Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone and let you all know what a great forum this is. I've been browsing the site for about a month now and decided to finally sign up. First, a bit about me. I live in Brevard County, FL (where the shuttle is launched), I'm 34yrs old and I'm a Firefighter Paramedic. I enjoy candle lit dinners... haha... kidding. I've got a wife and two wonderful daughters, three cats, a dog, saltwater fish tanks, a freshwater tank and now a chameleon. I sorta got into chameleons by accident. My sister-in-law was standing in her back yard, when she felt something crawling across her foot. She looked down and there was a chameleon. She didn't know what to do with it and had no desire to keep it, so she called me. I'm a sucker for strays, so I took it in (after getting a butt chewing from the wife) and wondered what the hell I was going to do with it. I figured, "I've got saltwater fish tanks, if I can care for them, this should be a snap". After A LOT of reading and a few phone calls to local pet stores (many of which offered me $200 for it) I decided to dive in with both feet and care for this Veiled Chameleon. After a few days, my wife forgave her sister 
and she actually named our latest zoo addition, "Bud Marley". I started out keeping him in an old 20gal fish tank, but within a week, he was in a new, custom screened enclosure. It's about 4ft tall, 2 1/2ft wide and there are an assortment of various sized branches and sticks for him to climb. I've got a nice live plant for him to hide in and half of the cage roof is covered to provide a shady spot to cool off. He is quite the conversation piece when friends and family come over. Everybody loves to watch him "hunt" and eat, so he stays well fed. I keep him outside and he's growing like crazy. I don't know how old he is, but I'd say he was about 4 1/2in (from the nose to the base of the tail) when we got him and he's probably 6in now. I hold him from time to time, but he usually leaves some pretty good scratch marks all up and down both arms. He's got a vise like grip and nails like pins. I keep him fed with crickets, super worms, wax worms and stuff I find crawling around my yard. We hope to have him around for many years and with the advice from everyone here, I'm sure I'll be able to do it. Well, that's about it. Sorry to be so long winded. Take care and be safe.
and she actually named our latest zoo addition, "Bud Marley". I started out keeping him in an old 20gal fish tank, but within a week, he was in a new, custom screened enclosure. It's about 4ft tall, 2 1/2ft wide and there are an assortment of various sized branches and sticks for him to climb. I've got a nice live plant for him to hide in and half of the cage roof is covered to provide a shady spot to cool off. He is quite the conversation piece when friends and family come over. Everybody loves to watch him "hunt" and eat, so he stays well fed. I keep him outside and he's growing like crazy. I don't know how old he is, but I'd say he was about 4 1/2in (from the nose to the base of the tail) when we got him and he's probably 6in now. I hold him from time to time, but he usually leaves some pretty good scratch marks all up and down both arms. He's got a vise like grip and nails like pins. I keep him fed with crickets, super worms, wax worms and stuff I find crawling around my yard. We hope to have him around for many years and with the advice from everyone here, I'm sure I'll be able to do it. Well, that's about it. Sorry to be so long winded. Take care and be safe.
