New to the forums and chameleons!

[ZrobZ]

Hey guys and gals my names Zack and i'm new to the forums and chameleons in general! I have a few questions in regards to finding the right kind of chameleon for me. I have been looking around petstores and they typically carry veileds and i found one really cool senegal that was pretty interactive with me and my girlfriend. Are there good places to look online? I was looking at screamelon, chameleonsonly, chamelon kingdom, backwaterreptiles, LLLreptiles, etc and seems pretty averagely panthers go around 275-400 and veileds went anywhere from 30 - 300.. I personally am looking for a panther particularly ambanja or ambilobes.. seems having around 350\400 bucks ready for one seems the best way to go about that.. Regards to setups am i really just looking at a minimum 2'x2'x4' setup with live plants, gyrometer, thermometers, heat lamp and uvb lamp? been reading oup on them for the past two weeks and figuring a plan. does anyone know about reptile shows\expos near hampton roads? (Virginia) one reptile place around here said there was one in march but im just curious. Give some feedback i'd greatly appreciate it! sorry for the long read! happy holidays everyone.

 

[FlChamMom]

I have two awesome chameleons- a veiled and an ambilobe. Both I bought from forum members. They are friendy (maybe too friendly) and great color. Buy from a small breeder- they willl be more acclimated to human contact and you get great support! Good luck with your new cham!

 

[ZrobZ]

I have two awesome chameleons- a veiled and an ambilobe. Both I bought from forum members. They are friendy (maybe too friendly) and great color. Buy from a small breeder- they willl be more acclimated to human contact and you get great support! Good luck with your new cham!

Thanks for the advice! I will be posting a wanted ad on here shortly. Really that's awesome how you're happy with their personalities. Been in the bigger cities in my area looking at some ambilobes and nosy be's yesterday and both stores couldnt tell me which were males or females. couldnt tell me if it were an ambilobe or ambanja lol. So that pretty much orientates my decision toward online business. There's an expo going on in march around here. but from what i've been reading it isn't much of a price difference to wait. Cause i wanna start loving on one now! i saw some awesome "proven breeders" at those stores yesterday though.. around 400-450 for each of them (3 ambilobes) i want to get one around 3 months so most of the fragile stage is behind and i can start bonding with them and getting them used to their environment asap. Again thanks

 

[Carlton]

I have been looking around petstores and they typically carry veileds and i found one really cool senegal that was pretty interactive with me and my girlfriend.

Senegals are nice little chams, but the main problem is that they are most often wild imports and less expensive for pet stores to buy. A wildcaught import isn't the best choice for a first cham because they are usually more than minimally stressed and not perfectly healthy to begin with and may not have received the best care along the way. You'd have to be prepared to get several parasite fecal tests done by a competent vet, treat the cham correctly, and take more of a chance that the cham ends up with other problems. Doesn't mean it always happens, but a word to the wise. IMHO, Senegals are such a beautiful color and underrated.

 

[kplatvoet]

For a first I would look around the classified here- you might be able to find someone near you. I would stay away from a reptile show unless I did a lot of research so you know what to look for - there are members who sell at shows - and finding one that you can check out here works great but I would only plan on purchasing a panther from a show if I knew that I could go back and read a few posts and such. As far as bonding - not likely - but putting up with you is a good thing to shoot for. My Panther will eat from my hand -(if he feels like it) come out of his cage to sit on a tree for cage cleaning (he likes it better when he could go in his outside cage) doesn't hiss or bite me - but I don't think he likes me at all-