Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i thought i'd share my first ever chameleon purchase story...it was 1988...i was 17 (that hurts) and in the coast guard..governors island, nyc...i purchased a senegal chameleon, why??...cause it looked sooo cool, why else?..of course i had no clue how to care for it..i new it ate crickets and that was the extent of my knowledge (there were no forums and who had time to read a book when there was beer and girls)...i didn't want him to be lonely so i got him a few friends too!...a couple of anoles, a day gecko, some nasty skink that always bit me and some stuff i'm forgetting...to get crickets i had to take a ferry to manhattan, then a subway to union square...needless to say i didn't get crickets as often as i thought i would when i was all gung-ho about the purchase...after a few weeks he stopped eating (don't know why, he had so many friends and i handled him all the time) and eventually passed on...just wanted to share my "first chameleon" story and maybe y'all could share yours too if it's not too embarrasing

It was 1990 when I first got into chameleons. I managed to find a small group of people who were working with chams about an hour away from me. I got hooked pretty quickly, and located a cham dealer that had a pair of WC jacksons. As soon as I saved up the money, I ordered the pair and built an enclosure out of old patio windows.

A few months later, I built more cages and bought 4 quads. (is that redundant, a quad of quads?) So, being 14 at the time, 6 chameleons, 5 cages and boatload of crickets each month, money got kinda tight. So, I had to start thinking, "Breed my own food". I setup a cricket breeding area of my basement, and become somewhat efficient.

About 5 years later, my time became scarce, and I had to sell off my collection. It wasn't until 2003 that I bought a house, got married and got back into chameleons again.

So here I am. Working with chameleons again. Chameleons have always been my passion.
-----
Joe
- www.silkwormfarm.com-

And this one time....at band camp......
-----
Raf

1.2 Jacksons Adults (Frank, Patty, Lucille)
0.0.1 Jackson's baby (George, R.I.P. 11/17/2003)
1.1 Nosy Be's (Mars and Roja)
1.1 Veiled - No Names Yet
0.1 Adult Sulcatta (POOPIE,I bought it from Victor at Kobey's in SD)
0.0.2 Baby Sulcattas (frick and frack)
1.0 Home's Hingeback Tortoise (SPEEDY, From Victor as well)
1.2 Red ear slider babies (Hingis, Dingis and Dorkus)
0.0.1 3 toed box turtle - No Name Yet
0.0.1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle - No Name Yet
1.0 Red Siberian Husky (Harley)
0.1 Black Lab (Krissy)
0.1 English Bulldog (Alice)
0.1 Blue Merle Great Dane (Wednesday)
Saltwater Fish and Inverts too

Ive had lots of critters over the years, anoles, iguanas, frogs etc. I was in the petstore one day (1998) spending money I shouldnt have ^_^ and I saw they had a tank of baby Veileds. I (being the idiot that I am) decided to buy one for $40 and brought him home to live in my frog tank.

Whoever said Veileds are delicate and hard to kill never met mine. This guy has survived two broken arms at once(thanks kitties...) MBD, my inadequate first experience handling and a very rough food/water/humidity schedule for about the first year of his life. I finally got my act together and read up on them, and actually found this forum around that time as well.

He is about 6 yrs old now, in a huge reptarium, and has an arthritic tongue that he cant (or just won't) shoot anymore. So he runs around and head bashes the cricket into submission, then eats it. So strange...

Just my little story =) (waits for bad cham care flames)

Erin

np

Okay, my story isn't all that interesting, but I'm bored as well. lol Last summer I was visiting my fiance's grandmother in OK. We were all out shopping when I spotted a pet shop. Being an animal lover, I just HAD to go inside! In the back I spotted a very large screen cage. Didn't look like anything was in there...but then something moved. That was the first time I had ever seen a chameleon in person (all the rest were from TV). They looked soooo cool! When I got home, I spent most of the spare time (at time at work..ssshh) researching how to care for them. After about 8 months of reading everything I could find and calling every single pet store in 50 miles, I went to a near by exotic pet store. That's where I found my baby, Bender. He was climbing on the side of his cage, trying to get a better look at me. He would follow me around the cage. Bought him, got him home and put him in his cage (had it all set up for about 3 months lol). Since then (about 4 months ago...maybe more) he's been having a great time eating crickets and silkworms.

Can't resist adding my first story. I've been fascinated for years about chams, but always thought they were "out of my league" to care for. Well, I was at the reptile store stocking up on stuff for my corn snakes, and saw the nicest looking baby chams in a small cage with dead sticks. I thought, why not give it a try? So, about $150 later, with a cage that was too small (found out later that they need a bigger cage than what they were displayed in), I came home with a 8 week old veiled male. I read everything I could about them, and faithfully dustd his crickets every day, and after a few months, he grew really big, and I realized that I could handle the chams. I had a bad experience with a wild caught rudis (didn't know about wild caughts when I bought him) - but now I have 2 panthers and 3 veiled - all raised from 2 to 3 months. The forum has been given me tons of ideas - and I've really enjoyed all the stories! What I've learned is not to be afraid to try a new animal, read a lot, and pay attention to forum tips!

When i saw chameleons in a pet shop for the first time I just about DIED! I LOVE chameleons. I have a little clay one that I made in grade ten. I used to watch all the shows on discovery, and got into chameleons more and more. I had NO IDEA that you could keep them as pets. I live under a rock I guess. That, and the pet shops around here normally have cornsnakes as the most exotic thing there... Anyway I was in the middle of superpet just over a year ago, and I screamed. oops. I worked extra hours at work and saved up and got my Orion on Feb 14th last year. i had reasearched them a ton by this point and had decided that I just HAD to HAVE a blue bar male ambanja. I called around and drove about 1.5 - 2 hours to get one. Well, he had a uri. I THINK he came with it, b/c he only ate the first day i had him. After a few months of struggling to get him better and start him eating again he grew a little bigger... and was still brown. He was a she!!! lol. i got her prego in sept... she became eggbound. so i got to experiece the joy of a c-section. she is better though. she's a tough little bugger...