I found a chameleon on Monday.

Albert_the_Cham

New Member
Hey everyone, I live in Portland, OR and I was driving on a fairly busy road on Monday when suddenly I see a lizard slowly crossing the street. I put on my hazard lights and pulled over as soon as I could. Come to find out it was a chameleon. I have never even seen a cham in real life at this point, so imagine my excitement/concern/confusion. I picked him up, not knowing that you should never pick it up by it's torso, rather coax it to step onto your hand, and he gave me a little warning hiss. I got him on my hand and I started knocking on doors at the apartments across the street. Nobody knew of anyone in the complex with a cham, so I went to the pet store that was a block away. They were dumbfounded, and also not super helpful as they only really handle food and treats for cats and dogs. They suggested I take him to the veterinary clinic two blocks away. I walked in with him and everyone that worked there started coming out of the woodwork to see this guy. The main vet told me that he looked to be about two years old, in good health if not a little underweight. One of the vet techs gave me a Cat Cab cardboard box with a pad in the bottom so that I didn't have to wrangle him in the car while driving, and I snapped off a few small branches from a tree outside their office, just so he had something in there. In hindsight, I think this was not necessary, but again, on Monday I knew next to nothing about these creatures. A few people mentioned that there was a pet store not far away that has the necessary accoutrements to get him set up. I wound up spending around $300 on my credit card to get him into an enclosure, fed, warm, lit, and watered. Then, once he was relaxing in his room inside my room, I posted to Nextdoor and Craigslist to see if anyone would respond. I also searched in all the pertinent areas of the internet for missing chameleon postings. So far I have only had one lead, and they lost their cham months ago in the same area I found this one, so I guess that could be possible that he survived over the Summer? Not really sure. They don't seem to think so.

So for now, it seems like I have a new pet. I call him Albert, because I found him on Alberta street. This week has been insane and totally unexpected, but I am happy to host such a cool dude. Here are a few pictures I have taken so far. Thanks for reading!
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Welcome to the forum and the world of chameleons!

He looks to be in pretty good condition. A little damage to his helmet.

If you answer the questions in the How to ask for Help thread near the top of the health forum we can see if you have the husbandry right!
 
Welcome to the forum and the world of chameleons!

He looks to be in pretty good condition. A little damage to his helmet.

If you answer the questions in the How to ask for Help thread near the top of the health forum we can see if you have the husbandry right!

Where is the damage? I don't even know what to be looking for as far as injuries go. He was out in the middle of the road, so who knows where he had been before or what he had been through.
I KNOW I don't have his enclosure properly set up yet as far as plants and coverage, but I will definitely check that out. This forum has been such a great source of information for me so far, so thank all of you for your willingness to share expertise.
 
Where is the damage? I don't even know what to be looking for as far as injuries go. He was out in the middle of the road, so who knows where he had been before or what he had been through.
I KNOW I don't have his enclosure properly set up yet as far as plants and coverage, but I will definitely check that out. This forum has been such a great source of information for me so far, so thank all of you for your willingness to share expertise.

It's the top of his casque. Looks a lil smushed.
 

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Yeah it was pretty cold that day, around 58 degrees when I found him. It got down into the 40s at night. So glad I saw him when I did otherwise he would have been TOAST.
 
Good on you for snagging him! He will need a large enclosure and linear UVB light as well as supplements. Welcome to the forums!
I got him a 30" tall, 30" wide, 18" deep screen cage, a combination heat/UVB lamp (175w IIRC, I am at work and can't look at it), a combo humidity/thermometer, a bunch of crickets, a big jug of distilled water and a spray bottle, an artificial vine. I also just ordered two little sea-grass hammock thingys and some more plastic vines. I think today I am going to stop by a local plant store and pick up a ficus or something like that, I guess whatever they have handy.
 
Glad you found him. He must of gotten away from someone.
It was a nice sunny day, so I'm guessing someone was sunning him and lost track of him. Also, the guy at the pet store said that two years ago on a different main road in Portland people were finding chams every day for about a month during summer. So who knows.
 
I got him a 30" tall, 30" wide, 18" deep screen cage, a combination heat/UVB lamp (175w IIRC, I am at work and can't look at it), a combo humidity/thermometer, a bunch of crickets, a big jug of distilled water and a spray bottle, an artificial vine. I also just ordered two little sea-grass hammock thingys and some more plastic vines. I think today I am going to stop by a local plant store and pick up a ficus or something like that, I guess whatever they have handy.

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new pickup.

Here’s a good care sheet for your chameleon.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
 
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