Things that are not helpful on the forums...

I absolutely hate to see members sending new members/keepers elsewhere when they could just give hem a link form CF with the needed information. Once we sent them away, it’s a very good chance they want come back. After all these years, I still believe Chameleon Forums is the best place to get chameleon information and with less drama.
100% with you on info found here. Just sometimes it can be hard to soft though all the info here. But it's all here
 
I think I look at the resource pages differently because I do so many husbandry reviews. How can I point someone to information that has outdated info? Info that I do not even use in my own husbandry. Once the resource pages are updated that would be different. But I also see no issue in sending someone to chameleonacademy... There is info there that we do not have. Amazing podcasts that we do not have. The truth is people are going to google search to find stuff... That is how they end up finding the forum. Why not be inclusive to others that put out correct info?
 
Chameleon academy is great and I find my self there alot. Do have some great detailed care for multiple species that is updated regularly and the podcast. It's totally understandable when people like beman who helps so many people a day to send there or she would never stop typing and wear her finger off
 
I think I look at the resource pages differently because I do so many husbandry reviews. How can I point someone to information that has outdated info? Info that I do not even use in my own husbandry. Once the resource pages are updated that would be different. But I also see no issue in sending someone to chameleonacademy... There is info there that we do not have. Amazing podcasts that we do not have. The truth is people are going to google search to find stuff... That is how they end up finding the forum. Why not be inclusive to others that put out correct info?

It may seem outdated to you because you are a fairly new keeper. To us old timers it has worked for many years and still works. Honestly, I would never use some of the new technics that’s come out in the past 3 or 4 years. One example is only providing a female a shallow lay bin. In the wild they have unlimited space and I’m not taking any chances with my girl by not providing them a deep enough digging area. There is no set way to keep a chameleon and the basic needs are provided here. Once you become more experienced then they can branch out and try new things. At lease here they can get off to a good start without it being to difficult for them.
 
It may seem outdated to you because you are a fairly new keeper. To us old timers it has worked for many years and still works. Honestly, I would never use some of the new technics that’s come out in the past 3 or 4 years. One example is only providing a female a shallow lay bin. In the wild they have unlimited space and I’m not taking any chances with my girl by not providing them a deep enough digging area. There is no set way to keep a chameleon and the basic needs are provided here. Once you become more experienced then they can branch out and try new things. At lease here they can get off to a good start without it being to difficult for them.
But if you are not open to the new information then how are you growing and advancing? These are not new methods they are methods that have been improved upon and dialed in.

The shallow lay bin came out of watching them in the wild.... Also in the wild they are not eating the tons of food we give. They are laying smaller clutches. So you get a female that was overfed and lays a clutch of 45 that has to dig to the bottom of a 12 inch lay bin?

Take screen vs hybrid enclosures.... Screen was the "only" way. Now we have amazing hybrid enclosures made by multiple companies that are changing the way chams are kept. Making it easier to regulate temps and humidity.

Experienced does not mean you do not make mistakes either... And I am not trying to argue with you. I respect your experience. I do things differently than you do. Nothing wrong with either way but I am open to both knowledge of the passed as well as updated knowledge from leaders in our community. I am not a new keeper. I have been a keeper for 4 years. I do have knowledge and skills. And I learned from the forum resources and still had to seek out better info.
 
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But if you are not open to the new information then how are you growing and advancing? These are not new methods they are methods that have been improved upon and dialed in.

The shallow lay bin came out of watching them in the wild.... Also in the wild they are not eating the tons of food we give. They are laying smaller clutches. So you get a female that was overfed and lays a clutch of 45 that has to dig to the bottom of a 12 inch lay bin?

Take screen vs hybrid enclosures.... Screen was the "only" way. Now we have amazing hybrid enclosures made by multiple companies that are changing the way chams are kept. Making it easier to regulate temps and humidity.

Experienced does not mean you do not make mistakes either... And I am not trying to argue with you. I respect your experience. I do things differently than you do. Nothing wrong with either way but I am open to both knowledge of the passed as well as updated knowledge from leaders in our community.

You do very well with the new ways and I’m sure others do, too. I tried a lot of new things when Petr first from came out with them but depending on where you live some things just don’t work for everyone and it’s a lot more complicated to get set up. For one example, I had my husband put foggers on all my chameleons when Petr first said to do that......a lot of work. After a couple weeks we noticed the bath towels in the bathroom would never dry and then our kitchen cabinet doors were swollen and wouldn’t close properly and we only fogged a couple hours in the early morning, so the husband had to take all the foggers down. A friend tried fogging and had carpet in the house they became moist and mildewed. My chameleons have always been day drinkers and I guess they always will.

We have been to Africa and Madagascar several times and the few females we saw digging were digging deep holes. We keep an eye on them and they were so far down we couldn’t see them anymore. Maybe there’s some smaller species that don’t but my veiled girls would never lay in a shallow bin.
 
There is no set way to keep a chameleon and the basic needs are provided here. Once you become more experienced then they can branch out and try new things. At lease here they can get off to a good start without it being to difficult for them.

This is exactly the point, just stated more clearly than I did. There is so much to research that it can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, it requires a ton of time to develop updated resources and organize the pathways for information. A lot of behind the scenes work. It’s not about one being better or worse.
 
Now I'm sure you are wondering what things on the forums need to change...

The first that comes to mind is when forum members attack newcomers who don't yet know that they are doing things incorrectly. It adds no value and often will lead to new keepers going elsewhere or worse yet, not seeking advice they truly need. People will respond to friendly advice much faster than attacks based on what they have done before they knew it was incorrect.
I am still new to this forum yet I absolutely cannot agree more with this statement! I have read so many posted questions not dealing necessarily with husbandry and everyone of them I’ve seen, those people are ambushed! It has made me shy to post anything for fear of the same happening to me especially via people posting the husbandry questionnaire instead of just answering the question. Thank you all for addressing this issue, especially because I don’t know of any other chameleon forums and this one is an amazing resource!
 
In the last 30 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.
In the last 20 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.
In the last 10 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.
In the last 5 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.

But very seldom has "the old ways" been found to be detrimental. You can still go back 35 years and keep a jacksons in a 30 tall aquarium with a T10 vit-a-lite and medium D3 calcium. You can still go back 25 years and have a healthy veiled in a 2ft tall screen with a reptisun T8 5.0. You can go back 15 years and keep a panther healthy in a new to the market reptibreeze xl and the new "high power desert" metal halide self ballasting UVB. 10 years ago we switched to 5.0/6% T5HO. Now we are starting to lower basking area temps to help prevent burns since new keepers cant dial in 90's very well. In 5 years im sure we are going to be working together to figure out what is the appropriate setup for LED UVB and whatever the new fangled basking source will be when we cant get incandescence.

The old ways have lead to premature chameleon deaths, and the new ways have lead to premature chameleon deaths. The opposite is also true.


We now have "many ways" to keep chameleons healthy. Many many good combinations have come out in the last 30 years. Over the years many many new places can now have healthy chameleons. The new combinations allow people to keep them in places that are too hot, or too cold, or too humid, or too dry.


If anything people need to post their entire combination, not just bits and pieces. And what works for one place will not work for another, even if its considered perfect or gospel.


While paraphrasing "i dont tell people my setup, because you have to setup for your area, and it is different than mine".

I always joke that for each person trying to keep increase temps and keep humidity up, there is another person trying to lower temps without lowering humidity, and there is still another person trying to figure out how to lower humidity.








As to "uhhhhh another n00b asking the same question yet again and doesnt want to use the search bar"
Ive been running a sticky on the bodybuilding forum for a decade. Its pretty much auto pilot right now with the n00b questions. Im surprised i havent been reported as a bot for my constant repeat of same info posts. But we are our own pet humans, and i have no problem explaining for the 1000'th time how to do a SLDL :p
 
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I am still new to this forum yet I absolutely cannot agree more with this statement! I have read so many posted questions not dealing necessarily with husbandry and everyone of them I’ve seen, those people are ambushed! It has made me shy to post anything for fear of the same happening to me especially via people posting the husbandry questionnaire instead of just answering the question. Thank you all for addressing this issue, especially because I don’t know of any other chameleon forums and this one is an amazing resource!
This is a hard one... Depending on the question there may not be a definite answer. I do not jump to the husbandry form unless it is required for me to understand overall husbandry as it pertains to the question. Say someone is having an issue with a cham that closes it eyes... This can be linked to UVB, Supplements, misting schedule... So I will not give out feedback unless I know I am answering as correctly as possible.

I lurked in the beginning as well because your right it can be very intimidating.
 
The way that I see it is that we are trying to give brand new keepers a baseline of basic husbandry standards that will keep their chameleon alive and healthy...a chameleon 101 if you will. Some may decide that is adequate and choose not to proceed any further. Others may wish to learn different ways of keeping to fit their unique situations and preferences.
I will send people to Chameleon Academy to better learn the ‘why’ which I hope will inspire them to return with questions to personalize their set ups. I also send them there and Neptune on YT if they are expressing that they pretty much know zero. I talk enough as it is and believe it or not, sometimes I get tired of typing or have other things to do. ;):p I really wish that we had more graphics to offer than just the feeder and gutloading ones. I miss having the others (lighting and supplements) for use. Might as well add a safe plant one to my wish list too. I have no graphic design skills, but do volunteer to help in updating things in whatever way that I can.
 
In the last 30 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.
In the last 20 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.
In the last 10 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.
In the last 5 years we have found new ways to keep chameleons healthy.

But very seldom has "the old ways" been found to be detrimental. You can still go back 35 years and keep a jacksons in a 30 tall aquarium with a T10 vit-a-lite and medium D3 calcium. You can still go back 25 years and have a healthy veiled in a 2ft tall screen with a reptisun T8 5.0. You can go back 15 years and keep a panther healthy in a new to the market reptibreeze xl and the new "high power desert" metal halide self ballasting UVB. 10 years ago we switched to 5.0/6% T5HO. Now we are starting to lower basking area temps to help prevent burns since new keepers cant dial in 90's very well. In 5 years im sure we are going to be working together to figure out what is the appropriate setup for LED UVB and whatever the new fangled basking source will be when we cant get incandescence.

The old ways have lead to premature chameleon deaths, and the new ways have lead to premature chameleon deaths. The opposite is also true.


We now have "many ways" to keep chameleons healthy. Many many good combinations have come out in the last 30 years. Over the years many many new places can now have healthy chameleons. The new combinations allow people to keep them in places that are too hot, or too cold, or too humid, or too dry.


If anything people need to post their entire combination, not just bits and pieces. And what works for one place will not work for another, even if its considered perfect or gospel.


While paraphrasing "i dont tell people my setup, because you have to setup for your area, and it is different than mine".

I always joke that for each person trying to keep increase temps and keep humidity up, there is another person trying to lower temps without lowering humidity, and there is still another person trying to figure out how to lower humidity.








As to "uhhhhh another n00b asking the same question yet again and doesnt want to use the search bar"
Ive been running a sticky on the bodybuilding forum for a decade. Its pretty much auto pilot right now with the n00b questions. Im surprised i havent been reported as a bot for my constant repeat of same info posts. But we are our own pet humans, and i have no problem explaining for the 1000'th time how to do a SLDL :p

Wow, I love this post. Thanks. Makes us all think.
 
You said..."Once we sent them away, it’s a very good chance they want come back"...I think most of them come back...but I could be wrong. Just my 2 nickels worth (we don't have cents anymore).

You said..."After all these years, I still believe Chameleon Forums is the best place to get chameleon information and with less drama"...I think this is why they will come back...and that they will appreciate that we don't have to only have them go by information on here but can direct them to other information that is correct too.
 
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One thing that really surprises me with reptile keeping overall is how behind some of the technologies are when compared to other pet-keeping/hobbying. Having tinkered with Reef Tanks for a long time - I am surprised there haven’t been as many innovations for heating, lighting, water filtration etc.

However, I can honestly say this forum has helped A TON with general research.
 
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