Couple things.
First - let's try to separate a few things here. Our Mellers are in full tall screen cages, with a repti sun 5.0 bulb and proper heat, along with plenty of climbing material to perch on, in a cage all by itself. Now - for long term purposes should the cage be larger, taller, wider? Of course. Absolutely. 100%. The same would be said for 99% of reptiles on display at shows, in stores, or at BREEDERS facilities (I would argue that ours are kept better than many cham breeders, as I have seen some crazy stuff through the years). In our case, our chams get rotated out in and out of reptariums at all our stores, and get natural sun before business hours as well to get sprayed down, get sprayed multiple times daily, etc, etc. I would LOVE to have 6 foot tall, 3 foot wide cages inside our stores to keep them in. Obviously - there is only one problem with that...
To compare our setup with a glass tank or some of these awful setups I see in stores is just not the same. Not even the same ballpark. Pick your battles guys. We treat our chams extremely well. We have been keeping mellers for 15 years. We are very familiar with their needs and stress levels. For the amount of issues that Mellers can have when they are imported, we have amazing success with ours. If you had asked the staff at the menifee store what they recommend for a cage for a "permanent" setup - they would have absolutely told you that for long term, the cage should be as large as you can possibly afford. I realize that you are use to stores not doing the right thing. I get that as well. If you have a question like that - ask Jen at Menifee. She is the manager, and will always be up front with anyone. She is also really, really "reptile smart". She gets irked when people assume because she is a girl she doesn't know as much or more about most reptiles. Don't be fooled - she is serious (more so on crazy odd snakes for those into weird ratsnakes and off the wall stuff)
I realize this won't satisfy every person, as rotating them out for natural sun, water, and the fact that they are not on hand that long, doesn't satisfy the die hard cham keeper. I completely understand that. I absolutely wish we could have a 10,000 square foot store, with 6 foot tall cham cages for each cham, and 6 foot vision cages for all our tortoises, snakes, dragons, etc, etc. Reality though says otherwise, but I do think we do a pretty damn good job. None the less, i shot an email over to Jen (at Menifee) anyhow to make sure that she is on it with the Mellers to make sure it is going outside, etc, as that store just opened up last week, and they are working on their new routine.
If you guys ever have questions like this - you can always PM me directly on here instead of just posting away. We always want to hear feedback, and will always do our best to give you the info you are asking about. I see chameleons in tiny glass tanks at stores all the time. I say something every time I see that and get pissed myself. I would expect every one of us to do the same.
And for anyone coming into the Menifee grand opening sale this weekend - I will be there personally Saturday morning until about noon. See ya there!
Scott
LLLReptile & Supply
