Pictures Chameleon!

[riddick07]

I finally went for it last summer & got my first chameleon after about 20 yrs of looking at them. I am not a huge lizard fan since they tend to require bugs often or just more hands on care in general. Give me a snake that eats once a month over multiple times a week. Plus, chameleons are just picky. But apparently I can deal with the bugs when I get to have chameleons. I’m in love with them & should have gotten one years ago!

The first guy was a veiled chameleon. Came in August 2021! This is his baby photo.

vs his adult photos!

Of course once I was hooked I needed another….helmeted chameleon girl arrived Nov 2021.

then helmeted chameleon boy arrived Feb 2022.

and well the helmeted chameleon girl came harboring multiple secrets that she felt she should introduce me to on Feb 12th

She had 11 of those minis & all 11 made it to 6 months. Here is a few of them from last week!

And the last addition was a panther chameleon boy. He is an ambanja/boraha cross if anyone knows panthers. He came home Feb 26th. Photos from the first day until the most recent. He’s not done coloring up quite yet! He also thinks everyone should die haha

 

[Zara]

Oh my gosh! They are all gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the photos

Are they gentle to handle?

 

[zoo mom]

They are so cute. Love the little babies. Are you going to keep all the babies? Will they all need separate enclosures when they reach adulthood?

 

[Nnbal]

They are incredible.

 

[riddick07]

Oh my gosh! They are all gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the photos

Are they gentle to handle?

The helmeted tolerate handling pretty well. My veiled doesn’t like it much but doesn't try to bite. The panther will bite. I usually wait until he’s on the door to get pictures or bring him out for them.

Chameleons are generally just display animals because handling is stressful for them. I keep handling them to a minimum. Like the male helmeted I’ve only handled twice, once when he arrived which is the pics in the thread & the second when I had to redo his cage because the plants had mealy bugs. You can’t grab them either since their ribs break easy. So you use a stick for them to walk onto or convince them to walk onto your fingers/hand.

They are so cute. Love the little babies. Are you going to keep all the babies? Will they all need separate enclosures when they reach adulthood?

No I’m not keeping them all. Ive kept them since 4-6 months which is the time needed for them to establish. They are past the stage of dying as easily now from heat or over-supplementing or being stressed or dying randomly like sometimes babies do.

Chameleons should only be caged together as babies or if you have a truly giant cage for them to never actually see each other. They stress each other out. So they will need individual cages.

I’ll probably keep a few. I have 5 I want to watch color up for a bit longer before deciding who to keep. The one girl looks like she might be a yellow female so I’ll definitely keep her & maybe one other girl. Then, one of the boys most likely. I have 2 males I’m torn between right now for keeping & it’s so hard to decide which one.

I have two males out of the litter reserved already. One is a local girl who is just getting supplies together now & one I’ll need to ship for so waiting on weather. I’ve only posted them locally for being available but the one girl lost her male helmeted in one of the groups I post in & contacted me. Once the weather is nicer I’ll post them on reptiles sites for shipping but the helmeted are heat sensitive so it’s a narrower frame for temps I’m comfortable shipping them in compared to other reptiles.

 

[FeatheredM]

What a cool pet!

 

[Tyrion]

Great pics of beautiful animals

 

[riddick07]

This little guy has found a new home & left today She sent a video of him being put in a nice mansion though!

 

[riddick07]

I really wanted a pure Ambanja panther chameleon. I added 2 the other month. I’m in love with the colors coming in on the boy. He has a lot of purple shading but hard to capture in the cage. I’ll probably have to bring him outside to really get it but it’s been getting cold here lately.

Day he arrived!

After his first shed here!

He was really fired up the other day but the pictures couldn’t capture the purple

The female is gorgeous but thinks all people should die haha. She tries to throw herself to her death every time I use the phone for a pic so I don’t have many of her.

Updated pics of the grump hybrid panther boy. He does his best to go white when he’s mad about life.

And the beautiful veiled boy is all grown up!

I made up their cricket gutloading food last week. And the freezing of it went a little wrong. I didn’t think the bunny would come out so creepy

 

[FinchORI]

They are gorgeous!! I’ve never seen a lizard that colorful!!!

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

I LOVE chameleons! Never had the gumption to keep one but admire them greatly. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[riddick07]

I LOVE chameleons! Never had the gumption to keep one but admire them greatly. Thanks for sharing!!!

They aren’t really as bad as I was expecting. The worst part was the initial setup. Especially for the first chameleon. I almost tossed the whole cage off the balcony in a fit of rage when trying to put it all together It’s a lot easier now that I’ve done what feels like a thousand between my own & helping friends

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

For the most part I’ve never been a reptile person but I do hold a special place for chameleons and other lizards. I’m fond of the anole’s that hang around my house. Occasionally I get one as a visitor in my house. Not always easy to catch them to put them back out. Wonder if I bought a small tub of mealworms I could tempt one to get used to coming for a wiggly goodie!

 

[Sparkles99]

Very detailed pictures. I can't believe one came with babies - what a shock!

 

[Teckechick]

I love Panthers!! I had one about 20 years ago. Watching him catch crickets was one of my favorite past times! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[T.C.]

If you don't mind me asking, where'd you get yours? I got mine from backwater reptiles.

 

[riddick07]

If you don't mind me asking, where'd you get yours? I got mine from backwater reptiles.

Backwater is known for their wild caught imports that aren’t treated or established. Often they don’t have that listed either on the ad.

The veiled is from Marks Chameleons. He only does the veiled.

Hybrid Panther is from Chameleons by Design they vend my local reptile show & I picked him up there.

Both Helmeted are from West Coast Chameleon Brothers. They are established treated wild caughts from him. If you get wild caught buy a microscope & supplies for runnning your own fecals. The process of taking them to the vet can be too much stress for a wild caught & they die.

The male Ambanja is from Chromatic Chameleons.

The female Ambanja is from Lone Star Panthers.

 

[T.C.]

Backwater is known for their wild caught imports that aren’t treated or established. Often they don’t have that listed either on the ad.

The veiled is from Marks Chameleons. He only does the veiled.

Hybrid Panther is from Chameleons by Design they vend my local reptile show & I picked him up there.

Both Helmeted are from West Coast Chameleon Brothers. They are established treated wild caughts from him. If you get wild caught buy a microscope & supplies for runnning your own fecals. The process of taking them to the vet can be too much stress for a wild caught & they die.

The male Ambanja is from Chromatic Chameleons.

The female Ambanja is from Lone Star Panthers.

Unfortunately after my initial purchase from backwater I had heard negative things. However mine did seem to arrive stressed, but otherwise healthy.

 

[riddick07]

Unfortunately after my initial purchase from backwater I had heard negative things. However mine did seem to arrive stressed, but otherwise healthy.

If it’s been awhile & it’s eating & you have the correct setup then it’s probably fine. Even though testing for parasites is a good idea. That can sneak up on you even if they seem alright at first. And if you add any chameleons from breeders you can accidentally spread the fun from the wild caught. Captive chameleons can also get parasites from their feeders so testing periodically (about every 6 months) can keep you on top of any issues. A small load is normal & even healthy but when the count goes thru the roof they can die from either the load or trying to treat such a large number. I think my parasite testing supplies come out to like 150-250 for everything. The initial setup is the costly part. I already had a microscope from testing the beardie when I had him & sexing tarantula molts.

 

[Wally&Eva]

Love love chameleons. Don’t have the funds to set up their housing, but I used to have two many many moons ago. Would love to do it again!