Newbie Questions

I'm trying to do some research on owning chameleons, but the kingsnake forum is not moving.

1. How much would a complete setup cost, including the chameleon? If I saved $500.00 would I have enough? I would like to have a panther or a jacksons. ( I think that is the one with the horns?)

2. If I feed crickets.. is it bad to keep them in the critter keeper (with the lid off) on the bottom of the tank?

3. From what I have read, they are not ones to be handled alot, but can they be held at all? Is hand feeding them safe to do?

4. Are they mean in general?

Originally Posted by Safaricommander

I'm trying to do some research on owning chameleons, but the kingsnake forum is not moving.

1. How much would a complete setup cost, including the chameleon? If I saved $500.00 would I have enough? I would like to have a panther or a jacksons. ( I think that is the one with the horns?)

2. If I feed crickets.. is it bad to keep them in the critter keeper (with the lid off) on the bottom of the tank?

3. From what I have read, they are not ones to be handled alot, but can they be held at all? Is hand feeding them safe to do?

4. Are they mean in general?

Howdy Christina,

1. Veileds, Panthers, and Jackson's are all reasonable choices. You may find that a healthy Veiled is a bit more forgiving of husbandry mistakes compared to Jackson's. Panthers are more expensive at around $150-$300 for a 3 month-old compared to a Veiled at about $35-$75 for the same age. Taking that into account, you might get away with $500 total with careful shopping.

2. You'll want to keep your supply of crickets separate from your chameleon's enclosure until it is time to feed-off a controlled amount per day. You'll also want to look into silkworms, hornworms, supeworms, dubia roaches etc. to supply a varied diet.

3. If you think of a chameleon as "living art" and handle ony when necessary to move them from one enclosure to another (indoor/outdoor), you'll be keeping their keeper-induced-stress to a minimum. If they accept hand-feeding, it is ok to do. If they tend to back-off then try again in a few weeks.

4. Veileds tend to be more agressive than Panthers. Sometimes they grow out of it by about 6-12 months.

Get a male. That way you'll not have to deal with egg laying health related issues with your first chameleon.

A few more sources of info just in case you haven't seen them:

http://www.chameleonsdish.com/

http://www.chameleonnews.com/ especially http://chameleonnews.com/?page=reference

http://www.adcham.com/

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ (Great site for UVB info)

Howdy Christina,

Just in case you missed it, I sent you a PM .

genarally speaking , none of the three different types of jacksons make good starter chams ,panthers are more expensive, i think a $500 budget would be adequate to get well started (for a veiled,you can get a really nice veiled for under a $ 100) but be prepared for other expenses down the road . a fecal exam / vet visit is a good idea for any new cham , prices vary considerably but i would budget $100 just for that , you can get a really nice large cham cage for around a $100, i would expect to pay between $ 50-100 for your lighting needs , you cant expect to maintain long term a healthy cham just by feeding an endless stream of petstore feeders, so be prepared to raise at least some bugs as well (dubia roaches make a good staple and are the easiest to raise , you can get a complete dubia colony for about $50, all chams have different personalities even among the same species , excessive handling is not good for chams, but some handling is neccessary for cage cleaning etc. even the nastier chams are handlable with a little practice, they are more bark than bite , not to say that they cant bite, but it can usually be avoided by proper handling. even a bad cham bite is not likely to cause serious injury http://www.chameleonforums.com/how-h...38/index5.html /the cheapest and best cham keeping tool is knowledge, and a good place to start is http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/