Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm still doing plenty of research on my first cham. I have decided to get a veiled, but I now have another dilemma. Where should I get my first cham? Local pet store or on-line? If I get it on-line what places are recommended?

I would recommend getting your first chameleon from a reputable breeder; online or in your area.

If you choose online, I would vote for the Kammers (www.calumma.com) only because I have had good experiences throughout my dealings with them. There are plenty of breeders that participate on this forum that can help you out. I'm sure others would be glad to speak on their behalf.

Good luck.

There are pros and cons to both. If you have a quality pet shop who deals with herps regularly and that you know by good reputation you could select a cham on site and inspect it. A pet shop may be able to purchase a cham for you wholesale from another source after you agree on what to look for. A breeder may sell you a mass produced cham that is not in perfect shape too, and you won't know this until the animal arrives. Take some time and look at classified ads, cham forums, etc. and ask to see the breeders. Granted, someone could post pics of completely different animals, but a reputable breeder will spend some time with you, discuss their programs, bloodlines, and husbandry. They will appreciate your questions and the info they give will echo the info on the better cham sites too. Buying any animal sight unseen is a risk, but again, a person who cares about the future of their chams will be open and not rush you. A lot of problems also have to do with the buyer not really knowing what they want and having unrealistic expectations. Be sure you know what you want and say so.

>>I'm still doing plenty of research on my first cham. I have decided to get a veiled, but I now have another dilemma. Where should I get my first cham? Local pet store or on-line? If I get it on-line what places are recommended?

As a cham-keeper, we can honestly say that we have seen a lot of undesireable chams in pets shops. They don't know the heritage, or anything about the chams they are selling, as a general rule. Many large pet chains have corporate buyers that get chams from many sources and then ship them out to their stores as needed... that means the babies are shipped at LEAST twice before getting to the store. This is hard on them.

Also many pet stores sell baby veiled way too young. They are not "well-started" babies in our opinion.

As breeders, we made it a rule not to sell our kids until they are 3-4 months old. We also do NOT sell "pairs" from the same clutch. We will turn down sales to those we consider are "high risk", and many pet stores are not offered our kids because they don't want to spend anytime making sure they stay healthy. Too many stores want to put them in a tank and just toss a few crickets in.

When we first started, we purchased some of our breeding stock from Kammerflage. They are great folks to do business with, and they offer a good amount of support with any purchase.

There are many other breeders who offer guarantees and follow up after the sale, as well. Just use your common sense, and read between the lines of any "online ad"... You can usually tell if you will get good bloodlines, and a healthy animal just by the text and guarantees - check the "Terms".

We will be posting an ad (here on KS) near the end of this month for offspring from this male (see picture). If you need one sooner - see Sonia's ad... she is offering great veiled youngsters (pampered pets).

Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.