Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know i want a male. But thats all i know

Here are some questions i have on choosing a CHAM.
Do i choose based on my enclousure setup?
" " " " " the temperature/humidity/diet?

I have two cages, I was going to use the small cage until the Cham out grew it then transfer him into the big cage indefiantely.

Im just not sure how to choose a Cham? Witht he veiled Cham the breeder i talked to knows which are males and which are females.

with the Jackson: the breeder can't tell which are males and which are females.

Both cost pretty much the same so that is not a concern.

What are some guidelines you used to choose your Chameleon?

LAST AND VERY IMPORTANT: Would you trust ordering a CHAM and having it shipped to you? This scares me quite a bit. I dont want to open the box and have to deal with a dieing chameleon right from the get go.
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Getting ready for my new Chameleon.

By the way heres a pic of the enclousre for now.

I like the ficus tree but i keep reading that they are bad for the chameleon. Can you recommend some other type of plant/tree that has many small branchs similar to the ficus?

Link

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Getting ready for my new Chameleon.

The plant in the photo there is not a Ficus at all, maybe that is the wrong photo? I beleive all the species of Ficus are safe to use with cameleons.

Shown below is a Gold leafed ficus.

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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
2.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizards
0.0.1 Giant Mellers Chameleon
0.0.2 Kenyan Pigmy Chameleons
500 Escaped Crickets

I have owned Jacksons for the past 2 years with little problem. They require more humidity and cooler temps. about 80-85 basking and 75-77 ambient. A varied diet is recommended also. My Jacksons will not even eat crickets so I offer ROACHES, Silkworms.Hornworms,Superwoms and occasional mealworms. Do as much reasearch before making your decision.Male jacksons have 3 horns and the females do not. Sometimes the female will have 1. good luck Matt

What types of humidity and temp will occur in the room your cages would be in? If you live in a place that gets hot in summer or your house tends to be drier because you need forced air heat in winter or an AC in summer, a jax will be that much harder to keep than a veiled. You will have to spend more effort monitoring and maintaining the cooler more humid setup they need. If you haven't had a cham before I suspect the veiled will be a little easier to keep as they are a bit more forgiving of changes in climate as you learn.

I have gotten 2 chams shipped to me and both were fine. I would ask the seller for a very detailed description of how they box and ship their animals (an inner container should be smaller with something for the cham to cling to, moisture such as a damp paper towel, a heat or cool pack taped to the inside top of the OUTER box, marked LIVE HARMLESS REPTILE, list the correct temp range on the outer box, to call you when it actually gets shipped with airbill number and estimated delivery time), and make sure you know exactly when and how your cham would be delivered. Call the shipping company with the information from the seller and double check everything...the delivery address, time, contact phone, etc. If you act really worried (but always polite) about it being a live creature they tend to be more attentive. If you can arrange to go pick it up at the shipper's depot instead of waiting for it to come to your house it will have a shorter trip and may not end up spending as much time in a delivery truck where temps may shift alot.

HI there,
I've never had any Jacksons myself, but I've had vieled and they are probably easier to keep. So I'm not much help there.
BUT as for shipping them, If you get a reputable breeder, shipping them is a piece of cake. I've all four of my chams shipped to me and everything has turned out great! My first shipped Cham was Stitch. He is large veiled about a year and a half when I got him. Anson, the breeder, did a great job and eased all my fears. She let me know how she shipped him and when, so I was able to track him all the way from Florida to Seattle. Same as Tyler from Bluebeast, Rana veiled and Yosamite Sambava, came to me from Vegas and I tracked them as well. When they arrived, all of them were hungry and thirsty and by the end of the day, they were exploring there cages and doing great!
So as long as you do your homework and choose a good breeder, you'll be o.k.
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.0 Panther chams- Lou and Yosamite Sam
1.0 Giant Day Gecko- Mr. Gecko
0.1 Aussi Whites Tree frog- Frumpy
1.0 Peacock tree frog- Igaro
0.1 Reeds tree frog- Dottie
0.0.2 New River Tinc. Dart Frogs- Tinker and Bell
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 Fiance- Trent species unknown
and the list grows on.............

heres the thing. I want to feed my Crickets Mostly cause they are so easy.

From what i have seen it seems like the jackson would be less maintaince but most people are contradicting everything i have thought.

I guess ill finisht he cage setup and se ehow things go. that way i can have a pretty good idea as to what i am limited to.

Where can i buy fruit fly's?
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Getting ready for my new Chameleon.

Other easy feeders are superworms (Zoophobas) and roaches in terms of how much daily care they need. But, once you get your feeder bins organized the variety will do your cham good and won't complicate your life too much more. As for one cham species being less work than another I don't think that's true. They would all need daily humidifying, feeding, spraying, live plant care, cage cleaning, the same insects and their care, attention to lighting etc. You can automate a lot of it...lights on timers, humidifiers on timers, misting systems.