Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There are wild Veiled Chameleons in East County San Diego, and super dry desert region. An adult male was found today, wild caught. The lady got it only 5 minutes from my girlfriends house, where I spend most of my time. I was shocked and stoked. I will aid her in her attemtp at keeping it, and if she cannot keep it I told her I will take it. Unfortunately this was in a reptile shop and the manager there told her she would buy the cham off her, but this is the same shop that cannot take care of those they have and really have no clue how to care for a chameleon. Luckily I know her place of business and plan on dropping off a caresheet with additional notes for our location and my expierences.

P.S. Appearently there used to be a veiled breeder out here but they let all their crop go or they escaped, something happened. They reproduced and are doing well enough that they lady has to check her lawn before mowing it, not wanting to get hurt hatchlings that may be crawling about. What I am thrilled about is the genes that this male that was found carries. He is hearty enough to endure freezing winter mornings and 100 summer days and all else thrown at him. He is quite the specimen!

note: Written at 3:22 AM. Please use your brain to figure out what it is I tried to write.

yup....this has been discussed before...you might want to keep it under your hat or they'll probably be removed...maybe they should be removed??...not sure where i stand on that? (heart and brain are fighting)....i suppose if you want them to be there you should let that cham go because their numbers are probably low and even one being removed might have an effect

That's very true. Perhaps if I gather enough information on location and frequency of sightings I could myself perform a sort of "field study" under the guise of "bird watching". Although taboo for fear of the chams lives, at the same time it's an exciting subject I'd wish to know more about...

That really is exciting, I would be really interested to find out more. If you do perform some kind of study I would like to know what you find. That really shows how hardy veileds can be.

Ya know...I've herd of wild chams in parts of the US...frankly I'm very suprised there are none in FL...conditions are very tropical here almost year round.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther
1.1 Ambilobe Panther

Are you sure there isn't any in Florida? I know a breeder who has since moved from Florida but he lost 40 Veileds and over 600 Leopard Geckos when hurricane Andrew came thru. The hurricane ripped his greenhouse apart. Its a really hard call to on a displaced wild population. The effects on the native species can be devastating. I live in New Mexico. One day near Carlsbad I saw a Bearded Dragon. If there are others and breeding takes place they'll be the top lizard in ten years.

Kokopelli Reptiles
2.3.6 Ambanjas
1.1 Nosy Bes
2.1 Sambavas
1.1 Ambilobes
1.2 Veileds
1.2.1 Tokay Geckos
0.1 Green Iguanas
0.0.13 Leopard Geckos

The same lady that found the cham said shes found a beardie in Jamul before. They let it go for some reason.

I'll try and get some leads, find the true origin, etc. Of course, this will all be on the back burner (unfortunately) because tomorrow I get all 4 wisdom teeth out. Soon as I can make phone calls though, that's when I'll start taking notes.