Your First Cham Experience

[A1forall]

Come on you vets tell all, the good, bad, and ugly on your first cham. What was going on in your life at the time? How did it feel to have a chameleon? How much have you learned? Peace

 

[GabeCastro]

TONS of stress, MONEY, and vet visits pretty much sums up Jasper lol. Oh and did i mention MONEY!?

I've learned allot from my experiences, def worth all the trials and tribulations taking care of the little guy. I'm actually debating if i should get another chameleon. I have a way better understanding on what to do, where to buy them, DIY projects to save a few bucks, etc.

Amazing how much we do to make sure our chams are all healthy and happy. I wouldn't take anything back that i've went through. I knew it was going to be a tough and expensive journey with Jasper, I'm just glad i finally have a chameleon now. Truly makes me happy when i come home from a hard long day, also keeps me occupied with cleaning out his cage, feeder insects, etc. Makes me budget my mula better aswell

Takes ALLOT of work just for one chameleon, so i salute all the veterans out there with 2+ and breeding/rescuing.

Also i think its crazy how much personality chameleons have...Def love every second i've had with Jasper so far.

 

[camimom]

Kink was my first cham.
I saw him in a local pet store, where I went to buy my fish, and there were all these veiled babies. the googly eyes did me in....

i spent 200 the first day to get him and cage and plants.
then i spent 3 days straight reading on the forum, then spent ANOTHER 75 on supplements and stuff.

Then i thought i got a girl, then saw id goten a boy...

he wasnt hard to take care of..... which is why i got more.

hehe...

 

[Olimpia]

My first chameleon was a Jackson's I bought from the Daytona show a few years ago. I remember liking him but disliking the whole owning experience. There was water to deal with always, no decent warning that you'd need drainage, he was barely visible in all the folliage. I didn't find his care hard, just annoying. But as I learned I experimented with how I kept him, built a drainage table, etc., and found him way more enjoyable. And then a panther followed, and then another, and the rest is history. I never found it difficult to go to chameleons with my previous animal experience but their upkeep can be annoying and tedious if you don't do yourself a favor and get the best cage, lighting, timers, misters, and drainage you can, because these aren't animals that are easy to keep (or that do well) in a half-rigged set-up.

 

[absolutbill]

My first cham was a male purple-barred ambanja, named Kibi. I was scared to death that I'd stress him out too much by trying to handle him, and never really understood EXACTLY how to handle them, so he remained aloof. He would hand-feed and would probably have been far more friendly to me, however my fear led to me just looking, and never touching. He passed away at the age of 4 and now I've got a veiled and a baby panther. I've learned how to handle them, and keep planning on more chams, and thinking about various breeding projects.

I'm so glad that I bit the bullet and bought top-of-the-line gear/setups for my guys, though, and we've rigged our cages to drain into a 6 gallon carboy making emptying it quite easy. Also, timers were a must.

The other huge fear that I conquered was my fear of letting the crickets actually touch me - now I just grab loose ones off the floor barehanded. I am woman, hear me roar!