good day

[Bono007]

Hi everyone, I just found this forum and I love it...I am going to be purchasing a chameleon for my 8 year old daughter, however I will probabally have to care for it, but I was wondering does anyone know if some species are more hardy than others and what a good starter cham would be.

okay last question for now, who sells chams in the chicago land area, besides pet shops. I would love to support a local breeder.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Ok veiled are very hardy and not as costly as others but have a reputarion of being mean...although many people on this forum have had some that that have never been aggressive. Panthers are quite hardy but much more expensive. I love them for the colors. Now as far as local breeders in chicago i would recommend a friend of mine..ChameleonCorral.com. Shes been doing it for close to 10 yrs and will have a big variety to choose from.

 

[Will Hayward]

Welcome to the forums.

Bono, trust us, this will be your pet almost more than you want it, and less your daughters. As another member said today, you will end up caring not only for the chameleon itself, but also the several live plants that it lives in and also the live food/insects that it consumes.

As Elisa above said, Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus), or Panther Chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) are a great place to start. They are both medium-large species. Chameleons should never be frequently handled- and your daughter Must understand that a chameleon is not a pet lizard that you take out of its cage to hold and look at, play, or what not. They are to be enjoyed from a distance once and a while and to be given their space. Hope this isn't deterring you, because as soon as you get one, you will understand why so many of us are satisfied with sitting back and watching them from a chair some feet away.

I haven't personally dealt with Chameleon Corral, as I live in Canada, but the owner is very kind is will go out of her way to make you happy. You could arrange to buy as a pick up or alternatively you could meet her at the North American Reptile Breeders Conference & Trade Show (www.narbc.com) in Tinley Park, IL on October 7-8th.

The cage and habitat should be setup in advance of getting the chameleon, so don't plant to buy chameleon and cage at the same time.

 

[Brandy]

here is an article on keeping chams and kids lol some kids are not mature enough to understand what not to do with cham some are fine, check out this article

http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2004/jan2004/kids/kids.html

 

[Frank Castle]

Is this your first Reptile(Lizard)? Make sure you do all the research you can before you decide to buy. A lot of people buy first then find out they are over their head. They do require a lot of care and attention, let alone their husdbandry costs. A good source of Infomation is at Chameleon News. Make an Educated Decision.

As far as Chams themselves. Large chams, Veileds or Panthers. Veileds are fairly cheap, but can be very aggresive, They are really hardy and have some Tolerances for Beginner mishaps. Panthers are more expensive and can be Semi aggresive, These guys are beautiful with their colors, Pretty hardy also. Any type of chameleon should NOT be handled regularly. They are not cuddly creatures, and like to be left alone. They are a Look dont Touch type pet.
You could also go with Pygmy Chameleons (Brookesia). They can be housed in small Terariums, they have wonderfull personalitys. You can house these guys together. They are usually dont cost that much to purchase. All the other Chameleons NEED to be housed seperatly.

Good luck with the research, and ask all the questions you want.

Frank

 

[Bono007]

...

this is not my first reptile, I have had nile monitors, and savannah monitors (not in the same cage). I understand that they are not to be handeled frequently, i currently have a 40 gallon tank would that be big enought for a juvinile? The tank is just to start out with i plan on building a cage

I will get in touch with cham.corral also i was checking out the classifieds here.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Build the cage first...Ali will hold onto the chameleon till you have it done.