I'm fairly new to chameleon breeding but not new to reality. I'm just seeing if I'm not the only one that doesn't hype over buying baby chams for outrageous prices like 275$ plus shipping just because some guy in Cali or Florida is the one producing it. They make is seem like their chameleons are so special because they came from a certain line. I understand that you look at the sire and you want an exact replica of that cham. When more than often i seen pics of grown up babies from name brand breeders that don't look that great at all. That is why I started off with 1.2 wild caught ambilobes for my breeding project to produce my own unique blood line. Also I feel that as friendly as everyone seems on here complementing on your chams, some individuals hate to see others have success is breeding and go on and on about how hard it is, how much it costs etc. If anyone feels the same please share.
P.S if you think im bashing. I am.
To me a healthy chameleon is a healthy chameleon no matter who you get it from. Power to the little guy.
Let me give you the perspective of someone who has kept and bred herps for over 30 years but is buying his first chameleon. I currently keep and breed dart frogs, so I have some understanding of what it takes to breed and sell animals. Generally speaking, you have two types of people offerring CB animals for sale - those who do it as a hobby only and those who rely on the income to support themselves. Depending on your personal financial situation, you can afford to sell hobby animals for whatever you like. Rarely do hobbyists go to the trouble to calculate what investment they've made in each offspring to determine a fair price. They just sell at or slightly below the going price. Those who do it full time are operating a business. Some care about the animals and others just do it for the money.
The price of animals is pretty much determined by the market. Regardless of what it costs to raise a given animal, you can only charge what the market will bear. Panther chameleons cost more because people like them and are willing to pay more. It's really that simple.
For someone like me, who wants a quality animal from someone who has experience keeping and breeding them, you aren't making a very convincing argument for your assertion in the title of this thread. In fact, your comments have given me confidence that I've made the right decision buying mine from an established breeder. You have stated several things that would give me concern - 1) your animals are wild caught, so there is no information on their genetic history; 2) you've never bred chameleons before (really?); 3) you claim in one post to have kept reptiles since you were in diapers, but given that you are 23, your real experience, unless you are an extraordinary individual (which you might well be), is probably the equivalent of only a few years of relevent experience. I used to catch anoles and fence lizards and toss them in an aquarium until they escaped or starved, but I was 8 years old, so that in no way is "experience" relevent to breeding chameleons; 4) the price you claim that you'll offer 2-month-old female babies for ($150) isn't that much less than prices offered by breeders. You can easily find females from parents who aren't that colorful for $200 on sale. Also, the breeders I've talked to don't sell babies until they are at least 3 months old. So, you want me to pay $150 for a baby chameleon in light of items 1) through 3) above and consider a $50 "discount" something earth shattering? Nah.
What happens after you've had a couple of animals that arrive dead? It happens fairly often despite the quality of the packing job. Will you replace the animals and absorb the additional shipping costs? If so, then suddenly, you'll have to sell one just to break even and you are then down three or four animals at break even. What if someone isn't satisfied and wants to ship it back with a full refund? These things happen all the time. As a buyer, I know that the established breeder will be around next week, but many of the "little guys" won't. It happens a lot in the dart frog business.
Then you have the sudden loss of a breeder or a disease that wipes out an entire batch of eggs. Or, babies are born with calcium deficiency, they won't eat, and then you have to spend hundreds at the vet to correct these problems, etc., etc.
If you are independently wealthy and want to offer very inexpensive baby chameleons to people regardless of cost, then more power to you. But, if you're simply trying to convince folks that it's a better idea to buy from you (when you get healthy babies) than from established breeders, well, you haven't convinced me. Not everyone wants the cheapest animal they can get.
I want a male but can't afford one for 300 
