Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING INTO PURCHASING A VEILED CHAMELEON, BUT THE PRICE IS STARTING TO BECOME A FACTOR. SO I WAS JUST WONDERING IF IT WOULD BE OK TO KEEP ONE IN A MEDIUM SIZED POTTED TREE IN FRONT OF A WINDOW SILL AND HAVE SOME SORT OF MIST SYSTEM. SOME HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED PLEASE REPLY.

What aspect of the price is the problem? Is it the animal? The cage itself? Lights? Drippers or misters? Food? If you can't afford to set the cham up correctly you will end up with major health problems that will cost you big bucks in vet bills (pay now vs pay later). Maybe you should wait until you can gather the supplies together.

There is no real reason why you can't set a cham up in a tree, but there are some risks. If you have cats, dogs, other pets that could kill or injure it, if there are places in your house the cham could get lost in (or cold places the cham could wander into and get chilled, hot places to get burned such as electric baseboards), or even escape to outdoors through open doors or windows. If this is a baby cham you will have to be extremely careful not to lose it. The window will not provide much if any UVB as glass filters it all out. Correct lighting is not an option its required. You would also have to keep the entire room at the correct temp and humidity. I'm not saying you couldn't do it. I have free ranged chams and enjoyed it...you just have to design it well and be aware of all the hazards first. There is an article about free ranging in a past issue of the Chameleon Ezine (www.chameleonnews.com) that could give you ideas.

Victor,

Carlton makes great points. These are not inexpensive animals to keep (in both time and money).

Here is a link to an article on the cost of owning a chameleon www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/july2003/costs/costs.html

and here is one for the article he mentioned on free-range
www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/mar2003/free_range/free_range.html

Cham News is an invaluable resource for cham keepers so poke around the site for other interesting articles. It will help you decide if a chameleon is the pet for you right now.

lele

>>I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING INTO PURCHASING A VEILED CHAMELEON, BUT THE PRICE IS STARTING TO BECOME A FACTOR. SO I WAS JUST WONDERING IF IT WOULD BE OK TO KEEP ONE IN A MEDIUM SIZED POTTED TREE IN FRONT OF A WINDOW SILL AND HAVE SOME SORT OF MIST SYSTEM. SOME HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED PLEASE REPLY.
-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

You can house one in a tree, but like the others said, Chameleons are expensive, if you cant afford a cage you might want to re-think havign a chameleon.
You would also have to still provide uvb for your chameleon, a window draws out the uvb from the suns rays.
I would not get a juvi chameleon if you were going to have a wall less cage. I dont know if this is true for all chameleons but it seems that Juvi's tend to roam more and would be more likly to leave its tree.
You would still need a spot lamp for heat. being by a window you probably can attach the dripper and lamp to the top of the window.
Please research first to make sure you know everything your chameleon will need and its costs.
include,
Food, Dusting, lighting, heat, dripper, food for your food.
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther