my first Reptile...here we go...

[Arienette]

So tomorrow I'm bringing home my new baby... A male veiled chameleon

1. Any first hand experience with these guys and their temperament? I know that they're all going to be different, I'm just asking

2. Name! I'm leaning toward Zanther. I dunno though... Toss something at me!

 

[buddah4207]

I dont have first hand experience but make sure to give them plenty of air flow and branchs to explore on. I do like Zanther though.

 

[Najakeeper]

Not a good starter reptile, chameleons are very fragile with strict requirements. Research, research and name it "Research" so that it reminds you to do some more research. And try not to stress it by unnecessary handling.

 

[Arienette]

Not a good starter reptile, chameleons are very fragile with strict requirements. Research, research and name it "Research" so that it reminds you to do some more research. And try not to stress it by unnecessary handling.

Woah woah.
I got this.

 

[DavisG]

Yea, not a good starter at all. Make sure to house in a screen enclosure with a glass or plexi-glass top to keep in a bit of humidity. Also, mist the entire enclosure once or twice a days. Keep a good schedule, pay constant attention, keep good airflow and he will thrive!

 

[Quazgar]

As others have said, make sure to do plenty of research (as always with any animal...we all know the spiel...), but just to play Devil's Advocate here, there are many cham keepers in Europe that have tremendous success keeping them in large Exo-Terra/ZooMed terrariums. Normal aquariums are a no-no due to ventilation, but glass terrariums with ventilation at the bottom on the front do allow enough air flow to allow the cham to thrive while also keeping humidity up and allowing you to get away with less misting.

As far as general advice, chams are not the most sociable animal and tend to get stressed from handling. They may not show it, but forcing too much interaction can be detrimental. Keep an eye on hydration. I assume you already know they won't drink from water bowls and must be misted to get them to drink. It's relatively easy to tell if they are dehydrated by looking at their eyes and their casque. You should be able to find example pics by googling, but generally they will look sunken in. Hopefully your little male is captive bred, as wild caught can be harder to keep alive and has the higher risk of carrying parasites, but even wild caught should be able to be kept successfully unless they are too far gone. Chams are awesome little animals that, while more fragile than many reptiles, are really not as difficult as many people make them out to be, provided you have an understanding of their basic needs (which tend to be significantly different than other reptiles).

 

[pouchedrat]

haha! My first reptile was a veiled chameleon as well! His name was Karma (Karma Chameleon.. lol) and I got him at 3 weeks of age. He could sit on my pinky fingertip and would hiss and lunge and try killing me lol.

Anyway, my guy had a 100 gallon reptarium (all screen enclosure) with a ficus tree inside, and a pothos hanging from the top. There were heat lamps (infrared and ceramic heat emitter) and UV light on top. Rumor has it they don't need UV but I had my boy back in the late 90s.
To keep humidity up, I'd wet a towel or two and hang them off the sides.
They drink moving water... I used a large soda bottle and filled it with water, punctured a hole in the bottom with a nail, and replaced the top on the bottle. By unscrewing it slightly you can control how fast the drip speed is, and have it drip into the potted ficus underneath. The drip system is the easiest way to get them to drink water. Plus it lasts longer than having to mist all the time and hope they drink from it.

Veileds are known as being slightly omnivorous. They eat a TON of insects (I fed mine crickets and silk worms, before I started breeding my own roaches). I would put them in a deep plastic drinking cup, shake them up with calcium and mineral supplements, then use a clip to clip the cup onto a stem of the ficus tree so that the insects couldn't jump out, but the chameleon could climb down and use his tongue to eat them up. This way you can monitor HOW much it eats.
They'll also eat collard greens, mustard greens, kale, etc.. Clip the leaves to stems to hang them up, and they'll eat them up. They also LOVE hibiscus flowers, and I always had a hibiscus around for the flowers as a treat.

Veiled chameleons are adorable. They're also very antisocial, and don't do well with handling at ALL! I love them though.... my boy lived for 4 years, but when I moved from NY to MD, it stressed him out and he never recovered from the drive and he eventually died....