Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi mi name is Dimitris, im from mexico, i have several pythons, dragons, boas tortoises and some other herps, but recently i have the cusiosity of owning a chameleon, i have always love them but the problem was that i couldnt get comecial crickets for it so i never bought one, but about a couple of months ago a guy came to town who is a reptile fan too and has a cricket colony and sells me the crickets for my bearde dragons, so the chances to own a cham have grown, my question is, which species would you recomend me? ok i have dome my reserch in books and the net and know that the hardiest are pardalis, jackson and calyptratus, but in terms of tameness, i wold like to handle it a bit i know chams dont like it much but wich species tolerate a little of human contact?
tanks

The jacksons as a beginner chameleons .. I would rule it out all together. As for being able to handle it, I would suggest a panther. They tend to be very friendly, and of course colorful.

Best of luck.

Jason
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Jason
1.0 panther chameleon
0.2 dwarf panther chameleons
jsinger_jimt@hotmail.com

I have a male veiled and he is great! A lot of people told me they were agressive, but he has never tried to bite me. I handle him daily and he comes right out to me. So it really depends on the specific animal.

Thank you guys, I guess I´ll go with the jackson since here in my city the weather is not very hot with a lot of humidity.
thanks for your help

I wouldn't say any cham is "friendly". They are not a social animal. I would say instead that some tolerate handling by a big hairy mammal more than others. Jax don't always react by being aggressive or nippy, but they do experience stress anyway. Watch its body color. If yours turns dark with lighter triangle shaped markings on its sides it is stressed and needs to be left alone more. You can handle them occasionally, just not daily.

i would have to say the friendliest breed would have to be the pardalis, my one has a great little personality and loves to coe out and sit on his tree in my room, my 4 other veileds only 1 likes to be handled the other 3 get stressed if they come out, they are fine once they are on the tree but while they are in your hands they turn hiss and gape at you like crazy, good luck with your cham

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4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther

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