New Owner

[nikilee93]

Hello, I am trying to find out more about Chameleons. I have been thinking about getting one. What are the things I would need to know? What is a good cage? Can you house two chameleons (both male or both female) In the same cage.

 

[Carlton]

Hello, I am trying to find out more about Chameleons. I have been thinking about getting one. What are the things I would need to know? What is a good cage? Can you house two chameleons (both male or both female) In the same cage.

Welcome,

I'm sure you can predict part of my answer to your questions...rather than recite a LOT of basic care info in this post I'll suggest you first read the
Resources and Species tabs on the forum. There are searches you can do for basic husbandry and sticky messages on most of the forum pages too. This will cover most of what you'll need to know including caging, feeding, proper lighting, humidity and temperatures. Then, when you come up with specific questions or need explanations of something it will be easier for us to help.

For pretty much all the larger arboreal cham species you should house them individually unless your cage is HUGE (I mean at least 6'x6' with real luck, but preferably larger). The typical indoor cham cage won't be large enough to house more than one. They are territorial and one will usually intimidate the other (even females). Stress and intimidation usually ends up meaning illness, big vet bills, breaking down and getting the second cage anyway, or death. Two males together? Just no.

For the pygmy leaf species it's possible to house a small group together, but still one male to 1-3 females at most.

 

[shane pattimore]

Welcome,
What i have noticed over the past year is EVERYONE has something different to say about the care of chameleons. There is a lot to learn, First you need to know what type of chameleon you want, Then go from there. Here are a couple sites that are very helpful with chameleon care.

http://www.screameleons.com/portal/alias__Screameleons/lang__en-US/tabID__3406/DesktopDefault.aspx

http://www.chameleonsonly.com/index.php?p=page&page_id=Care

http://www.trinitychameleons.com/chameleoncare.html

you cant put 2 chameleons together, Male or female.

 

[okiroo]

Welcome,
What i have noticed over the past year is EVERYONE has something different to say about the care of chameleons. There is a lot to learn, First you need to know what type of chameleon you want, Then go from there. Here are a couple sites that are very helpful with chameleon care.

http://www.screameleons.com/portal/alias__Screameleons/lang__en-US/tabID__3406/DesktopDefault.aspx

http://www.chameleonsonly.com/index.php?p=page&page_id=Care

http://www.trinitychameleons.com/chameleoncare.html

you cant put 2 chameleons together, Male or female.

unless you have pygmys. they are much diffrent to care for.

female chams=egg laying(unless a live bearer--ie-- jaksons.)
if you decide to get a female know that before hand. they tend to live short lives and can die off egg problems.

screen cages are best. 28x28x48 or a 65gal explorium(all screen for both.) is the littleist id do for any species. some you can go a little smaller but honestly the bigger the better. there a tab called reasorces. click it and it will tell you what you can feed your cham and safe plants to use with it. your UVB sould be a 5.0 reptisun or reptiglow. depding on what you get you'll know your humidity/temperature.


back to pygmys. they can use glass tanks. you can house them together. usually 1 male to 2 females.


hope that helps. if you teel us what you want to get we can narrow down alot more.

 

[DavidBuchan]

As a 'starter' Chameleon nobody would really recommend pygmies though....they are at the more delicate end of things.......a male Veiled is a pretty ideal introduction (no need to bother about providing egg-laying facilities, humidity is less important for veileds, etc.).
They are less likely to be 'friendly' than a panther, but if you want a lizard to play with then you don't want to get any kind of cham, really......
here is a good caresheet with all the basics you'd need to know for keeping a veiled.....https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

 

[nikilee93]

A Veiled is actually the kind I am looking into. After finding out about the females and eggs I will defiantly be getting a male. Are the males more aggressive? I do have two Chinchillas. Granted they would never would see each other most likely. Would they be irrated by having the other one in the same room or would they have to be in different parts of the house. My chinchillas take dust baths every couple and run around my apartment every night. I just want to make sure that the lingering dust in the air wont harm the chameleon if they housed in the same part of my apartment.

 

[nikilee93]

Also do Veiled chameleons turn colors as bright as panther chameleons? What would be easier to care for for a first timer? however I am always up to challenge I just want to make sure whatever I do get is going to be happy and healthy

 

[Elizadolots]

Veiled have their own special beauty, but it's nothing like the colors Panthers can produce. Panthers are generally put right behind veileds for "new owners". They tend to be a tad pricier, which might be a factor. Try to buy a captive bred chameleon if possible (or at least captive born). That will take out a few early health concerns.

I don't know of any reason the chinchillas should bother the chameleon.

Do read the stickies at the top of this forum.

And, Welcome!