Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey,

im going to be buying my first chameleon fairl soon,well,i wont be buying it until i know enough about them.....

1. im buying mine from norcal chameleons,which isnt far from my house.i was thinking of getting a panthar chameleon,i think thats what they call them,is that a good chameleon for a first time owner?

2. what do they eat?i have 1 leopard gecko,i feed him crickets with calcium powder, and vitamon powder on the crickets every other feeding.do you feed chameleons crickets?how much of them,and how often?

3.caging,is there any place where i can buy a complete package with everything for my chameleon?what kind of heating do ii use?maybe just a bulb?

4. are they fun to handle, and do they even like being handled?

5.how long do they live for on average?

any other things please tell.im good with lizards, i have a leopard gecko and he is very healthy and stuff.thanks

-adam

Panther chameleons make excellent first time chameleons. Chameleons are different from leopard geckos and require more specialized care. They require a large arboreol style cage made entirely out of screen to ensure proper ventilation. Chameleons require a similar diet to leopards, but it must be more varied because chameleons will quickly become bored of any one kind of food that is given to them for a long period of time, therefore crickets will make a good food source, but you will have to use other foods as well. These may include silkworms, meal worms, giant mealworms, roaches, and grasshoppers (if using field collected grasshoppers, make sure that the area has had no chemicals sprayed.) As for heating and lighting, an incadesent bulb would be fine for heat, but you will need a uv light as well. Zoo med makes an ecxellent tube u.v. light (use the 5.0). Also you can use a mercury vapor bulb that produces light and uv Both zoo med and T-Rex make these bulbs. Nothing of course can beat natural sunlight whenever available. Chameleons can tolerate a small amount of handling, but can become stressed very quickly from handling, so frequent handling is not good. Life spans vary by species, but also depends on its enviornment. The less stress in its life (other chameleons, improper temps and humidity, etc) the shorter the life span, however if kept in a good enviornment with very little stress, they can live for 7 or more years. This is just the tip of the iceburg, make sure you fully resarch your chameleon species specific needs. Try internet searchs, and look in as many books as posible. The more you know, the happier both of you will be. Good luck!

i would actually reccomend a veiled as anyones first chameleon. they are less expensive, and can tolerate more mistakes..if you want to know more about them, take a look at my site....
http://groups.msn.com/JEChameleons