Starting out

[tihsho]

I have been keeping odd-ball animals for fish over the years and it has always been an ambition of mine to keep a few chameleons. I mainly hope on getting a pair of one of these species that are listed:

~Veiled
~Panther
~Jackson

Or get a single Cameroon Mountain/Sailfin Chameleon. But if I can find them I would highly like to get either 3 Tanzania Stump-tails (1 male & 2 females) or 3 Spectral Pygmys (1 male & 2 female)

Any of those species I really would like to get at least at 8 weeks old (from what I hear any younger then 8 weeks is a big risk for the inexperienced and or the experinced aswell.)

For a enclosed setup I was aiming for a screened 24"x12"x26" cage with a double flourescent lighting with also a red heat bulb and a blue bulb for night (so 4 bulb hood setup.) I know some people with chameleons and they are helping me set up a drip irrigation system to supply water to the chameleon(s.) But my main question is, would the encloser I am looking at buying be enough to house a pair off the larger species I mentioned?


Thankz

 

[Brad]

Hello tihsho, welcome to the Chameleon Forums


The first three chameleons you mentioned would all be good starter chameleons. They are not necessarily easy to care for, but they are widely available as captive bred.

The cage dimensions you listed would not be big enough for one adult, let alone two. It would be a good cage for juveniles. Most chameleons will not do well if kept together. They get stressed too easily. Some of the smaller species might be an exception, but I do not have enough experience with them to comment.

Also, you will need a UV light. Chameleons do not need a night light; I would not use one.

 

[tihsho]

The lamp system I am looking at has 2 flourescent bulbs aswell as sockets for 2 bulbs (red, blue etc.) Do they sell UV bulbs that I could put in the socket? So it would be 1 UV and 1 red day heat bulb?

Since you said that the dimentions are small I will look into getting 2 larger screened setups. I only seem to beable to find 30x30x18's at the moment

Some friends (have kept chameleons for years) and I have started setting up a adoption/clinic to house rescued, abandoned (morelike people don't want them and give it to us), and or old or injured chameleons. So far there are 3 and I am learning so much about care and maintanence. 2 of them are old guys and one is a really aggressive juvenile female. They have a room in a (friends) dedicated to them that have 3 potted trees in it (one in each of the corners, fourth corner has the door) and each chameleon has their own tree and gets hand fed everyday or every other day with dusted crickets, mealworms and the occasional wax worms. So if you know of any needy chameleons theres a place up to help them. I would wait till we get more established first though so we can accomodate the chams.

~Tihsho~

 

[Brad]

Reptisun makes compact fluorescent UV bulbs that you could use. All I use is a good UV source and a basking light. For basking, I just use a normal incandescent bulb that you would use in normal home fixtures.

Chameleon cages are pretty easy to build. If you don't have the time, here are a few places that sell them:
ebay.com
lllreptile.com
reptiledepot.com
cages.net

Good to hear about your chameleon rescue project.
Keep us updated on how that works out.

 

[Chamgirl]

Tihsho I admire you and your friends for helping out rescued/injured chameleons. I have set myself the goal of taking in needy chameleons myself in the future. I want to help ill ones in particular but I need my own home first to do this as I have very limited space living with my parents.

 

[tihsho]

Yeah, it's great to help out. Plus I am learning so much.