Riddle me this!!!!!!!!!!!

[ohiocham]

I have a question. I am pretty new to chams....3 yrs now. I had a rudis from a pet store and she had babies and died....she looked like a picture of heath. My buddy seeing that I was upset bought me a veiled from a breeder in michigan. He is healthy as a horse.

It seems to me that a lot of the health questions I read about on here deal with veileds. Do they tend to have more problems than panthers?? When I free up some more space....I want to get a male panther. I love them.

Just a question....and would love your thoughts.

Matt

 

[lonomac]

Not sure if they have more issues, but they are much more common which may be the reason for thinking this

 

[spatulars]

A few members and I were talking about this the other day, and it was suggested that because veiled chameleons only cost $35 to $60 dollars and because they're highly available at pet stores, many people purchase them with only "pet store" instructions on how to take care of them, and opt not to purchase some of the expensive necessities because they are unaware and/or ignore the needs of the chameleon due to lack of proper funds, thereby causing a lot of unnecessary deaths and health problems due to lack of care or understanding. Haha, long sentence. Some people probably also take care of their veileds correctly but get "lemons" because the pet store didn't care for them properly or they had some genetic defect due to poor breeding.

 

[CarolenRunsen]

A few members and I were talking about this the other day, and it was suggested that because veiled chameleons only cost $35 to $60 dollars and because they're highly available at pet stores, many people purchase them with only "pet store" instructions on how to take care of them, and opt not to purchase some of the expensive necessities because they are unaware and/or ignore the needs of the chameleon due to lack of proper funds, thereby causing a lot of unnecessary deaths and health problems due to lack of care or understanding. Haha, long sentence. Some people probably also take care of their veileds correctly but get "lemons" because the pet store didn't care for them properly or they had some genetic defect due to poor breeding.

TRUE TRUE, I have spent months trying to convince my man that the things that the pet store said were not right (substrate good for keeping in moisture, a bottom heating lamp, those stupid fountains, i could go on)

 

[SoCaliSon]

This topic came up in chat the other day. I don't think that it is because Veields are less Hearty, I think they are acutally more tolerant to keeper errors than other species. The reason I believe you hear about more health issues with Vieleds is because they are so much more common and less expensive, and tend to be sold in just about any pet store, to anyone willing to buy one; and pet stores almost never offer good/correct husbandry advice for keeping the chams they sell. A lot of first time keepers end up buying them at a cheap price without considering what the requirements for keeping, and more often than not, after an impulsive cham buy, they tend to learn as they go with trial and error... Hence, you hear about a lot of sick Veileds. That is my theory. Good luck with your new guy... You should post some pics.

EDIT: LOL , 3 people beat me to it, while I was typing...

~Joe

 

[ohiocham]

After the rudis I bought ....I will NEVER buy from a pet store again.
I enjoy my veiled....he got put outside today.....but....He is PISSY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SoCaliSon]

Haha... It is good that he is Pissy... Learn to Love that Attitude... It is the Trademark of a Veiled.

Here is a copy and Paste from a post I did a while back...

This is my take on the "Pet Store Cham Scam"...

1) A lot of the time you are dealing with someone who likes to consider themselves a "Husbandry Expert" because they recieved some kind of brief training on how to clean out the cages when they got hired. They rarely have the proper advice to give, and if you ask something they don't know the answer to... Rarely will you hear "I don;t know, let me ask someone who does." In an effort to keep up their "Husbandry Expert" Ego they will just feed you a line of misinformation, instead of finding out good info for you. Always do your own research ... consult people such as breeders and experienced keepers when it comes to husbandry advice and not someone who has somehthing to gain from a lie... Breeders are great sources of info... as they want to sell to you but at the same time, with this community being so tight nit, they have a rep to protect, so they can't get away with, or really benefit at all from spewing out faulty info.


2) Secondly, Most pet stores only care about the sale. The health of the animal and the husbandry it recieves do not matter if they are able to make a dollar on the sale. Most pet stores I have been to that sell Chams don't even keep their Chams in the proper conditions, let alone sell the items necessary to properly keep a cham. But they still sell them... So when someone comes in and they want to buy a cham... But the store only carries Glass tanks... Guess what kind of tank they are going to tell you your cham needs to be in?

3) You would be suprised how many products on the market are being sold, that really shouldn't be used at all... Heat Rocks, CalciSand, Compact Flourecent Bulbs, waterfalls... all this stuff is widely sold at all the pet stores, and at the same time widely known to be bad for the animals in the serious herping community. The only reason these things are still on the market is becasue the pet stores are able sell them to the "first time owner" who really doesn't know any better. The customer trusts that the Pet Store will provide the proper info, And the pet store takes advantage of that trust to make a sale.

Return your cage... or keep it, and buy a screen one for your Veiled, then you can wait until you get a little more experiece and use the glass one to house Brevs! We can help you find a nice reputable dealer who can set you up with a quality animal, and then we can make sure you recieve the proper advice on caring for it.



~Joe

 

[spatulars]

TRUE TRUE, I have spent months trying to convince my man that the things that the pet store said were not right (substrate good for keeping in moisture, a bottom heating lamp, those stupid fountains, i could go on)

I hear you, my roommate still does not believe that he should do his own research regarding animals he's interested in. Based on my experience with animals in general, I do believe that reputable private breeders are the way to go, perhaps even for pets as simple as rats and hamsters!