Hello New and Searching

freakofnature

New Member
Hello to every one my name is Jean. I am new here and glad I found this site. I have been really thinking about getting into breeding. A long time ago I did own a wonderful little chameleon but he passed away from my lack of know how and holding him way to much. It broke my heart when he passed away because I had become very attached to him. I am very interested in learning every thing I can before I ever decide for sure this is for me. I love all animals and I would love to have a few chameleons. So far I find the Panther to be the most colorful and although I do enjoy the Jackson's as well those tiny little Pygmys have me looking at them to. I am not looking to become a breeder to sell them and make tons of money. I am more so looking to have the wonderful experiance of raising them and giving them long happy years of what they need.

So any information that you other breeders can teach me would be great. I have done some research online about them and looked over fact sheets and care sheets. But I am sure there are way more things I must learn. It's going to be a long while before I do this or even get them because I want to make sure I do it right. What other chameleons have live births or are easy to breed and care for the babies? I know Jackson's have live birth. I guess just tell me what I should know. I seen some jackson's today at the pet shop and I couldn't help but sit and watch them wishing I had the set up already and could rescue them away from the pet store. Some pet stores take care of the pets but this one has gone down hill :mad: and it really made me sad:(. Also how much is the going rate to buy from breeders a Jackson, Panther or veiled? Are there any breeders on here Near Tampa, FL? I would rather buy from some one who knows about them. Thank you every one for your time. :)
 
My recommendation is to learn and keep chams first, then worry about breeding. If you had issues the first time, then the best thing is to work on keeping 1+ chams going for 1+ years (for the health of the cham you want the females to be at least 1 year old before breeding anyway).

While you are working on the health and keep up of your cham(s) you can then do the research needed for breeding.

Create a habitat first. Do everything you would as if you had a cham (boy, I wish I did this, especially the misting part!). Just leave out the feeding part. There was so much I didn't know, and adding the cham really didn't make a difference. Once the setup is good and you are into the routine, then get the cham.

Read up on the egg laying aspect of females because you will most likely go through a couple "blanks" before the female is old enough to mate and still have it a healthy meeting. Blanks meaning un-fertile layings by the female. Males take the same amount of up-keep without the worry of getting egg bound.

Anyway, there are a couple of my thoughts.
 
Welcome to the forum-you are certainly doing things in the right order by researching and then getting back into chameleons. I live in the Tampa area and there are really no chameleon breeders very close that I have ran into. I have purchased all of my chameleons from Mike at FL Chams-he is in the Fort Meyers area. There are a few others on this forum that are within a 2-3 hour range. On the home page of the forum you will see the links to the site sponsors, and there are price lists on their pages. I would start out by getting a chameleon, and then learning the ins outs of taking care of them, and then buy others as you are comfortable. I would be happy to point you in the direction of cageing and accessories. There is also a Reptile show in Tampa at the end of September.
 
You have come to the right place. Do a lot of searching first. There are a lot of different types of chams out there. In some respects I made a mistake in getting lots of Panthers right off the bat. There are many other interesting species. I will have to downsize my Panthers before I can have time for other species. People here have some really cool things. Check them all out and find out what they need. Some things may do better for you in Florida than others.

Then get your set up like Smitty advised. Make sure it all works together. You are in reptile country. I would be in soooooooooo much trouble if I lived in Florida. There are several good breeders there. You are so lucky :)

Work with your first purchases and build your collection from there. You may find another species that interests you even more. Your first couple of clutches may have technical difficulties. You can never count your babies until they hatch and thrive for months. There are so many factors that go into the whole process. That's why this group is thriving. If we could all do it perfectly every time there would be no need to join this group! Staying with this group will definitely help you avoid a lot of the common pitfalls. And when you find yourself in the position of having extra offpring to sell, this group can help you with that too. Look forward to seeing what it is that you finally decide to buy............
 
I curently breed sugar gliders (for those who are not sure what they are you can search online they are very cool pets) I am a licensed breeder and know all about doing before thinking and what it can not only do to your wallet but the pets. That is why I decided to join this site because I am also a member of a glider forum. :p I have been talking to a young man in my area who was telling me it was probably best for me to get into jackson's first as they have live birth. The whole egg laying thing does worry me a bit but eventually I want panthers. If not to breed for sure as pets :D. I want to pick a chameleon that has pretty colors, is easy to care for (some what) not going to break my wallet and is simi easy to breed. I would like to learn where to sell them at when that time comes? Now please do not take this the wrong way when I say this..... I guess I have to look at it too if I am going to sell them to help get back some of what I put into them I want to at least break even. I know that with all aniamls there are breeds out there that make a killing and good profit. I am not looking to step on any ones toes or to rip any one off. I am first looking to learn as I said before. But i want to not only learn about having them as pets but also as a business. I do plan on one day to open a pet shop. A pet shop that actually takes care of the pets and does not get more then it can handle taking care of. I see so many pet shops now days that have way more animals then they can actually care for and most end up dead because of it. To me this makes no sense. I'm not sure how it goes in the reptile world but in the sugar glider world there are MORE and more ending up in rescue homes because of lack of research and know how. It is very sad to say the least. My mission with sugar gliders is to offer the public healthy and tame joeys, to offer nice coloring and to educate people about them. I would do the same thing with reptiles if I were to breed them.

To me it is more important to repopulate the world with healthy animals and to educate people about them. I do love having the experiance of actually having them and watching them grow, learning about them. :) I have been doing research for a while now online as I said before so I do know a bit about them if the information is true. The chameleon I had in the past when I had bought it the pet owner told me it was okay to keep it in a 10 gallon tank with screen lid. Said to feed it these little fruit flies that he gave me in a small bottle. said hang it inside the cage. He said I could allow it to eat house flies too or other bugs. I used to take him every where with me (I find out was a BIG NO NO!) and he did eat out side bugs. one day he turned black and died in my hands. I cried for weeks about it and at the time I didn't have a computer to do searching online with. Other wise I would have been doing that. I do not want that to happen again so that is why I am doing this now.

So here are my questions really to every one who has any thing to say.... all opinions are welcome.

#1. What do you think are the easiest to care for? (or simi easy)
#2. That have nice coloring? (I love colors) :p
#3. That will not break my wallet to care for?
#4. that are simi easy to breed?
#5. That are going to be able to find a home if I do breed them?

Thank you for all of your help.
 
Since I have only been in this since December-let me tell you what I have learned...
1. This is the most expensive pet venture that I have gotten into (and the most addictive).
2. It is the most time consuming as far as care I have ever experienced.
3. Patience is important. By the time you raise a baby to breeding age(buying at 2-3 months and raising them for 8+ months), then wait 30+ days for eggs, then wait another 6-18 months on eggs to hatch you are looking at serious patience.
4. You need space, space and more space. Cages that are 4 feet tall and 2X2 feet wide take alot of space.

So-say you want a Panther chameleon that you intend to breed, you will be spending about $400.00. Cage and accessories, lighting, plants, etc... will cost you another $200-300 dollars-and that is just for one.

Now-you are not just taking care of one or two chams, you are taking daily care of feeders. They become your edible pets. They have to be cleaned and fed everyday, and I have 4 different feeders for 7 chameleons.

I do not intend to scare anyone away-it hasn't scared me yet, and I haven't even gotten eggs-the fun is yet to begin. But start with one chameleon. A nice male Veiled will cost you about $100.00. But like I said, the Chameleon is the cheapest part!
 
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