betuana
New Member
Hi, I stumbled across this forum while doing websearches on chameleons, and am very glad I did!
I've never owned a chameleon before, but recently my aunt contacted me looking for a new home for her 'classroom pet' - a 1.5 year old (male?) veiled chameleon named Wally. She estimates he's about 8 inches in size. She's had it in the 2nd grade classroom for the past year, but its apparently kinda mean (which from what I'm reading is normal), and she has a small apartment and has no place to keep the cage away from her cats and dogs during the summer. She knows I have exotics and am a vet tech, so she contacted me about it.
She's giving him to me in his 16"x16"x20" screen cage (which I intend to upgrade to a 2'x2'x4', 1.5'x3'x4' or something along those lines) with a drip system, vines, and UV lamp. She says he's never really been interested in greens, but eats his crickets well. She said the only thing she can come up with for any problems he's had is that there have been a couple times he's seemed very lethargic, but then a while later he's acting normal and prettier than ever - I'm thinking maybe he was shedding at those times?
Anyways, I've had experience with OTHER types of exotics - we have 2 really old (30+ years) red tailed boas, a young corn snake, a 7 year old leopard gecko, 15 tarantulas, rats, aquariums, etc (as well as cats). Growing up my family kept hermit crabs, finches, parakeets, anoles, dogs, hamsters, rats, fish, box turtles, etc. We currently have a room dedicated to our herps and tarantulas, to keep the cats from bothering them, and regulate room temperature and humidity more closely (our house is kept fairly dry for the most part due to past termite issues, but we keep the humidity in that room more on the 'normal' house humidity level). I just graduated from my veterinary technician program, and interned at an exotics clinic.
I've seen chameleons at stores and expos on several occasions, but always have heard they are very difficult to keep, and while I was fascinated by them I never pursued getting one. However, with this one being offered up by a family member (with the side note from her that otherwise she'd just have to put him on craigslist because she just can't take him home for the summer
), and the space to provide a large cage for it, it seems like a good opportunity to explore the chameleon world.
I've been going through a ton of websites on veiled chameleon care, trying to get all the information I'm going to need to make sure he has a comfortable, healthy home to live in - which is how I landed here! I'm looking at getting the 100 gallon reptarium from LLLreptilel, and want to find a pothos plant or some other appropriate plant to put in the enclosure to provide some climbing area, humidity, etc.
So, I thought I'd say hi, share the info I have on the incoming new addition, and see if anyone has any tips to share! Thanks for having this forum - I LOVE forums for exotics, I've yet to find a better way to get the most up to date information!
-Beth
I've never owned a chameleon before, but recently my aunt contacted me looking for a new home for her 'classroom pet' - a 1.5 year old (male?) veiled chameleon named Wally. She estimates he's about 8 inches in size. She's had it in the 2nd grade classroom for the past year, but its apparently kinda mean (which from what I'm reading is normal), and she has a small apartment and has no place to keep the cage away from her cats and dogs during the summer. She knows I have exotics and am a vet tech, so she contacted me about it.
She's giving him to me in his 16"x16"x20" screen cage (which I intend to upgrade to a 2'x2'x4', 1.5'x3'x4' or something along those lines) with a drip system, vines, and UV lamp. She says he's never really been interested in greens, but eats his crickets well. She said the only thing she can come up with for any problems he's had is that there have been a couple times he's seemed very lethargic, but then a while later he's acting normal and prettier than ever - I'm thinking maybe he was shedding at those times?
Anyways, I've had experience with OTHER types of exotics - we have 2 really old (30+ years) red tailed boas, a young corn snake, a 7 year old leopard gecko, 15 tarantulas, rats, aquariums, etc (as well as cats). Growing up my family kept hermit crabs, finches, parakeets, anoles, dogs, hamsters, rats, fish, box turtles, etc. We currently have a room dedicated to our herps and tarantulas, to keep the cats from bothering them, and regulate room temperature and humidity more closely (our house is kept fairly dry for the most part due to past termite issues, but we keep the humidity in that room more on the 'normal' house humidity level). I just graduated from my veterinary technician program, and interned at an exotics clinic.
I've seen chameleons at stores and expos on several occasions, but always have heard they are very difficult to keep, and while I was fascinated by them I never pursued getting one. However, with this one being offered up by a family member (with the side note from her that otherwise she'd just have to put him on craigslist because she just can't take him home for the summer
), and the space to provide a large cage for it, it seems like a good opportunity to explore the chameleon world.I've been going through a ton of websites on veiled chameleon care, trying to get all the information I'm going to need to make sure he has a comfortable, healthy home to live in - which is how I landed here! I'm looking at getting the 100 gallon reptarium from LLLreptilel, and want to find a pothos plant or some other appropriate plant to put in the enclosure to provide some climbing area, humidity, etc.
So, I thought I'd say hi, share the info I have on the incoming new addition, and see if anyone has any tips to share! Thanks for having this forum - I LOVE forums for exotics, I've yet to find a better way to get the most up to date information!
-Beth
