How Can We Help?

[Zan❤sChams]

When I was looking around for a Jackson's chameleon to buy, I made the mistake of looking in a pet store for one. They had one, a baby Jackson's. He was in a very small glass terrarium with pieces of bark covering the floor and a single stick for climbing. The poor little guy had turned ashen gray and was hardly moving. A tear welled up in my eye when I saw this atrocity. Pet stores aren't abusing chameleons on purpose, they just don't know how to properly care for them. Is there any way we can help stop this?

 

[Remkon]

By not buying it will eventually stop...
Reptiles aren't cheap to house and there are plenty more ways that pet stores can use this space that are more profitable to them. Not buying the reptile makes it an expensive use of space.

You don't help the current reptile but any future reptile that would take it's place.

You can just talk to the caretakers, give them advise and if the animal looks bad try to get them to bring it to a vet.

 

[Zan❤sChams]

I thought about getting him to try to save his life but then realized that doing that would just give the pet store the idea that they had done something right and get a new one. I probably should have given them some advice about how to care for a chameleon, but the one that they had was so far gone that nothing would have saved him at that point.

 

[WilcoxAE]

Don't perpetuate the system.

Also, unless you are experienced in rescuing sick chameleons, it shouldn't be done.

 

[Jax_Cham_MAN]

remkon is kinda a right if no one buys the reptile then they just decide it's too expensive to have reptiles but someone will probably buy one of the chameleons and they will make keeping the reptile worth it

if you have enough experience you might wan't to show the workers what to do for them

 

[Zan❤sChams]

I don't have much experience all with chameleons, but, at least at the pet store I visited, anyone who knew the very basics of chameleon care could tell workers a lot about how to care for them. Like I said, the chameleon I saw had only some bark and a stick.