Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to the chameleon forum, hello everyone.
I have never owned a chameleon, and do not own one at the moment. I am interested, but have a lot of looking into to do. I see the LLLreptile has a chameleon package for what seems to be a good price. It comes with a pair of chameleon... im guessing male and female. I was wondering, though, will they try to breed being together like that in the same enclosure since there are a male and female? also, ive heard that females have a tendency to lay eggs spontaneously, and sometimes have problems getting them out.
any advice appreciated,
thanks

Welcome to the wonderful world of Chameleons!
Now, as for female Veileds, they will lay clutches of eggs even without a male. You may hear that they need to be bred or they will die. That is a lie. You will need to give her a box of moist sand to dig a lair and lay her eggs in it. I'm sure I don't need to go on about care because you've most likley reserched that already. As for the cham. packages on LLL reptile, they are a pretty good deal, but if you got the pair, you would have to eventualy seperate them. Some people have had sucess keeping two chameleons in the same enclosure, but this requires a very LARGE cage and a lot of experence. LLL have good quality reptiles, and i have purchased from them before, so i reccommed getting your first chameleon from them. If it is the complete chameleon package you are planning to get, plan on getting another cage and lighting systems for when they have to seperated. If the costs get too much(believe me, chameleons like to spend your money ) you could just start with the 65 gallon package, get a chameleon, then after you get comfortable, get another one. Thats what I did.

Hope this helps
Kaitlyn

You are right to question the "deal". You can almost never house chams together, so would have to buy 2 complete setups. Even one cham can take quite a bit of daily attention, so ask yourself how much time you can spend caring for this type of pet every day. Remember that chams are not that social and it won't want to spend time with you necessarily. Also, IMHO a 65 gallon Reptarium is too small for an adult veiled. You'll probably end up building or buying a larger cage. The UVB lighting they offer with the deal may or may not be the best choice (what do they offer?). From your reading you've probably found out that chams need 2-3 sessions of hot water spraying, cage cleaning, caring for the live potted plants in it, checking temps and humidity, hand feeding or placing feeders in a bowl or bin, dusting feeders, observing for signs of illness, etc. You'll need to spend time caring for all the live insects they need as well (preparing gutload, cleaning the bin, etc). And, if you try to feed your cham a good variety of insects you may end up with cultures of crix, superworms, roaches, silkworms, hornworms, houseflies, etc. Just in case you haven't found these yet, here are some really good sites to read. I don't mean to sound totally negative, but want to help you avoid getting into more than you are ready to take on.

www.adcham.com, www.chameleonjournals.com, www.calumma.com, www.geocities.com/ccicenter.