Hi everyone,

My name is Ian and I am about to purchase my first chameleon. I am a college student and I'm from Mississippi. I have many years experience with maintaining tropical aquariums and some experience with ball pythons (through a friend). I've been fascinated with chameleons since I saw my first one in a pet store a while back. I'm committed to doing ample research before I ever bring one of these little guys home, so that's one of the reasons I'm here.

There is so much information out there, and though I feel like I've picked up a good bit of useful info, there are a couple of issues I'm still unclear about.

1) First off, the difference (pros/cons) between using separate heat/UVB lamps or a single, full-spectrum Mercury Vapor bulb. I'd prefer to use the mercury vapor for a number of reasons, but I'm not dead set. Also, the cage I'm looking at is 36"x18"x18", so if anyone has a wattage recommendation for a cage this size that would be nice.

2) I'm sure this comes up everyday, but I have to bring it up. From my research, the same names come up when discussing "beginner chameleons": veiled, jackson's, and panther. Yet some care sheets describe each of these as difficult to keep. Should I stick to these breeds (panthers are a little out of my price range) or consider any others? I understand other breeds are more likely to be wild caught, but let's assume we're only talking about CB chameleons. I really like the appearance of the flapneck's, parson's, and gracefuls, but if they are THAT much more difficult to keep I'd like to know to stay away. I understand that all chameleons are considered difficult to keep when compared to other lizards, so I question how much harder some breeds are.

I sincerely appreciate any and all information/experiences that you can share and look forward to being a part of this community. Thanks in advance, and sorry I wrote so much this time!

-Ian

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