3 months old. She is currently sleeping on me as I type this

She is eating well and seems to like her enclosure. Does anyone have any suggestions for a newbie? Is there anything that they like in their enclosures to entertain them? Anything helps!

Uh, I just realized something....

"She is currently sleeping on me as I type this "

Is it bright where you are? Chameleons usually don't sleep in the daytime or when there is a lot of bright light around. I can't imagine they are inclined to sleep on someone either, especially when they are new to you. Do you ever catch her sleeping in the daytime?

 

[Kibu]

hibiscus are non- toxic. I had a hibiscus until it died two weeks after I got it. They are perfect 4 chams but not meant to be indoors.u might have to get 2 and swap them out every two weeks.

 

[camilla09]

Uh, I just realized something....

"She is currently sleeping on me as I type this "

Is it bright where you are? Chameleons usually don't sleep in the daytime or when there is a lot of bright light around. I can't imagine they are inclined to sleep on someone either, especially when they are new to you. Do you ever catch her sleeping in the daytime?

She never sleeps in the daytime. It's not bright at all. She settled down, curled her tail, and went to sleep.

 

[Kibu]

I live an hour away from him/her and I answered almost right after she/he wrote the thread. It gets dark about 8:00 here right now. It was dark out about the time she/he wrote the thread.

 

[AllFallDown]

I live an hour away from him/her and I answered almost right after she/he wrote the thread. It gets dark about 8:00 here right now.

Oh ok cool

 

[Kibu]

What kind of Jacksons is camilla?

 

[camilla09]

What kind of Jacksons is camilla?

What are the different types of Jacksons? I'm not really sure.

 

[PantherEnvy]

Hi! We got our first chameleon a few days ago. A female Jackson. She is about 3 months old. She is currently sleeping on me as I type this

I see from the time you were typing this that it was close to night time. That is really the only time your cham should fall asleep on you. If it is during the day and your cham falls asleep on you-RED FLAG

 

[camilla09]

Hi! We got our first chameleon a few days ago. A female Jackson. She is about 3 months old. She is currently sleeping on me as I type this

I see from the time you were typing this that it was close to night time. That is really the only time your cham should fall asleep on you. If it is during the day and your cham falls asleep on you-RED FLAG

Yes she has never fallen asleep during the day. Only at night when it's darker and quieter around the house. What does it mean if they are sleeping during the day?

 

[justjumpit621]

Okay I will help you fix as many of the faults as I can find to teh best of my ability, which there are a lot! I will plug them into the same help form so they are easier to read. TIFF if you have input that would be great (sending vibes to tiff!)

Chameleon Info:
Handling - If the chameleon is not stressed and running away and puffing up at you it is okay to handle her occasionally, but typically less is better.

Feeding - Babies should really get as many feeders as they can eat, do not use mealworms! They have little protein and their exoskaletons aren't able to be digested well and could cause impaction if fed too many. Crickets and roaches are great staple foods, roaches I advocate much more as they are meatier and easy to breed yourself. Feeders should be fed a nutritious diet before being fed off, this is called gutloading. Here is a link to Sandra's blogs about nutrition, feeders, and gutloading: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

Supplements - Okay jacksons are tricky, they can be oversupplemented very easily. Dust your feeders EXTREMELY lightly with PLAIN calcium without phosphorus or vitamin D3 every other day(or when she gets older every feeding because you only need to feed them every other day as adults, babies should be fed daily), EXTREMELY lightly with the calcium with D3 once a month, and EXTREMELY lightly with a multivitamin supplement once a month also, but not at the same time as the D3.

Watering - Chameleons need to be misted only, this is how they drink, a bowl will not do at all. they do not recognize standing water and even if she is used to it from petsmart still water is a breeding ground for bacteria, she could drown, or even poop in it. If you are unable to mist her at least 3 times a day you should invest in an automatic mister. MistKing is the best and well worth the money.

Fecal Description - Should be dark brown with white urates at the end. Orange or no urates means she is dehydrated.


Cage Info:
Cage Type - You need a screen cage female jacksons don't need a huge enclosure and babies shouldn't have more than an 18x18x30

Lighting - You need a basking bulb, just a regular household 60watt works best, but not the compact kind the actual yellow light bulbs. You also need a reptiglo 5.0 tube UVB bulb with a linear fixture, this works best. I personally don't trust the compact UVB's but there are varying opinions.

Temperature - Okay so I BELIEVE jacksons can have a basking temp of about 80 degrees, with ambient cage temperatures to the low 70's.
Humidity - Misting creates humidity, which is essential to the chameleon. I believe you should keep your levels around 60%, but check with someone like Miss Lilly.

Plants - Live plants are great! They also help with humidity. Good choices are hanging pothos vines, schefflera tree, and hibiscus. be sure to rinse the roots and repot with organic potting soil. Also rinse off the entire plant before putting it in your chameleon's cage.


Do not put any type of substrate on the cage floor, they can eat it and become impacted and die, Especially babies. Paper towels or newspaper work great, or nothing at all.

That's all I got for now so just goes to show you, NEVER take the word of someone who works at petsmart/petco unless they can tell you how they know what they do and what their credentials are.

 

[camilla09]

Okay I will help you fix as many of the faults as I can find to teh best of my ability, which there are a lot! I will plug them into the same help form so they are easier to read. TIFF if you have input that would be great (sending vibes to tiff!)

Chameleon Info:
Handling - If the chameleon is not stressed and running away and puffing up at you it is okay to handle her occasionally, but typically less is better.

Feeding - Babies should really get as many feeders as they can eat, do not use mealworms! They have little protein and their exoskaletons aren't able to be digested well and could cause impaction if fed too many. Crickets and roaches are great staple foods, roaches I advocate much more as they are meatier and easy to breed yourself. Feeders should be fed a nutritious diet before being fed off, this is called gutloading. Here is a link to Sandra's blogs about nutrition, feeders, and gutloading: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

Supplements - Okay jacksons are tricky, they can be oversupplemented very easily. Dust your feeders EXTREMELY lightly with PLAIN calcium without phosphorus or vitamin D3 every other day(or when she gets older every feeding because you only need to feed them every other day as adults, babies should be fed daily), EXTREMELY lightly with the calcium with D3 once a month, and EXTREMELY lightly with a multivitamin supplement once a month also, but not at the same time as the D3.

Watering - Chameleons need to be misted only, this is how they drink, a bowl will not do at all. they do not recognize standing water and even if she is used to it from petsmart still water is a breeding ground for bacteria, she could drown, or even poop in it. If you are unable to mist her at least 3 times a day you should invest in an automatic mister. MistKing is the best and well worth the money.

Fecal Description - Should be dark brown with white urates at the end. Orange or no urates means she is dehydrated.


Cage Info:
Cage Type - You need a screen cage female jacksons don't need a huge enclosure and babies shouldn't have more than an 18x18x30

Lighting - You need a basking bulb, just a regular household 60watt works best, but not the compact kind the actual yellow light bulbs. You also need a reptiglo 5.0 tube UVB bulb with a linear fixture, this works best. I personally don't trust the compact UVB's but there are varying opinions.

Temperature - Okay so I BELIEVE jacksons can have a basking temp of about 80 degrees, with ambient cage temperatures to the low 70's.
Humidity - Misting creates humidity, which is essential to the chameleon. I believe you should keep your levels around 60%, but check with someone like Miss Lilly.

Plants - Live plants are great! They also help with humidity. Good choices are hanging pothos vines, schefflera tree, and hibiscus. be sure to rinse the roots and repot with organic potting soil. Also rinse off the entire plant before putting it in your chameleon's cage.


Do not put any type of substrate on the cage floor, they can eat it and become impacted and die, Especially babies. Paper towels or newspaper work great, or nothing at all.

That's all I got for now so just goes to show you, NEVER take the word of someone who works at petsmart/petco unless they can tell you how they know what they do and what their credentials are.

What is considered a baby? So basically I need to cut back on the calcium and get a screen cage. I give the crickets carrots or potatoes before feeding them to her.

Everything that I'm doing that IS correct is what I was told to by the actually VERY knowledgable Petsmart personnel that I talked to for about 2 hours about the chameleon before I decided to buy. This is not an attack on anyone in particular, but please stop backlashing about how I got the wrong info. Cause clearly only a few tidbits were a little off. She is very active and has a healthy appetite. I'm just really tired of hearing about how petsmart knows nothing. Clearly she knew enough to get me off to a great start. Please no more.

 

[AllFallDown]

What is considered a baby? So basically I need to cut back on the calcium and get a screen cage. I give the crickets carrots or potatoes before feeding them to her.

Everything that I'm doing that IS correct is what I was told to by the actually VERY knowledgable Petsmart personnel that I talked to for about 2 hours about the chameleon before I decided to buy. This is not an attack on anyone in particular, but please stop backlashing about how I got the wrong info. Cause clearly only a few tidbits were a little off. She is very active and has a healthy appetite. I'm just really tired of hearing about how petsmart knows nothing. Clearly she knew enough to get me off to a great start. Please no more.

Hi camilla09,
I cannot speak for anyone else here, I can only speak for myself. I never meant to suggest that Petsmart employees dont know what they are talking about. I did mean to suggest that in my personal experience- they usually don't. This is not about attacking petsmart, petco, pet-anything. This is about helping get you the correct information so that you can succeed. Repsectfully, you came to us and made the claim that they gave you "all the information you need" and very quickly people here saw some very key pieces of information that were off.

Issues like gutloading, correct enclosure, and supplimentation are NOT little tidbits!! These are THE critical things that can make or break your success with these chameleons. Period. Not tidbits at all- very crucial. We are just trying to help, that is all. If the petsmart employee did not give you this information- correctly, I am sorry to say but they did not give you all the information you needed and did not get you off to a great start. Period.

Now, regarding the employees themselves. I do not know these people. For all I know, the manager you spoke with could be THE world's expert on Jackson's chameleons. In the end, it all boils down to the information they provide. Is it correct, or is it not and how do you know? The whole point I was trying to get across is that you said you had all of the information you needed and were doing things correctly according to the petsmart employee- how do you know their information was good. Have they successfully kept a chameleon before? A Jackson's for that matter? If not- it might be a good idea to be suspicious. That does not mean you should write them off, but chalemeons are not like geckos. Often times, employees at stores like that think they are. Just because they could answer every question that you posed does not mean they gave you the right info. I worked retail once and was placed in a department that sold products I knew nothing about. When I raised this point with my manager I was told "You don't need to know anything about printers to work here, you just need to be able to read the box faster than the customer. Make sure you sell an extended warrenty with each sale."
Petsmart might be different, who knows (I doubt it).

I do not mean to be a jerk here, and I do not mean to be disrespectful to you in anyway, but I do feel the need to be very very forward, honest and direct. I do not claim to be an expert on chameleons or any other kind of reptile. As far as chams, I am only ahead of you by a couple of months- but like others here I have learned the hard lesson that petstore employees cannot be trusted without some real serious scrutiny. I also do not mean to point the finger at you in anyway way. I, like other, and simply trying to help. I do not want to see what happened to me, happen to you. That is all.

I do wish you the best of luck.

By the way, any chance we could get you to post some pictures! I cant wait to see her! I love Jackson's I can't wait to get one myself!

 

[Kibu]

Camilla, the people on here know chameleons inside and out. It would be foolish to listen to a petsmart employee over several people on this thread who r trying to help out. I have been keeping chams 4 a while and I know them really well. I know that you need to factor in several opinions vs. one petsmart employee. We r not bashing petsmart, we r correcting ignorant mistakes that can easily be fixed. There r many knowledgeable petsmart employees, an example is one lady at my local petsmart that has been keeping veilds 4 many years. I wasn't bashing petsmart, but I feel they just want to get the animals sold by giving information the customer just wants to hear like the glass aquarium thing.

 

[justjumpit621]

Hi camilla09,
I cannot speak for anyone else here, I can only speak for myself. I never meant to suggest that Petsmart employees dont know what they are talking about. I did mean to suggest that in my personal experience- they usually don't. This is not about attacking petsmart, petco, pet-anything. This is about helping get you the correct information so that you can succeed. Repsectfully, you came to us and made the claim that they gave you "all the information you need" and very quickly people here saw some very key pieces of information that were off.

Issues like gutloading, correct enclosure, and supplimentation are NOT little tidbits!! These are THE critical things that can make or break your success with these chameleons. Period. Not tidbits at all- very crucial. We are just trying to help, that is all. If the petsmart employee did not give you this information- correctly, I am sorry to say but they did not give you all the information you needed and did not get you off to a great start. Period.

Now, regarding the employees themselves. I do not know these people. For all I know, the manager you spoke with could be THE world's expert on Jackson's chameleons. In the end, it all boils down to the information they provide. Is it correct, or is it not and how do you know? The whole point I was trying to get across is that you said you had all of the information you needed and were doing things correctly according to the petsmart employee- how do you know their information was good. Have they successfully kept a chameleon before? A Jackson's for that matter? If not- it might be a good idea to be suspicious. That does not mean you should write them off, but chalemeons are not like geckos. Often times, employees at stores like that think they are. Just because they could answer every question that you posed does not mean they gave you the right info. I worked retail once and was placed in a department that sold products I knew nothing about. When I raised this point with my manager I was told "You don't need to know anything about printers to work here, you just need to be able to read the box faster than the customer. Make sure you sell an extended warrenty with each sale."
Petsmart might be different, who knows (I doubt it).

I do not mean to be a jerk here, and I do not mean to be disrespectful to you in anyway, but I do feel the need to be very very forward, honest and direct. I do not claim to be an expert on chameleons or any other kind of reptile. As far as chams, I am only ahead of you by a couple of months- but like others here I have learned the hard lesson that petstore employees cannot be trusted without some real serious scrutiny. I also do not mean to point the finger at you in anyway way. I, like other, and simply trying to help. I do not want to see what happened to me, happen to you. That is all.

I do wish you the best of luck.

By the way, any chance we could get you to post some pictures! I cant wait to see her! I love Jackson's I can't wait to get one myself!

Exactly. Oversupplementing and undersupplementing will kill a jackson's in a matter of months, and only giving you the one supplement was one mistake she made that could have very well killed your little girl. Also the glass aquarium. They are arboreal and need good ventilation or they will get an upper respiratory infection. Also glass aquariums get really hot when you put a heat lamp on and if you don't pay attention to it if it gets too hot it could also kill your baby. Did they sell they the "rainforest kit" with her?

I just went through the same issue with me best friend who went into petsmart and impulsively bought a baby bearded dragon, the employee told her they were easy to keep and sold her the "desert kit" which had everything wrong except the tank. I really had a stern talk with her and we brought the little one back. The employee the next day actually knew what he was talking about and agreed that the baby would be a lot of work and very expensive. So we went out and found her a florida kingsnake cutest little snake ever lol

Anyway yeah not trying to say this woman knows absolutely nothing, but in my and other's experience petsmart/petco can not be trusted. My first girl came from there, she was a female veiled, they pretty much were waiting for her to die. Because of lack of UVB and poor conditions she got a double eye infection and was blind. Luckily my friend worked there and told me about it (while I was on vacation in florida mind you) and as I waited in line at the rockin' roller coaster I was sucked into the world of chameleons. The manager told me she wasn't going to live for another week, but under my care she lived for another 8 months. I also have tried to apply at petsmart and petco, and on my application I always put "highly experienced with all species of reptiles and amphibians" and I NEVER get a call back for them wanting to hire me, even though my application is perfect.

 

[camilla09]

I appreciate the information, but I don't think this forum is for me. I'm going to buy a book. If anyone knows of a good book, I'm open to that suggestion.

 

[AllFallDown]

I appreciate the information, but no one needs to give it out with an attitude. Everyone has different opinions on how things should be done. What I do with my dog is not what anyone else does with their dog. No need to bash anyone or be disrespectful. There were a few people helping me here, but now I don't even want to get back on the forum. I don't know how I forget that I HATE forums when I registered to begin with. This is obviously not the place for me, considering I only want to enjoy my chameleon - not breed my own insects to feed her and let her free range in a room of my house. I'll find another way to get the information I need.

Sorry to hear. Good luck- I hope it works out. I do suggest you look at this thread again and ask yourself if people here have really been disrespectful- of if they have just been very honest with you. Who here has had an attitude at all? People tried to point out things in your husbandry which could potentially be problematic and you basically threw it back in everyone's faces. People were very forward with you on Petsmart's track record with advice regarding exotics (and I know in my case, that is 100% based on my experience dealing with petsmart and petco). People were also forward in suggesting that sometimes, petsmart hires knowledgeable people- one girl who works at our local petco is someone I personally would trust.
I don't think anyone was very disrespectful at all- just brutally honest. Forums can be very annoying places- I admit that. A big part of the reason is that people don't sugar coat it. You have people on this forum that are breeders with years of experience, veterinarians, reptile researchers, etc... All here to help you succeed. You came here and basically said "I got all of the information I need at petsmart" and kind of left it at that. You can't make a statement like that without people feeling a little uneasy and wondering "Uh, what is all the information you need to succeed? That sounds a bit fishy coming from Petsmart, we better check their info and make sure they got accurate advice, and that the employee did not just read the care pamphlet to them". Recognize it for what it is- people being helpful. Sometimes the most helpful people in life are those that are willing to tell you what you do not want to hear, and in a very direct way.

considering I only want to enjoy my chameleon - not breed my own insects to feed her and let free range in a room of my house.

I don't think anyone said anything about breeding insects, or free ranging your chameleon so I am not sure where that came from, but enjoying your chameleon comes with a lot of challenges. Are you prepared to meet those challenges? Either way, I feel comfortable saying that people here do sincerely want to see you succeed, regardless of where you got your pet. If you change your mind and want to come back we are here. I believe that you will have a valuable perspective to bring as you experience more and more with your chameleon. Hopefully you will change your mind. If not, there are a handful of good books out there and a few good websites.

Best of luck, and best of luck to Camilla

[Edit]
By the way, I think justjumpit621 summed up the attitude here best:

"That's all I got for now so just goes to show you, NEVER take the word of someone who works at petsmart/petco unless they can tell you how they know what they do and what their credentials are."

This is not disrespect or backlashing- just the advice that you should consider the source and ask how they know what they know. That's all. Verify the source, verify the info.

 

[justjumpit621]

I'm sorry to hear that... you are correct what you do with your dog is not what other people may do with their dog, but what you do with your chameleon has to be what everyone else does that keeps them, because that is how they need to be kept. A dog will not die out of lack of humidity, you know that kind of thing. Oh well...

 

[Kibu]

We simply stated the facts. No reason to get mad.