I've been an advanced hobbyist for close to 30 years. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY and my first reptile pet was a wild-caught diamondback terrapin. Growing up poor, my only ventures to the pet shops were to buy goldfish and minnows to feed my terrapin and leopard frogs. On one visit to the petshop when I was about 8, I saw a trio of Meller's Chameleons in a large wood and glass cage. I was floored, they looked like dinosaurs and never in my wildest dreams did I think it possible to own animals as cool as that!
I don't remember the price, but did note that the cage could barely hold all three. Whether they were 3 for $60 or $600...they might as well have been $6000 back in the 1970s as far as my budget was concerned.
As I grew older, I got into other reptiles: boas, pythons, rattlesnakes, cobras, vipers, monitor lizards, cycluras, geckoes, Solomon Island Skinks, etc. I always wanted to raise chameleons, but they seemed very specialized and for decades all you ever heard where that they barely made it 6 months.
In the mid 90's I aquired a pair of Fischer's chameleons. I kept them for 3 years, but was never able to get them to breed. I guess I knew enough to keep them alive, though and when I had to move cross country I gave them to a friend who kept them at least another 2 years that I know of (lost contact after that).
My wife is deathly afraid of snakes, so I haven't kept any snakes in about 15 years. She is tolerant of lizards and I've been keeping Chuckwallas, leopard geckoes, uromastyx, and blue tongue skinks for a few years. While I'd love to keep Meller's...as they started this whole thing...I think I'm going to go with either Veiled, Panther, or maybe Jackson's. I live at about 5000' in elevation and because I'm in the Sierra Nevadas, they would need to be housed indoors most of the time.
I figured I'd join the forum to learn more about these species and seeing which setups work the best.
I don't remember the price, but did note that the cage could barely hold all three. Whether they were 3 for $60 or $600...they might as well have been $6000 back in the 1970s as far as my budget was concerned.
As I grew older, I got into other reptiles: boas, pythons, rattlesnakes, cobras, vipers, monitor lizards, cycluras, geckoes, Solomon Island Skinks, etc. I always wanted to raise chameleons, but they seemed very specialized and for decades all you ever heard where that they barely made it 6 months.
In the mid 90's I aquired a pair of Fischer's chameleons. I kept them for 3 years, but was never able to get them to breed. I guess I knew enough to keep them alive, though and when I had to move cross country I gave them to a friend who kept them at least another 2 years that I know of (lost contact after that).
My wife is deathly afraid of snakes, so I haven't kept any snakes in about 15 years. She is tolerant of lizards and I've been keeping Chuckwallas, leopard geckoes, uromastyx, and blue tongue skinks for a few years. While I'd love to keep Meller's...as they started this whole thing...I think I'm going to go with either Veiled, Panther, or maybe Jackson's. I live at about 5000' in elevation and because I'm in the Sierra Nevadas, they would need to be housed indoors most of the time.
I figured I'd join the forum to learn more about these species and seeing which setups work the best.
