urgent New owner Hurt cham

[Stanjohnson193]

Hey guys,
I have two veiled chameleons. 1 is female around 1 year in age. the other is male around 4,5, or 6 months in age. My cage is 4 feet tall by 30 inches X 30 inches. Which I think is pretty big so I just got this male 3 days ago and have him in this big cage with the female and things seem to be going great until I come home tonight and little boy is up in the top corner of the cage with his foot all swollen kinda bleeding and not being used so I got him and put him back in the bushes where he can rest and I have the Female in a box with a plant for the night. I got him from PetSmart and I'm going to take him back tomorrow because they have a thing where within 2 weeks they send them to the vet on their bill. Questions. 1 Could it be broken? 2. if it is broken could it heal back and be good as new. 3. If it cant and he looses that foot could he still live a long fulfilling Chameleon life. I feel aweful I thought the cage was more than big enough. Tomorrow when I take him I am going to get some supplies and build a divider that will let me separate them. with mesh fencing like the cage is make of. also do you think that is a good idea?

 

[Saldarya]

I think you need to rethink having 2 chameleons unless you can have 2 cages, especially for a Veiled.

I know the cage seems big, especially when the male is young like that, but understand that for a full grown male, that size is getting pretty close to minimum sizing. Add in the female, and well, you saw what happens.

What likely happened is that he, in his youthful lust, tried to make a go at her. Clearly she was having none of that and tore into him. He had no where to go, so there he is cowered in a corner.

I do not believe that dividing a 30" cage is going to be a good idea either. You then only have 15" of space in that direction. The make coudl grow to be that big easily!

Again, if you cannot house them separately, you need to make a hard decision and find a new home for one.

On the medical side, I am not sure that Petsmart guarantee is going to cover damages that you facilitated. It is in place to deal with animals that they unknowingly sold that were sick. This is not the case. Nor do I think they are going to take the return of a very hurt animal.

Not sure what you will do there. But the male does need to see a vet that you need to be prepared to pay for.

Again, I understand this happened with the best of intentions, but now that you know it is an issue, you need to resolve it, not try and rig the cage you have.

HTH,

 

[Stanjohnson193]

ok Thanks. I can get my hands on a new cage easily tomorrow. and there just so happens to be an exotic vet clinic like 5 minutes from my house. Ill rethink the housing thing. Later on if everyone is ok how would i go about introducing them to breeding? I am kinda hoping to breed them and be able to turn a little profit on the babies.

 

[FlChamMom]

I'm really not trying to be a dream killer here but make sure you thoroughly research what goes into a breeding project before you decide to mate your pair. You can buy baby veiled online all day long for under $50. Unless your two are really special you may have trouble turning a profit. Feeders for hatchlings like fruit flies are expensive and they eat a lot! Factor in housing if you end up with holdbacks that you cannot sell immediately... Once again, not trying to tell you not to but since not housing 2 together is Cham 101, you probably were given some bad information at Petsmart. On the left side of the screen there under Care Resources there are links to care sheets for Veileds. I would start there. Good luck and I hope your boy is OK!

 

[CarlC]

Ok so let me get this right- Its your fault it is injured and you are going to take it back to Petco because they have a guarantee.

Carl

 

[ridgebax1]

Take it from someone who learned the hard way, there is more to caring for even a hardy species like a veiled than putting them in a cage, giving them crickets and letting nature take its course. I made serious husbandry errors based on info from the pet shop that sold me my first chameleon. They gave me inadequate care advice and inappropriate supplies for which my poor cham paid the ultimate price. You really need to look at the care pages and do more than rethink housing. They need separate enclosures placed so they cannot even see each other.
As far as breeding, that is a monumental undertaking and should really only be attempted once you are very familiar with all that is required by the 15 or more babies it will produce and that you must provide housing and food for, for at least three or so months.
One place to start is the How to ask for help form which you should fill out in detail. That way the very experienced keepers can help you provide proper care for your chameleons.
Good luck with your chams and welcome to the forums.

 

[melble68]

Breeding shouldn't be for the profit. It should be for the love.

 

[clairebear]

new

Hey guys,
I have two veiled chameleons. 1 is female around 1 year in age. the other is male around 4,5, or 6 months in age. My cage is 4 feet tall by 30 inches X 30 inches. Which I think is pretty big so I just got this male 3 days ago and have him in this big cage with the female and things seem to be going great until I come home tonight and little boy is up in the top corner of the cage with his foot all swollen kinda bleeding and not being used so I got him and put him back in the bushes where he can rest and I have the Female in a box with a plant for the night. I got him from PetSmart and I'm going to take him back tomorrow because they have a thing where within 2 weeks they send them to the vet on their bill. Questions. 1 Could it be broken? 2. if it is broken could it heal back and be good as new. 3. If it cant and he looses that foot could he still live a long fulfilling Chameleon life. I feel aweful I thought the cage was more than big enough. Tomorrow when I take him I am going to get some supplies and build a divider that will let me separate them. with mesh fencing like the cage is make of. also do you think that is a good idea?

I know this was posted a couple of days ago and im new and Havant yet got my first chameleon, but jut was gonna say if u got them from a pet shop and they said it was ok to keep the 2 charms together then they should still pay for the vet bills as it was there bad advice that resulted in one of the chameleons being injured.
If it was not there advice im not sure. even though if u read about chameleons it says no to house them together, a pet shop has to still be responsible for the advice they give.
Im sure my post is pointless now but just thought id post it anyhow, hope your chameleon is ok