Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have always been interested in owning Chams but never made the plunge due to various reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that I was always told that chams don't live that long. Spending a couple hundred dollars on a lizard that only lives for a couple years has always turned me away. So one question I have is what is the average longevity for Panthers and Veiled Chams in everyone's experience? I have also seen some stunning veiled chams and some breath taking panthers, do these males show the colors at all time or just when fired up? I'm a long time from owning one as I've just started doing some serious research, but I figured a nice small cham breeding project would be a nice change from all these no eating ball pythons I have, lol.

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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
0.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
1.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

Welcome Josh,

I'll let someone else answer your questions with specifics, however I did want to add a thought I had while reading your message. Don't take any offense to it, or be scared from keeping chameleons, however...
I think your main concern should be keeping even ONE chameleon alive, in optimal health, and as happy as possible, BEFORE you consider jumping into a Chameleon Breeding Project. Chameleons probably take more trial and error testing than most other reptile species, and the variables of your location (Climate), widespread false information, and lack of Chameleon experienced veterinarians all contribute to complicating successful keeping. Another frequent difficulty is that Chameleons are notorious for NOT showing signs of sickness and bad health until long after it is too late to cure, stop, or save- even for the more advanced keepers.

Lastly, nice Balls!
Best of luck to you.

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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

got a little personal in your sign off (lol!! JK)

Josh,
Will's advice was short and to the point. He gave you good food for thought. As for life spans I cannot speak from experience as I have only had one veiled and she died at a little over 2 y.o. after having some health issues. There are others here who have had them 7 years though I think the more typical may be around 5. Females, due to lots of breeding, often give out sooner than the males. I am sure others will chime in with personal experience.

For lots of info all in one place go to the link below for your continued research - and of course aks here

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
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's back!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

That is some very good advice. It sounds alot like the info I give to newbie ball keepers. This project won't be to make money as my ball's make that for me (wow that sounds bad). I live in south west florida and have a top notch vet and he does have exp with chams so there is no problem there. I will be buying a CBB baby of whichever species I decide to keep as I'm pretty sure that's the best thing to do with all reptiles. Thanks for the quick replies and I look forward to joining the Cham community.
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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
0.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
1.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

Try starting off with a begginer friendly species of chameleon; say a jacksons, veiled, or panther. After a year of sucess you can purchase another one or maybe two. Then your project will start to begin.

I think you might want to try a panther chameleon first. Although expensive they display AWESOME colors 24/7! My dad and my first chameleon was a panther and he was a tamatave. Great guy with a personality. No problems were encountered with him because he was captive bred, unlike many of the cheaper chameleons.

You need to take a step back and see what you are getting into. A chameleon breeding project takes more money then most snake projects. Chameleons need UVB, dense foliage (preferably live), a VARIED diet (crix, mealies, silkies, and roaches), LARGE, SCREEN cages (2x2x4 per individual!), and they need humidity and lots of it.

By no means am i trying to crush your chameleon dreams, but start with one and see if a project is really what you want to get into with these pricey gems.
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eric

Oh I absolutely agree with you, most breeding projects are very expensive and alot of people that start them have no idea what they are getting into beforehand. I am well aware of the care requirements that chams have and the cost of initial set-up for each cage and the ongoing replacement of equipment. When I say breeding project I am referring to maybe 2-4 males and 4-8 females at the very most and those numbers are at least a year or more away. I do not just jump into any animal projects as they deserve the utmost respect and no animal from $10 to $10,000 is disposable.
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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
0.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
1.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

You sound to still be rushing yourself! Slow down! First decide what species you want to work with. Then try and see if you can maintain ONE animal for a minimum of a year. If you suceed, right on! Get maybe 1 or 2 more....NO MORE THAN THAT!!! Each year slowly increase your breeding stock...

Your goals are set a little bit too high dude. Breeding ball pythons and breeding chameleons are 2 VERY seperate things. Chameleon eggs take FOREVER to hatch. The youngsters devour fruit flies by the POUND! It will be hard to feed all those little dudes that proper amount with the right amount of supplementation.

Take a step back and re-evaluate your lizard keeping skills. Dont rush your self or you will end up like many high hope breeders.....BROKE!

By no means am i critiquing your skills, im just giving some personal input.
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eric

that is exactly what I said I was going to do, not jump into it. The number of adults that I stated was a number that I think would be as large of a group that I would ever maintain. I'm not going out to buy 10-12 chams tomorrow. Heck I'm not even ready to go buy 1 in the next couple of months. And I know that breeding ball pythons is nothing like breeding any lizard. The level of care required to maintain any colony of chams is above where I am now and I know it but I am working very hard to learn as much as I can before I purchase my first lizard so that I don't have to learn the hard way.
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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
0.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
1.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!