New to chameleon owning

[kame]

Hello, i will be purchasing a senegal chameleon from Petland in las vegas. It looks so dang under-kept and sad. I have had a few chameleons when i was way too young to know about all the care needed but i have read a bunch on caring for chameleons recently. It is about 6 inches long head to tail tip. It looks a little bony and they dont mist it at ALL!!! Just a heat lamp and 2 branches / water fall, no dripper or anything.

I was also looking into getting an ambilobe maybe? What is a good species that might become friendly to the owner?

 

[Bay687]

well to be honest.. chameleons are all about there own territory... and chameleon and chameleon in the same cage is a bad idea! they might get along at first or act like there best of friends but there will be issues... even if they dont show it.. it puts alot of stress on the chameleons.... if you get another i recommend getting another small cage... Unless you breed chameleons thats a different situation.. but you should still have seperate cages for the female and male.. and put them together when breeding... but chameleons are all about territory .. plain and simple

 

[kinyonga]

Did I miss something?? I don't see any mention in kame's post about keeping them all in the same cage.

You might be able to help the Senegal...but buy buying it you will also encourage the store to bring in another chameleon that they will also not likely care for properly.

You could try explaining proper care to the store...they might listen. Maybe the could be persuaded to give you the chameleon if you point out its poor health.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

A senegal could very possibly be the chameleon that is friendly toward you.
The problem is ... they are all wild caught and parasite ridden.
Acclimating and cleaning the animal is a big undertaking, that the chameleon may not live through.

-Brad

 

[kame]

i wasnt getting both! it was an either / or thing. i was asking which of the two species were pretty moderate to take care of. ive been reading a bunch about senegals, not too much about panthers but i hear they are pretty aggressive.

ill ask them if it is wild or not. do you think it is likely to be wild because of its size? with just the body the lethargic one (there are two in the cage) is like 3 inches long. the active brown one is about 4.5 inches long. i dont trust they will have the answer as they dont really have any chameleon specialists on-site.

 

[tryme]

the name of the thread sounds like borat lol

 

[Amanda S]

I have heard from other members on the boards that their senegals did not adjust well and did not live long. The little guy might not live long either way in the condition he is in but I guess be prepared for the loss if you invest in him. The ambilobes are gorgeous.

 

[kame]

I was heading to an exotic pet store in a while and ill check to see what they have. We'll see what happens!

 

[Julirs]

Buying from a Petstore is usually a big NO NO.

 

[chamlover]

Please keep in mind that alot of pet store workers really don't know and sometimes don't care about their animals and the advice they give you usually is not correct so be careful in listening to what they say. Most senegals especially from a pet store WILL be w/c no matter what they say. Unless they can give you the name and tel # of the breeder that they got it from, consider it w/c and like someone said unless you are experienced with chams i wouldn't get a w/c especailly if it doesn't look healthy. You will end up spending money for nothing because it will not make it through the needed parasite regiment. I would reconsider buying either a veiled or a panther from someone on the forum that you know is healthy to begin with. But remember if you are looking for a friendly cham, then cham ownership is not for you. No matter what kind you get, NONE of them will ever like you. Some may tolerate you and on occasion allow you to hold them but most will only allow you to do it on their terms and only once and awhile. I don't know where you heard that ambilobe are aggresive although it is true some can be kind of be grumpy most of mine are kind of ok. I do have a melleri, a veiled, and a Nosy Be that is extremely friendly. If you want a guaranteed friendly pet than you should get a bearded dragon though because no matter what kind of cham you get you can only hope that he will be friendly and not want to bite the hand that feeds it. lol.

Good luck,
Debby