So does...

[Munsonburner]

anybody have a cool story about what got you interested in chameleons? Cause I'll never forget what sparked my interest, it was about 10 years ago, during my high school days, I was entering the local pet store to get some feeder mice for my 2 snakes, I get in line & in front of me there is this lady with a panther chameleon just chilling on her shoulder, although I had no idea what kind of chameleon it was since I had very little knowledge about chams at the time, so I thought "Well, that's pretty cool." & I extended my arm to pet it on the belly with my finger, & then very suddenly, he turns around & latches onto my finger for about 5 seconds, & then climbs onto my hand & runs up to my shoulder, just hang out there checking me out for a few minutes, I was just stunned about the personality this guy had, & he was just so friendly & cute, I couldn't believe it, & until that day I had no idea that they had personalities, because typically when you think about these creatures you just think "ooh do they change colors?" so then the owner turns around, laughs a little bit, grabs her bag of crickets & has the cham climb onto her shoulder, & then leaves the store. So yea pretty much from that day forward, I grew more interested in chams over the years & I currently own 1 very happy & healthy veiled chameleon thats full of energy, I call him Wrex, & I love him to death, just sayin!

 

[Sanababit]

For me its when i saw the movie rango, jk, i went to a reptile show, and when i saw three of the most colorful lizards i have ever seen just hanging out on their tree stumps i said i need to get me one of those, and now here i am writing about it, lol

Sana

 

[distortionz]

I'm with sana I went to a reptile show back in 2000 I was 14 years old and there was a guy there with 3 tanks of baby veileds.. 1 month, 2 month, and 3 month babies... I bought a 1 month old baby basically knowing nothing about they're care.. I had to learn fast lol.. been hooked ever since.. fell away from the hobby for about 5 years but they always pull you back lol

 

[lovelychams]

Great thread! I saw a chameleon for the first time at a reptile store near Joliet, Illinois. They had a bunch of tiny, bright green veileds. The store owner took one out of the cage, and placed him on my hand. The way that this little guy looked up at me with his googly eyes, and the feeling of his tiny hands...was something I never forgot!

I. Was. Hooked.

I never bought one because I was traveling at the time. I am happy that I have Pickle now, about 10 years after my 1st encounter!

 

[Carlton]

When I was a kid (um about when the Beatles first hit the USA charts) my mom would take me to a fantastic garden center/nursery in So CA. Sometimes they had a jackson's loose in the greenhouse. When I asked about the beautiful creature they said they were very fragile and quickly talked me out of trying to get one. Never forgot him and hoped someday I'd learn more about them. Fast forward to 1980's at a pet shop in NJ where I saw my first cbb veiled. Stunned, I grilled the manager until he just about kicked me out, bought their last copy of P. de Vosjoli's cham book, ordered the only other pet books that mentioned chams, joined the CIN, and came back to buy him a couple of weeks later. Luckily I was given fairly decent husbandry info for the times. Gimli was a gem for several years.