New Member

michbobcat · Dec 31, 2015

Hi everyone! My husband and I recently brought home a 5 month only male Veiled Chameleon. The deal was that he got to decorate his enclosure to look like Yoda's swamp from Star Wars and I got to add the "monster in the swamp." LOL So now we have "George" and he is our first reptile.

Things are going pretty well so far...George was eating like a pig the first few days but has slowed a bit while he's shedding around his head, but I hear that's normal. Been doing the warm water misting to help that along. He's not drinking a lot but he was currently housed with an automatic mister so I have one of those arriving in the mail any day now.

I'm just here for all the inevitable questions I'm going to have. I read a lot about chams before we brought him home and another ton of info this past week. All the information (and a LOT of it conflicting) almost made my head explode and I almost got "cold feet," fearing I was going to be a bad mama and kill him in his first week! But I'm sticking with it, so I might have a lot of questions and thank you in advance! George will very much appreciate all your advice.

jpowell86 · Jan 1, 2016

Welcome to the Forums! Glad to see you did some research before bringing one of these awesome creatures into your home. Ask all the questions needed. Everyone here is so passionate about helping and offering advice from their personal experiences. I am curious to see this Star Wars themed enclosure....please post a pic. Congratulations on the new guy, can't wait to see a pic of him too!! Happy New Years!

Lathis · Jan 1, 2016

Welcome to the forums! We have a lot of great resources here under the care section. There is a lot of conflicting info out there, and it can definitely be overwhelming for a new keeper. The info in the care sheets here can be trusted as it was developed by people with years of successful experience keeping and breeding.

MissLissa · Jan 1, 2016

Star Wars! Yes. This is good. Please post a picture; I'd love to see that enclosure! And you cham, of course, can't forget him.

Like Lathis said, there is a ton of really good info on here; there is always more to learn

Welcome to the forum!

carol5208 · Jan 2, 2016

Hello there and welcome! Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. They are worrisome little creatures to own, especially when you are just starting out!

michbobcat · Feb 22, 2016

So my apologies for not replying earlier but I just figured out that all my alerts were going to my spam inbox. So, long story short, George had to be returned to the reptile store due to a health issue with his tail that never properly healed. They promised more extensive vet care and a new home once he was all better so I'm saying a little prayer for quick tail healing.

Therefore we now have Poe, who is about a month younger. Poe is much more skittish but I'm slowly gaining his trust. He has definitely figured out that I supply his meals.

At any rate, here are a few photos of Poe's enclosure. I'm going to post a separate question about lighting but if any of you are familiar with the Exo Terra Sunray light fixture I'd love your feedback!

Anywho, here is our version of Yoda's swamp. Vader is in there too but that photo came out really dark (spooky!). I'm also going to add some air plants to the back wall...maybe an exotic orchid. Poe seems tiny but he has no problems finding his food. Little buckaroo can be fast when he wants to!