Like many others on here, I'm hoping to keep a blog to document my sweet little baby as he grows. His arrival date is set for the morning of August 20th. I couldn't be more beside myself with excitement and anxiety (the good kind).
The Chameleon Farm will always receive glowing recommendations from me for being so awesome. Not only have they answered every question I've asked, I've gotten biweekly picture updates on him since I first put my deposit down.
Their is a story behind his name, Derp Guevara. Recently while camping in the mountains, I experienced severe altitude sickness that resulted in slight delerium for a little while. During this time I recalled watching the Motorcycle Diaries, specifically a scene in which a younger Guevara experienced altitude sickness. Up to that point, I had been unable to think of a fitting name for my sweet boy, and I decided that if I survived (because at one point I was pretty sure I was going to die) I would name my chameleon after him. Much of that night is fuzzy, including my friends "fleeing the mountain like refugees in the night" as they put it. They had to carry me to and from vehicles, and into a hotel at a significantly lower altitude. The next day, upon remembering this and laughing at myself, I decided to go with it. I told my friends about it, who informed me I told them to leave me in the cliff dwellings, save themselves, and leave me to die. Che just didn't seem to ring for him though, and I had been referring to him as my little derp until that point, so Derp Guevara became number one in the running for his name.
His hatchdate is sometime around May 25, but I'm going with May 25 for sake of convenience. The adult veileds in the pictures were his parents, Logan and Wednesday.
His enclosure was built entirely from scratch. It was my first ever big DIY project, and I honestly wish I had just gone with the cage at LLLReptile because I'm not nearly as handy as I thought I was. With help from my boyfriend it took about a month and a half to finish between work and class. I'm sure I spent at least double if not more after all the aluminum I had to buy on account of bad measurements. It is not near the quality it should be for the time and money that went into it, but it does have a lot of love and sweat. If anything on it messes up, I'm just going to bite the bullet and order one online.
Since he's still quite small, despite being large for his age, I didn't want to have a giant enclosure to scour for him every time so I made a removable bottom panel out of plywood and polycarbonate. I currently have it on a 5 gallon bucket, weighted by the pot with the pothos in it. Instead of the full 4ft of the cage, he only has access to maybe a little less than 3ft or so (Haven't measure exactly, bad at eyeballing). As he grows, I can replace the bucket underneath with a smaller one and gradually lower the panel until he's fully grown and I'm comfortable having him in the full size.
I've had the chameleon itch for going on 3 years now. However, the way my job(s) and class schedule worked out it was never something I felt comfortable committing to with my ever-changing schedule. I didn't see myself as being able to provide as good of a home as I knew I was capable of. After a major career change, I no longer have to work 45-50 hours a week while being a full-time student. Things are finally stable enough I can devote time to a companion that deserves it. However, the itch is still not gone. I've already found myself looking into a carpet chameleon within the next year. Something tells me I'm in the beginning stages of an addiction.
The images attached are all courtesy of the chameleon farm! Hopefully this time next week I'll have photos of my own to post!
The Chameleon Farm will always receive glowing recommendations from me for being so awesome. Not only have they answered every question I've asked, I've gotten biweekly picture updates on him since I first put my deposit down.
Their is a story behind his name, Derp Guevara. Recently while camping in the mountains, I experienced severe altitude sickness that resulted in slight delerium for a little while. During this time I recalled watching the Motorcycle Diaries, specifically a scene in which a younger Guevara experienced altitude sickness. Up to that point, I had been unable to think of a fitting name for my sweet boy, and I decided that if I survived (because at one point I was pretty sure I was going to die) I would name my chameleon after him. Much of that night is fuzzy, including my friends "fleeing the mountain like refugees in the night" as they put it. They had to carry me to and from vehicles, and into a hotel at a significantly lower altitude. The next day, upon remembering this and laughing at myself, I decided to go with it. I told my friends about it, who informed me I told them to leave me in the cliff dwellings, save themselves, and leave me to die. Che just didn't seem to ring for him though, and I had been referring to him as my little derp until that point, so Derp Guevara became number one in the running for his name.
His hatchdate is sometime around May 25, but I'm going with May 25 for sake of convenience. The adult veileds in the pictures were his parents, Logan and Wednesday.
His enclosure was built entirely from scratch. It was my first ever big DIY project, and I honestly wish I had just gone with the cage at LLLReptile because I'm not nearly as handy as I thought I was. With help from my boyfriend it took about a month and a half to finish between work and class. I'm sure I spent at least double if not more after all the aluminum I had to buy on account of bad measurements. It is not near the quality it should be for the time and money that went into it, but it does have a lot of love and sweat. If anything on it messes up, I'm just going to bite the bullet and order one online.
Since he's still quite small, despite being large for his age, I didn't want to have a giant enclosure to scour for him every time so I made a removable bottom panel out of plywood and polycarbonate. I currently have it on a 5 gallon bucket, weighted by the pot with the pothos in it. Instead of the full 4ft of the cage, he only has access to maybe a little less than 3ft or so (Haven't measure exactly, bad at eyeballing). As he grows, I can replace the bucket underneath with a smaller one and gradually lower the panel until he's fully grown and I'm comfortable having him in the full size.
I've had the chameleon itch for going on 3 years now. However, the way my job(s) and class schedule worked out it was never something I felt comfortable committing to with my ever-changing schedule. I didn't see myself as being able to provide as good of a home as I knew I was capable of. After a major career change, I no longer have to work 45-50 hours a week while being a full-time student. Things are finally stable enough I can devote time to a companion that deserves it. However, the itch is still not gone. I've already found myself looking into a carpet chameleon within the next year. Something tells me I'm in the beginning stages of an addiction.
The images attached are all courtesy of the chameleon farm! Hopefully this time next week I'll have photos of my own to post!
