Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever dealt with these guys? I came across their website, and the animals under the "veiled chameleon" section are absolutely beautiful, and I cant believe the prices!!! They seem to be unbeatable. They have kryptonite bright, seaside sunburst, seaside blue phase, and seaside lemon yellow veiled chameleons listed.
Any input would be great.
thanks.

MattP had a recent loss after acquiring a young one from them. here is the thread:http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=413026,413026

They seem to sell them VERY young (7 weeks! most agree that chams should not be sold until they are at least 3 or 4 months).
One must wonder about cheap prices: wild caught? mass produced? Then again maybe not - just my thoughts. I am not judging them just trying to point out a few things...

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica the j sisters were sent to freedom last month
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Haven't dealt with them, but selling at 7 weeks is much too soon. Obviously things can happen to chams at any age, but it is an indicator that they'd rather sell than raise them up to a safer age. I know I would rather pay more for a better established juvenile of 3-4 months. Also, just remember that pics and color can be easily edited. I don't mean to badmouth anyone, but people tend to show off their best animals and what you see online may not be what you end up getting.

I don't buy into the ads people have with the regarding colors. I think most of it is false hype. I would think inbreeding has it's ugly head in their somewhere. Don't get me wrong inbreeding doesn't effect all herps such as monitors but chameleons are a different matter.
As for the age of selling chameleons, I don't see anything wrong with 7 weeks. I have bought many at 2-5 weeks and no problems (not sold). They are alot more resilient than some people think. It's about how they are cared for when they reach their final destination.
Finally, my comments aren't regarding Raging Reptiles per se but anyone who claims these colors. Chameleons aren't leopard geckoes where you can breed all these different "screaming" color morphs..

Personal Opinion Only..

Well, if you have lots of experience raising tiny babies fine. If we don't know the experience level of the person asking we should be conservative and suggest older chams. The final decision is always up to the poster.

"Well, if you have lots of experience raising tiny babies fine. If we don't know the experience level of the person asking we should be conservative and suggest older chams. The final decision is always up to the poster".

I know her experience level so know what your talking about before generalizing.

People were saying smaller babies haveing high mortality. I stated my opinion and experiences. If this bothers you not my problem. By the way, did I tell her to get a 1 month old?

"We" can suggest what ever "we" want and you can do the same.
The only accurate comment you made to me is the final decision is the buyer, very good..
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Scorpions
2 H. arizonensis
2 Vejovis carolinianus
1 Centruoides gracilis
2 P. boreus
1 H trilineatus
Millipedes
2 Archispirostreptus gigas
Praying Mantids
3 Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi
1 T. a. siniensis
4 Parasphendale agrionina
Chameleons
1 Melleri
1 Ambilobe Panther
Dogs
1 chihuahua/terrier

Many of those pictures are from Seaside reptiles, the first company to try and market "morphs" of veilds.
My guess is that they are the same company, may be wrong.

Those are nice pics, definatly, but they are all displaying.
I don't think that they are all that spectacular, since most veilds will look really bright if they are displaying to a mirror.

Really nice veilds will show bright colors all the time, but just increase them when displaying. Seems that most CAN do this, but stresses affect what they feel like showing. found this out with my male a few months ago. He did show really nice colors--very bright, similar to their lemon yellow, but with more balanced greens, blues and oranges--but not all the time.

I moved him into a cage about half the size of the enclosure he was in, and with a smaller bulb(100W sylvania that costs about 75cents, as opposed to a $40 150W MV bulb). Within an hour, he was showing absolutly bright, gorgeous colors, and was not displaying at another chameleon.

Why?

the new cage was wall mounted, and the top was 6-7 feet up in the air. the old one was 5 feet tall, but on the ground. Now the only time he is NOT incredibly bright, is when I"m in the room for a while, in which he hides and turns browinsh, until I feed him, then he loses his fear.
This pic shows his normal colors, although a bit dull(cause the lighting), it shows what he looks like when he is not displaying.
(Although he WAS starting to display in this pic, I snapped it before the display colors could come out, when they do, the orange becomes very bright, and he gets dark highlites)

Veilds are beig selectivly bred, for different colors, just like leopard geckos and bearded dragons. Unlike Panthers, they are not really distinct variations, or locales. Veilds simply have some variation in color, and are being bred for them. Personally, I don't like ANY significant color dominance--I prefer a nice balance of green yellow orange and a few blue spots. Veilds just don't do blue as well as panthers, and when they do, it's not as nice looking. They do yellow and orange about as well as any animal can...

Hi,

I have delt with them, but I'm not particularily impressed. I'm pretty good at caring for veileds, but the first Chameleon I bought from them was 7 weeks old and he did have problems. I had him for about 3 weeks, but I didn't really notice him growing. He died and I have no idea why. But, I did get another one from them and he has been doing great, the reason I delt with them again was because I wanted the kryptonite morph and no one else had it. The second one I bought was 16 weeks old though, and was a lot more expensive then the first one. You basically get what you pay for.

I definitley recommend spending more and getting a healthier, older animal. I wish they made me a deal on the second purchase, but the reason my chameleon died could have been my fault. I think he got a little too hot.

They do have good mailing service, but I prefer buying animals (Especially chameleons)in person. If I had more patience, I would have waited to go to a show before I ordered another chameleon.

Hope this helps,

Matt
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1.9 SHTC Leopard Geckos
0.0.4 and counting SHTC Leopard Geckos
1.2 Veiled Chameleons
1.1 Arizona Mt. Kings

Someone had actually referred me to that thread. I had read all about it already, and by the way, Im sorry to hear it. Its sad to lose an animal. Thanks for the input.

Although veiled chameleons may vary somewhat in color, a lot of it has a lot to do with temp & mood. I could take a perfectly normal male, let him see a female(even from a distance), and he will show his brilliant colors. This would be the perfect time to snap his picture. And then of course, a little photo enhancing would finish the trick. "Kryptonite Bright",they've gotta be kidding. Give me a break.
I breed & sell veiled chameleons, but I do not charge more for one (color phase?) over another.
And no, I'm not exactly knocking Raging Reptiles. If you go to the classifieds forum, you'll notice a large percentage of the photos have been enhanced. It's not right to mislead people that way, but lots of them do it. What you see isn't always what you get.
My $.02,
Cricket

Thanks to everyone that replied. I dont know so much about veileds, or chameleons in general for that matter. I thought the veilds on their site looked just beautiful, but im sure that any veiled could look just as stunning under the right conditions. Thanks for leading me in the right direction.