Help me decide what AGE female veiled cham to get!?!

[Fireofmarajade]

HI! I'm new here and got my first chameleon last month! A healthy, happy, and fun little guy! He is about 3 months or so that I was told from the pet store. After reading these forums that i found as i researched what i needed for him before he came home - THANK YOU everyone btw for the blogs and care sheets!

Then we went to the Daytona Breeders show and I needed to take a TINY baby boy home that they said was a little over a month old - he is a little over an inch for his body! I am constantly worried about his health because he is so small and its hard to tell if something is wrong when he does NOT want to be held at all! I have only done this for cleanings and when he first came home. So despite the overall good heath, I worry even though he happily eats his fruit flies and drinks and his fecal matter looks good, so i know he drinks!

My question is that we are able to go to the Lakeland Repticon that is coming up quick and my husband has agreed that i can get a FEMALE because I would love to start seeing the differences and maybe have a clutch later on. I LOVE the idea of watching babies grow as they are in your care. But is such a little veiled TOO young? I have been an avid pet owner of MANY reptiles throughout the years - iguana, turtle, anole, gecko, snake and more! So i know the care that needs to go into it but i always worry about the babies health!

I have LOVED bonding with Treek - the 3 month old and i KNOW how contented he is as he eats a healthy varied diet of dusted crickets, waxworks, did NOT eat the bloodworms, and i just got meal worms for the little one to try! At the next expo I plan on getting pinhead crickets as the stores here seem not to carry them! I know that it will take time with PEAK to get acclimated to home - since the show was about a week ago and I know his stress colors come as he hurries to avoid my "large" hand coming at him for cleanings or attempt at hand feeding with a small bottle cap. I have had fruit in there to attract the flies for him too!

I know this a LOT of info and things but mainly i need your HELP to know what is TOO young - even though i already have a hatchling pretty much and was thinking about getting a baby girl to bring home - I really would LIKE to have the two small guys grow up together!

I already have another small screen cage to build for them as they need to be separated as well- if they do NOT want to socialize right from the get go!
but is it better to get one that has a larger body size closer to Treek that is about a 3 inch body? I will post up pics when I can figure out how to!

 

[Lovereps]

A sad fact is that young chams are cheaper because not all of every clutch is going to make it to adulthood, as well as the fact that the longer a cham is cared for, the more has been spent on caring for it.

Babies are always worrisome, since they are less able to tolerate any husbandry mistakes and any hidden defects they have may not become apparent until they get older.

With that said, so long as you have an enclosure already set up for her to go into read this purchasing guide , written by the chameleonforums moderators https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/purchasing/

 

[joepakaluk]

I like babies because it is really a heck of a time caring for them and nursing them to adulthood.

 

[jannb]

If you are looking for a female veileds Dez has 20 little girl veileds that are big, fat and happy.....beautiful too! Their mom Emma was gorgeous. I believe she will be at the Fire Show in Lakeland too. You can contact her here. http://chamalotchameleons.com/

 

[Fireofmarajade]

Awesome JannB!!!! I will contact her tomorrow!!!! Hopefully she is at the show, and I would LOVE to talk chams with more people that are also local - I am near orlando-ish area but a bit west closer to Disney! Would love to meet up too! LMK

Joe - I really DO like the IDEA of the young/hatchings! I have raised other reptile babies before so I understand the differences that the younglings have versus OLDER more established animals! But I would LOVE to soak up as much CHAM care and possible!

I have read your blog Jann and others here and as much as I can and THANK YOU everyone for Taking the time to make those and help us newbies! I even downloaded some books on my kindle today to make sure I am covering the bases - oh and the national geographic article is so AWESOME!

 

[Fireofmarajade]

I just updated my avatar with a picture of Treek! He is about 3/4 months old and he LOVES to free range with me during the day! He has a varied diet though disliked the 1 butterworm he tried, just stared at the discoid roaches with disdain [i live in FL so no dubia for us], anything that flies is an INSTANT target!

I also added albums! Each has the name of the chams - Treek, Leon, & Cleo! I got the little girl from the repticon today! I decided on another baby veiled to watch grow and enjoy! She settled in immediately with a buffet of all the food I had that was size appropriate! She was happy that there was feeder food at the show!

And she shares her cage with Leon - who may or may not be her clutch mate since i got her from the same person! Leon has been a TON of fun to watch! For the few weeks that I have had him, I constantly worry that he might be sick or not cared for well enough or going to become sick at any and all moments Itty Bittys can be super fragile! So after the time with him WAITING FOR HIM TO SHED bc i love to watch it and prove that he is growing, I finally decided to get him a cagemate for the time until they each need their own space! That's my story thanks for reading and check out my albums!

 

[Lathis]

Ack! Separate them now!

1) new animals should always always always be quarantined. Even if it seems "safe", you can't risk transfer of unknown infections and/or parasites. Quarantine should be maintained until a clean fecal check is obtained and a set amount of time had passed - people generally recommend one month. I understand that they came from the same breeder, but quarantine is always recommended.

2) chameleons needs to be kept separately. There is no " socializing well" for naturally solitary chameleons. There is a huge amount of info on the reasons why on the Forum, so I'll let you do some research on that. There are no excepts for typical keepers and typical conditions.

 

[Fireofmarajade]

I did do research on the housing aspect of the two champs being together and what I have read is that once they get a bit bigger, they need to be separated. They are in an 18x18x36 in case you wanted to know and if that helps with the reasoning of why i found it to be okay that they were together. Leon was purchased only 2 weeks ago from the same breeder and i do see your point, but until the new cage comes in early next week - a shipping problem from amazon caused it not to be here friday.... As far as the "socializing" aspect - it was more of a jovial post to update people on what I decided and was being silly in the manner that i wrote in - or so i thought. Sorry that i made you concerned for the welfare of my new friends though!

 

[Lathis]

I do worry that's why I try to help . I wish all the best for new keepers, and we just see so many sad posts about illness or injury that could be avoided.

We get a lot of new keepers here that are either given bad information or for some reason think their situation is different from the recommended care. Always to the detriment of their chams, unfortunately. It's good you have a plan to get everyone in separate cages. If there seems to be any issue with one baby not eating or hiding all the time, those would be strong indications of stress. You can separate the cage in the interior into two compartments with a sheet of coroplast.

In general for others who find themselves this thread in the future, my earlier post stands: always quarantine and no shared enclosures!

 

[Fireofmarajade]

This forum is SO insanely helpful in reinforcing what i know and other cham specific information that i am so thankful for everyone's help! And I have completely noticed the number of sick chams that are posted about for help!

Like everyone else here, I want to help - bc we are all here for that reason and for others to GET our reptile love! My husband sorta gets it but when we go to repticons, he marvels that so many people love to have snakes as pets because he just doesn't get it! I however have had an albino ball python before and know the appeal!

They are hiding from each other - which I'm thankful for - and no stress colors just a bit of hide [and seek] knowing where the other is at all times Not hiding out in the cage though, roaming all over the plants - in which i added more when Cleo came so that they had TONS of places to hide! It is super hard for me to find them right now with all the green!

what is chloroplast? opaque plastic? i will see what i have around that might work for the day. I had a piece of cardboard in there last night but while I've been home and able to watch them for the day, removed it for feeding and easier sight to grab the flies and crickets!

I DO agree with you on the golden rule of all animal keeping really. But no all things go as planned! i was "comfortable" with the babies in there for a couple nights but I find myself just working in the same room as them to keep an eye out! I think Treek wants to know why! I keep getting the stink eye! I ended up covering his cage a bit so he doesn't get stressed about it - i use the grip shelf liner so that there are holes for air and it doesn't get knocked off so easily! Love how i can easily move it too!

Thanks for the reply! And others who help so much