Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i may be able to use a 14 inch long, 18 inch wide and 4 feet high space. some one earlier suggesred a veiled chameleon but that seems like a small space for a big chameleon, what other options do i have, I'm also new to chameleons

hey,thats a good sized space..my chameleons cage is 18''in widith,36'' high,30''long..i own a panther,sooo it would be the same required space needed if i had a vieled chameleon..since they are really similiar in body size.soo the space you have should be really good..
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Jonny Blaze
1.0 Nosy Be Panther
s136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/jonnyblaze_04/?sc=3

I have to disagree here. My personal experience shows me that this space will be too small to give the cham much of a life.

If carlton disagrees,take his word over mine..he knows wayyyy more then i do..that guy is a chameleon expert..
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Jonny Blaze
1.0 Nosy Be Panther
s136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/jonnyblaze_04/?sc=3

I am going to take an expert's word but i'm getting mixed messages here. reptiles magazine says that if i extended the lenght by 4 inches it would be good for panthers, is this true?

Alright, I was the one that gave you bad advice. I have to agree with Carlton that a Veiled would not thrive in the space dimensions you provided. However, as a beginner a Veiled and possibly a Panther are the only two species that would be a good fit for you now. I guess better advise would have been to say do good research before you purchase any Chameleon and you'll be able to decide for yourself if your space will provide a good home for your Chameleon. I don't want to discourage anybody that is willing to do good research from getting a chameleon. I can tell that you have done some research as you were concerned that your space wouldn't be adequate for a Veiled. So I apologize for giving you bad advice. Good luck doing your research.

In my opinion, the minimum size for a vield or panther is: 2foot wide, two foot deep, 4 feet high. Most of my males are housed in bigger enclosures 4' wide, 2.5'deep, 4 high, on a stand so that the top is at 6' (this lets them look down on me, as I am short).
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Sandra
BC Canada

Part of the reason you are getting different answers is because we have differing opinions. I tend to give my chams bigger cages than I read about...I just think larger is better and I would not house any cham the size of a panther or veiled in a 2X2X4 foot cage. It just seems small to me partially because a good strong bushy Ficus or Schefflera plant will take up more space than that. That size would be minimal IMHO.

i've been doing some reaserch on jacksons chameleons and alot of sights seem to agree a 2foot long and 2foot wide by 36inches is a minimal enclosure, is it a minimal enclosure size? and sorry if i can't spell jacksons. is that the correct spelling?

Yes, that would be minimal for 1 Jackson's chameleon.

and are jackson's good begginer chams?

also i forgot to ask in the post above can an adult panther cham fit in that size and i heard breeding females don't live as long as males is this true for non breeding females? and how do they tolerate handling? is a jackson's a good starter cham i like the fact they live a bit longer.

I don't consider a jackson's a good beginner cham due to their cooler temp and humidity requirements. Depending on your climate and house, keeping a jax healthy in summer (too hot at night), winter (too dry due to house heat) can be more work and take more to set up correctly. Unless you are experienced in detecting subtle signs of dehydration, a jax may get in trouble before you realize. Also, many jax on the market are wc, not cbb, so you have to deal with capture, holding facility stress, etc.

I would not put an adult panther into that size cage. Yes, it might survive, but it wouldn't have much of a life either and might get frustrated and stressed and you could lose it anyway.

Jax may be described as more "docile" to handling, but this doesn't mean they tolerate it well. They are gentler in nature, but show their stress in different ways than an aggressive veiled might. You CAN overhandle any cham, so it is better to treat them as a look-but-not-touch animal generally.

I don't know if breeding females who are cared for well have a shorter life than nonbreeding females. A male who isn't cared for well might have a really short life and a carefully tended breeding female could live several years longer. At least with live bearers there is not quite the same problem you can have with egg layers who produce infertile clutches and need to lay them. The age they live to probably depends primarily on their care in captivity...in the wild there might be some difference, but the main reason chams die in captivity is husbandry mistakes. Compared to snakes and some other herps, chams don't have really long lives except some of the larger species like Parsoni and melleri who have been known to reach 20.