Traveling once a year problem???

[ALX]

I think i already know the answer but here it goes. Once a year, at chirstmas, i go back visit my parents and friends in my hometown. Is it to stressfull for a cham to travel in a box 2 time in two week by plane or bus to bring him with me to take care of him. I will let a enclosure with all is stuf at my parents house. Is it possible, or i realy should find a good friend to come and take care of him at my appartment?

 

[james L]

Dont travel with any reptiles. Its so much stress on the animal. Leave him home, have someone watch him.

 

[damzlfly]

i agree. See if your local rep breeder will care for them for you while your gone. Some offer that service

 

[morpheon]

How far is it? If it's a two hour bus trip i don't see any harm. If it's 14, that's another thing!

I'd try avoiding airplane as much as possible too. It's a lot more stressful than a bus trip in my opinion.

Also, don't forget that you would have to bring lots of stuff to make him confortable, not to mention the required temperature and humidity levels.

How old is your chameleon?

EDIT: you could also mention where you live. There may be someone who is willing to help you with it. But leaving a chameleon to someone who never had any reptile before is something risky and i wouldn't recommend it, unless traveling with it could do more harm. At the end, what i'm trying to say is it's not clear cut between traveling or not. Not traveling with it can be very harmful too. The goal is to choose what is less dangerous for your chameleon.

 

[ALX]

It's about 20 minutes of subway & 7 1/2 hour of bus. I leave 30 min of Montreal in Quebec Canada.

I don't have my chameleon yet and it still not bought, but i'm already talking to some breeder and i'm intersted between two. For sure it will be an Ambilobe. One is from http://www.trinitychameleons.com/ambilobe.html and it's from Diabole. The babies will be ready to ship by end of june, and the other is from http://www.chromachameleons.com/index.php?page=available&species=Ambilobe Panther&status=current baby male from Higgins from the clutch 09AD.

I know that i have a lot of stuff to bring to make him confortable. Here i'm gattering an all custom made kit as i'm a designer in a furniture shop it's not to expensive for me to make a great furniture in witch i will hide all the stuff, mistking system, lightning, uvb, dripper, drainage, thermostat hygrostat... but for my parents house i will buy a small sarter kit in witch i will add some oder plant and minor stuff that i will make ship dirrectly there so i don't have to carry all this in the bus. So i just have to bring my cham in a comfortable box with foam and maybe heatpack and thermomeater in my backpack with me in the bus.

 

[ghettomike]

I have a 6 month old veiled from Trinity Chameleons and am extremely happy that I got a very healthy cham from them. I have seen some of their "collection" (not sure what to call it lol) and they all looked very heathy and taken care of properly. I would definately recommend them as breeders.

 

[morpheon]

7 hours in bus from Montréal? That makes it...Baie-Comeau?

That's a good run sadly. If you can get the stuff shipped, it's great. But this is a tough choice between leaving it at Montréal or bringing it with you on Christmas.

My main concern is about the new environnement (ie cage, room at your parents house). Because traveling with a chameleon for 6-7 hours is doable (even though your traveling would most likely be 8 hours), i have seen it fairly often. BUT, once at your parents house, your chameleon wont know the new place, which is another stressful experience. And then, when he will finally be Ok in his new enclosure, he will have to leave for another time, and readapt to the old enclosure.

And then, when you bring a chameleon to a place that nobody has ever seen one, people will stare at him all day long, will want to touch it, to feed it, and more. Which is worse.

Honestly if i were you, id prefer to leave it at Montreal. To me its like a 60-40%. Its just less risky to leave it to Montreal, especially if you can have someone to take care of him.

 

[Elizadolots]

8 hours is a long time--though, when your chameleon is shipped, it will probably be "in a box" for considerably longer...if you can find a vet or knowledgeable friend (maybe even someone you can teach as you get the hang of it yourself) then that would probably be a better option.

You might want to look at this thread for ideas: https://www.chameleonforums.com/limeys-going-vacation-any-travel-tips-39044/

 

[ALX]

Not baie-comeau, but Lac St-Jean.

Yeah that's exactly what i was thinking, but the things is that i live here for less then a year, and i dont know much people able to take care of a cham. In the oder hand I totaly understand all the stress he will have to subit with all the travel thing, but at least i think i will be abble to make people understand to do not touch or feed or anything, just look... At least there is no more young in the family so it's not so bad for this point. The best thing, I think..., will be to find some breeder, keeper, or something like that and visit there instalation to see if I can trust them... December is so far but i'm already so anxious with that.. I will have to skip cristmass for some years I think....

 

[morpheon]

Thats a good concern though.

Check your private messages. I sent you a link to someones homepage selling chams at Quebec city. My solution is getting one cham from him and when you travel to the Lac, you could probably drop it at his house. I think its something you could consider and talk about it with him.

I wish i knew someone who had the time to take care of him at Montreal. But my bestfriend usually leaves Montreal for the Cote-Nord at every Christmas...

I also suggest you going to the Lac by Allo-Stop. Its a lot less expensive and a lot faster! But thats just a suggestion!

 

[Elizadolots]

It's good that you are preparing ahead. There are a lot of Canadian members of the board, so maybe one will contact you. In the meantime, check if there's a "herp club" or association in the area...you might be able to find a good "sitter" there. You will not be giving up Christmases just because you have a chameleon!

It's harder this year, because it's the first year.

I know what I'm about to say might sound insane....but maybe next year, you can get the cage to your parent's house. One idea might be buying an extra ticket on the bus so it can ride in the seat next to you (I don't think I'd recommend packing it and putting it in the luggage compartment....it would be a disaster when you got it out of the box). That might or might not be feasible...the point is, you have time to work out a solution.

**edited to add**
I see contact has been made.

 

[morpheon]

On these bus its possible to carry some luggage with you inside the bus. So having a small traveling box is easily doable, i have done it once! But on a much shorter distance! And certainly not twice in 2 weeks for 8 hours. Thats exactly the biggest problem...

 

[ALX]

Thanks Elizadolots for the link, very usefull for the box with stick... I still don't know want I will do but at least if I decide to bring him with me i will know the best way to do it.

And thanks Morpheon, i will go check my message, that would be a great idea the one for Quebec, I already transit there so i will definitly think of it. By the way I have some friend from cote nord, havre-st pierre and baie commeau, who are now near montreal......

 

[morpheon]

If you have any good and trustworthy friend who will stay at Montreal for Christmas, you could teach him how to take care of your chameleon too.

 

[ALX]

The problem is that all my good friends who leave near me come from diferent region and they all go back there for christmas. And those who stay, live about an hours from my home, so its a 2 hours drive each days or 2 so...

 

[morpheon]

Its not over yet.

I still think the best thing would be to keep your chameleon at Montreal. But if you have no choice, you don't.

If you really have to bring it to the Lac, then i'm sure it's possible to have something done to make it as less stressful as possible. So if it happens, come back here and we'll try to help you out! One idea would be to get the enclosure prepared and ready before he gets to the Lac. Your parents could buy a flexarium, which isn't the best for their lifelong, but for a 2 weeks journey i'm sure it could be doable!

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm with morpheon...it's not over yet! There are still a bunch of ideas you might adopt. "less than perfect" is probably the reality for most of us, so don't worry overly about the fact that you are maybe doing something less than perfect.

I've been ripped over the coals by chihuahua owners because I don't feed mine a special ground up tiny food...I guess that's the "ideal"....my chihuahua seems fine after 5 years of regular dog food...

 

[ALX]

thanks a lot for all your advices. I will start be getting my cham and worry about cristmas later. At least i have now a clear idea of what i can do.

Thanks a lot from a futur cham owner who is already exited just thinking in having an ambilobe

 

[hallenhe]

Some options, particularly when everybody you trust is also traveling: some pet shops and vets will board animals for you. If there's a local one you trust, that might be the easiest. 2) If you live in a big enough town, there may be professional pat sitters. The ones around here are licensed and bonded, and you can obtain references before hiring them. 3) If anybody you know and trust is staying around, I've never had trouble having somebody drop by once a day and take care of the animals, even when said person didn't have reptile experience. Yes, chams are among the more difficult and demanding of reptiles, but you're not asking this person to adopt the animal, only to feed and water it for a week or two. I have a drip system to water my chameleon, and a rank novice can fill the reservoir and make sure it's dripping, and give the animal a warm misting. I walk my sitters through everything the first time and give them a sheet of written directions (what to feed whom, where the bugs are, how to supplement, how to feed the bugs, etc.); I leave the vet's contact info with them and my cell phone. I've had 7 different people watch my animals in the time I've been keeping chams, and the worst thing that's happened has been a goldfish dying (and he was an old goldfish).