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i have not got 'em yet,the local store owner has a couple of small veiled,about3 inches long. well i am getting out of leopard gecko's so ill be trading all 7 for two of his baby's. that's if he will go 4 the trade.well i have been reading up on them 4 some time know, i have plenty of care sheet's saved online,plus a book on jackson's and veiled chameleons. i think i am ready. so before i get them.witch is better for them real or fake plants? they use fake.what are some real plants that are safe to use?last ? i have read that u have to seperate you're young cham's before puberty.so about how big are they at puberty?, since i proabably won't get an exact age.

Since you've been reading up on them already, some of the information that I'm giving you you may already know....but I think its better to tell you than to risk that you haven't heard/read it already.

Since you haven't kept chameleons yet, I would make sure that they are over two months old (even a little older would be better) since there is a mortality rate in young veileds. Also, if you are getting a male and a female with the intention of breeding them, you should ask if they are brother and sister. IMHO its not a good idea to breed related chameleons together.

I assume that you have an appropriate cage and that you have both UV lighting and incandescent (basking spot) lighting over screen (glass or plastic will make the UV virtually useless) or that you live in an area where the chameleons will be outside to get direct sunlight (not through glass or plastic)? BTW...I don't use a basking spot for very young veileds. I keep the temperatures a little more moderate for them since their bodies are small and can cool/heat/dehydrate more quickly than the adults.

Temperature is important since the chameleons need the appropriate heat to aid in their digestion (as well as survive, of course).

IMHO its not wise to use a substrate with veiled chameleons and its also wise to use real plants since at about 6 months of age veileds will/can eat leaves (pothos, etc.), greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, etc.), veggies (diced red pepper, squash, carrot,etc.), fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.), flowers (non-toxic), etc. in addition to as wide a variety of insects (crickets, silkworms, superworms, etc.) as you can provide for them. I feed babies mostly crickets of appropriate size (a size that fits into its mouth easily).Its important to wash the plants well (both sides of the leaves) and I always cover the soil with pebbles that are too big for an adult chameleon to ingest so that it will not ingest the soil. By allowing it to eat the soil, you risk it becoming impacted. That's part of the reason I use no substrates with veileds too. The other reason for no substrate is that many of them are toxic (cedar, pine, etc.) to chameleons.

I assume that you know about gutloading and supplementing/dusting the insects? The supplementation depends on whether your chameleon gets direct sunlight and how good your gutload is.

With leopard geckos there is no concern with them needing UV but with chameleons its very important. They need a source of UV light to be able to make vitamin D which they need to metabolize calcium. They also need calcium to make up for the imbalance in most insects and they need vitamins and minerals too...if they don't get them from the insects (gutloading) then we need to provide them for them.

You asked about using fake plants and what plants are safe to use...it might be okay to use fake plants with very young veileds, but since they become omnivores, I never do. I don't want to risk the accidental ingestion of them. Pothos is the main plant that I use...but hibiscus and ficus are used by many....and I'm sure that there are more that are safe.

As for separating veileds...I always do it by the age of three months....just to be on the safe side. I also don't breed my females until they are over 1 year of age. I want to make sure that they are fullgrown before I put the demands of eggs on them.

I always put a container of sand in with egglaying females after they are over 5 months of age...they can lay infertile eggs and if there is no place to lay them, you risk eggbinding.

Hydration is important too. Drippers, misting (by hand and/or with the use of a misting system are ways of providing water to them daily. For babies I only mist and am careful not to allow the water to pool anywhere. A baby can end up aspirating it if it tries to drink from a large drop of water.

Here are three sites that have lots of information on chameleons...
http://www.chameleonjournals.com/vet/
http://adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/index.html

I hope this helps!
I hope you enjoy them!

Just want to say glad your here

The reply you recieved from Kinyonga was excellent, you will find the forum buddies here extremely kind and helpful.

Just wanted to say hello, and wish you the best with your new chameleon quest, hope all goes well.

*Make sure you post some pics if/when you get them.
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PHEve / Eve

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Thanks PHEve! I hope that at least some of what I post is useful!