Reptile & Amphibian Forums

>>wow, not to burst your bubble but that is VERY young to sell a cham. What sort of setup did you end up with?
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>>As you may have seen in the last few weeks the silk/plastic/real plant debate is alive and healthy right here! lol!
>>
>>The basics:
>>plastic: animal can eat a loose piece and choke
>>silk: MIGHT (but unlikely) tear a pice to eat - less likely to choke due to the flexibility of fiber.
>>real: help maintain humidity level due to moisture in soil and plant's respiration
>>
>>a few facts: veiled don't typically begin to eat vegetation until they are 6 months or more.
>>
>>Luna had all real excpet for one silk pothos that I used to tie to her jungle gym when the door was open - obviously a real one would not have been able to withstand that. She never tried to eat it - just used it as her road to freedom! lol!
>>
>>can we see pics??
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>>Chameleon Help & Resource Info
>>
>>0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
>>1.0 Beardie - Darwin
>>0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
>>0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
>>0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
>>0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
>>0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
>>?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

well it says three weeks on the sales ticket, but they may have mistyped, because the invoicing dept does not pack and ship it. Anyway, I know that is young, but we will see how he does. He is about 2.5 inches from nose to tail, which is usually curled. Anyway, I will post pics and keep you all updated. As far as the enclosure I ended up with an open air enclosure with silk flowers for now. I got purple coleus, and english ivy all silk, and some of the bendable branches for him. He drank and ate for me, so he is doing really well. I will try to post pics of him. Can anyone tell me what temps and lamps they use.. just so I can compare with what everyone else uses. And what breeders do you all have experience with so that if I decide to get another cham, I have an idea. I want to get a panther eventually and I heard that Screameleons is good... by the way lele nice collection, I want to get a tarantula but I am waiting until I have a bigger apartment to get anything else. We are moving in May so not to much longer!! But here is a pic of my puppy...

I'm not saying that 3 weeks is a good age to sell a Chameleon but I think a three week old Veiled is better equiped to survive than a three week old Panther. Panthers stay small until they are about 2 1/2 months old then they have a growth spurt. Veileds eat like horses and they grow faster and they are a lot bigger at 3 weeks. I've seen some of these posting before about bad mouthing breeders selling Chams before they are 3 months old, but you really need to differentiate between Panthers and Veileds or other species. If you kept Veileds until they were 3 months old you would be having some major league fights going on. I give my Veileds a lot to eat and they grow fast. I've had some 2 month old Veileds that were 9 inches overall. A Panther that age would still fit on your finger. I've never dealt with A1 Reptiles but I don't think they are doing anything wrong.

Now this is too young to sell a Veiled: A year ago at a San Diego show I saw somebody selling Veileds and some of them sill had vermiculite on their sides.

well I measured last night and with his tail unrolled he is 4 inches... I would like to hear what breeders others are happy with not unhappy.

I would never hesitate to buy a Chameleon from Tyler Stewart of Bluebeast Reptiles. He does a great job with his animals plus he is available on this forum often if you have any questions. There are other breeders that I've done business with that I will recommend. They don't have web sites but that doesn't mean they don't have great Chameleons. They may not produce enough animals to have a web site or really great breeders often have a waiting list and there is no need to advertise. These three breeders produce exceptional Chameleons. Chris Caetta, Mark of Kokopelli Reptiles and Andrew Holtzer. I don't have a current e-mail for Chris. Mark is available @ PardalisCham@msn.com and I can't find Andrew's e-mail either. Contact me @ ambanja@hotmail.com and I'll come up with e-mails for the others if you like. Valerie.

I feel beby veileds are extremely hardy, even when young. The biggest problem is feeding. When they're small, they lose weight so quickly, that the 24 hour period of shipping, coupled with the potential for an acclimation process, might rob them of vital energy. That's why I never sell veileds until they're eating at least 1/4 inch crickets. For me, that's usually 2 months old.

Others have much larger animals at 2 months old, but I do it for a reason. When grown at a faster ratem, they are much more prone to MBD. Doesn't mean they're gonna get it, not at all. It just means they're more suseptable to it. They end up taking about a year to reach full adult size, as opposed to 6-9 months for faster grown babies.

Regardless of age, I believe it's the size of the animals that matters most when it comes to selling. I've never heard from a customer that their chameleon was sick or dying - and I sell at 2 months.

I agree with Valerie - pardalis are a different story. Actually, everything else is a different story than veileds! I probably wouldnt' buy another chameleon unless it was 3 months or older, unless I was picking it up from a friend, and sparing it a UPS trip...

I got some CB melleri at 2-3 months, and they were fine. they might be the only other chameleon that's sturdy enough at 2 months that I'D consider shipping. Considering the rarity of them in captivity, I don't think we'll see many people shipping them until they're ROCK solid though!

Now for the question:

What is the 3 week old eating? If it's pinheads and fruit flies... I'd be anxious. If it's 1/4 inch crickets, it should be o.k.

Well, he is eating 1/8 inch crickets, and I was going to get some fruit flies, but I think he will be ok on the crickets for now. I worked for a great petstore near my parents house so I can have him order some for me. Anyway, he is doing really good. How often do you feed your little guys, and how many??? Thanks.