Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[tigerbaby2k]

Hi, im new on here - the site looks good! I qualify in June as a Vet and very excited! Ive had the pleasure of Bearded dragons for 10 years now-my male is 10 and I lost my female in the summer who was 10 too.
I have been saving up for the last few months now for my graduation present to myself of a Chameleon! exciting hey! I am still undecided whether to go for a Panther or Yemen-any preferences? I think I would like male as just love the colours. I want them to be handable so any hints?
Also I have read so much conflicting advice on the correct housing (same with the Beardies when I start out with them!) and was wondering what people feel is best on here?
I am looking for my new boy for next July/August time so does anybody know of any reputable breeders around Cardiff or anywhere else really as will travel for good stock.
Any other hints or helpful times will be greatly appreciated too!
Sophx
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Sophxx

Counting down the weeks til I get my Cham! My beardie is 10 1/2 years old

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Lhasa apso
1.1 Lionheads
0.1 Syrian Hamster

[zarozinia]

Hi there and welcome to the site.

Yemens are pretty hardy species for a first chameleon, but I personally prefer panthers.

My favourite chameleon book is Chameleons Natures hidden jewels by Petr Necas, it gives an insight into all chameleons and is a very good read. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering keeping a chameleon.

Also for up to date Uv lighting advice, keep an eye on www.uvguideuk.co.uk
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Cheers Angi
Proud to be a Geordie!
My Images - http://anginelson.deviantart.com/

[kinyonga]

Here are some other sites with information that you might be interested in....
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/

Welcome and congrats on becoming a Vet...I'd be excited too!

You said..."Ive had the pleasure of Bearded dragons for 10 years now-my male is 10 and I lost my female in the summer who was 10 too"...sorry for the loss of your female beardie. I lost a male last year at the age of 10 1/2+...and I still miss him.

Either a Panther or Yemen would be good for a first chameleon...and a male lives longer, is more colorful usually and doesn't involve the worry of a female and her egglaying-any preferences?

As for being handable....chameleons usually only tolerate being handled....some won't even tolerate it. I leave it up to the chameleon as much as possible as to how much it will take.

IMHO both need a cage with appropriate "furniture"...branches of appropriate sizes, preferably live non-toxic plants, NO substrate, a regular incandescent household bulb to provide a basking area of the appropriate temperature, a source of UVB, a method of watering them, appropriate food sources that are well-cared for and appropriate supplements.

Regarding live non-toxic plants: they should be well-washed, both sides of the leaves. I also run quite a bit of water through the soil and cover the soil with stones that are too large for the chameleon to ingest to stop it from eating the soil.

Regarding NO substrate: too many of the substrates available may either lead to impaction or can contain toxins...so I just don't use them for arboreal chameleons. It makes it easier to keep the cage clean too.

Regarding a regular incandescent household bulb to provide a basking area of the appropriate temperature: for baby veileds or panthers I keep the basking area around 80F. Their small bodies dehydrate easily and warm up quickly too. For adult veileds I keep the males' basking area in the high 80's to low 90's and the panthers in the mid to high 80's. Appropriate basking temperatures allow for good digestion and thus plays a part in nutrient absorption.

Regarding a source of UVB: sunlight is the best of course, but I have used a Repti-sun 5.0 tube/linear light as my main UVB light for many years now. There is a report in the link you were already given concerning some compacts and tube lights causing photo-kerato-conjuctivitus...so make sure you don't use any of the ones listed. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic. UVB allows the chameleon to produce D3 which allows it to use the calcium in its diet. (Simplified version.)

Regarding methods of watering them: I simply mist babies and at about 4 months of age I add a dripper. You can keep it this simple or you can make is as elaborate as an automated misting and dripping system.

Regarding appropriate food sources: I use crickets as the main feeder because they are easy to keep and to gutload. The wider the variety the better of course....superworms, phoenix worms, grasshoppers, waxworms, cockroaches, etc. are all acceptable. Keeping the insects healthy of course helps to keep the chameleon healthy....so feed them a nutritious diet and gutload them with nutritious foods that you wish to see end up in your chameleon.

Regarding appropriate supplements: this is the hard part....there is controversy over how much is enough and how much it too much.

Since most of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. I dust at most feedings with a phosphorous-free calcium powder.

I dust with a vitamin powder with a beta carotene source of vitamin A twice a month lightly as insurance that they get what they need. There is controversy about whether all species of chameleons can convert beta carotene to vitamin A or not so some people give a little preformed vitamin A. Excess preformed vitamin A will build up in their system though and can prevent the D3 from doing its job leading to MBD....so don't overdo it.

Since my chameleons rarely get direct sunlight, I dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder. D3 from supplements can build up in the chameleon's system too.

Background information: I have been keeping/breeding/hatching/raising chameleons and many other reptiles for over 15 years now. My (normal/usually kept species of) chameleons seem to do well and live long lives. For instance, most of my veiled females live to be over 6 years old and the males even longer. There is a learning curve with any new species that I keep, of course, so that's why I mentioned "normal/usually kept species".

I'm sure being a vet you know a lot of what I have mentioned above....but better to be safe than sorry!

Hope this helps!

Sorry...but I live in Canada so I can't tell you where to get a chameleon!

[felix93]

Chameleons are one of my favourite lizards. I like both Yemen and Panther. All mine have their own individual characters. As above, they have mentioned almost everything you need to know. I acutally found both species are pretty hardy although lots of people said Yemen is the hardest species. If the set up is correct, I don't think you will have problems with bother mentioned speices.

I would like to say Rick (Rickeezee ~ username on this board) have nice healthy stocks. I *think* he breeds both species although I only have just bought Yemen from him. (Still waiting for another 2 females to be sent to me when the weather is warmer ) So I highly recommend him.

[tigerbaby2k]

hey guys, thanks for the replies! really helpful. I bred the Beardies for 4 years- until the females retired themselves and it gave me such pleasure seeing the youngsters hatch and grow to amazing lil Beardies- a lot went to friends so still see them.
I would love a youngster Cham (though not too young!) Im fine for all the lighting etc I think, the one thing Im stuck on is the correct vivarium/flexarium etc. Some people say glass no good as ventilation poor-surely you can just add vents? and as for Chams seeing themselves and thinking the reflection is another Cham, is this real? Can you just add lots of foliage and maybe cover some of the glass walls with backing like fish tanks? Some say the flexariums are not as good as the Chaams are more aggressive because they dont regularly "see" people for interaction. Also some of these are not great for seeing the Chameleons and its just not as attractive as looking through glass.
Thanks again everyone!
Also, one more thing, I cant seem to uploads pictures on to here! any ideas?
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Sophxx

Counting down the weeks til I get my Cham! My beardie is 10 1/2 years old

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Lhasa apso
1.1 Lionheads
0.1 Syrian Hamster

[kinyonga]

When I started out with my first chameleons (over 20 years ago) there were no flexariums or screen cages available and I kept them in aquariums with screen lids or wooden cages with sliding glass doors and screened holes in the lids. They did well for me considering the lack of knowledge available then. Some of my WC adult C. chamaeleons lived for 5 years in these cages and who knows how old they were when I got them in the first place since they were all adults? All of the offspring from these were kept in glass cages with screen lids and most of them lived to be over 5 years old...including the females.

Later, because of all the controversy over glass cages, I switched most of my cages to ones that were glass with screen doors and lids. I find them difficult to keep warm enough and humid enough in the winter here....and some of the species I still keep in glass cages that only have a screen lid and a small row of ventilation along the front. Glass cages can present problems with controlling water buildup...but I haven't had a problem with it since its quite dry here....but I also don't run misters and drippers, etc. for "hours" like some people do.

I have always felt that placing the basking light in one corner over the lid of the cage produces airflow. (I remember the old convection boxes that were used in school to show airflow working...so why shouldn't this produce airflow too?)

I have never had one chameleon develop a respiratory infection in a glass cage. I take most of the bodies for autopsy and it would have shown up.

I have never had a chameleon react to seeing its reflection in the glass to the point where it affected its health. If you are concerned about this, the glass can be frosted and then there is no clear reflection.

I have my cages in rows and there is a foam core, colored plastic, reed matting or even bristol board between each so that they can't see each other. These all seem to cut down on the reflection too.

I will leave it to someone who has used completely screen/mesh cages to tell you about those.

We each need to make choices as to how its best in our situation to keep the chameleons..figure out what works for the chameleon to keep it healthy and then do it.

I certainly do not recommend using glass cages in an environment where heat or humidity will be issues.