5 Reasons why chameleons make great pets [Video]

[Gingero]

Is a chameleon the right pet for you? Here are 5 reasons why a chameleon might be a good option and there are more than these 5 reasons. What was the reason why you chose to get a pet chameleon?

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Great vid!!

 

[LukeTheLizard]

I just finished the video! Amazing as usual!

The reason I decided to get a chameleon? Well when I was about 6-7 years old, I remember watching Rapunzel for the first time. To anyone who has not seen it, Rapunzel has a cute little chameleon named Pascal.(Btw does anyone know what species Pascal is? He looks like a veiled, but he can change colors to red, purple, etc. like a panther...) Ever since I saw Pascal, I was dying to get a chameleon. Obviously at the time I was to young to care for them, and nobody in my family knew anything about chameleons, so it was up to me. And then I forgot. a few years later I saw a chameleon close up, and I remembered about chameleons and how cool they were, and this time, I didn't forget. Christmas was 6 months away at the time, so I thought, perfect, I shall study up until Christmas, and that's what I'll ask for. Months of studying went by, and when December came, a chameleon was LITERALLY all I asked for, because I knew how expensive they were, and I knew I wouldn't get one if I asked for a bunch of other toys and stuff, so that's all I asked for. Christmas morning comes, and there is something under a sheet in the living room. I think, that's the cage, and theres a chameleon inside. After we all opened our presents, they pulled the sheet, and... it was a dollhouse for my little sister. I died that day. AND THEN THEY BROUGHT OUT THE CHAMELEON IN HER CAGE. It was the best day of my life. And ever since, I have been in love with chameleons, and always will. (Sorry this is so long)

 

[Mountain Dragon]

I just finished the video! Amazing as usual!

The reason I decided to get a chameleon? Well when I was about 6-7 years old, I remember watching Rapunzel for the first time. To anyone who has not seen it, Rapunzel has a cute little chameleon named Pascal.(Btw does anyone know what species Pascal is? He looks like a veiled, but he can change colors to red, purple, etc. like a panther...) Ever since I saw Pascal, I was dying to get a chameleon. Obviously at the time I was to young to care for them, and nobody in my family knew anything about chameleons, so it was up to me. And then I forgot. a few years later I saw a chameleon close up, and I remembered about chameleons and how cool they were, and this time, I didn't forget. Christmas was 6 months away at the time, so I thought, perfect, I shall study up until Christmas, and that's what I'll ask for. Months of studying went by, and when December came, a chameleon was LITERALLY all I asked for, because I knew how expensive they were, and I knew I wouldn't get one if I asked for a bunch of other toys and stuff, so that's all I asked for. Christmas morning comes, and there is something under a sheet in the living room. I think, that's the cage, and theres a chameleon inside. After we all opened our presents, they pulled the sheet, and... it was a dollhouse for my little sister. I died that day. AND THEN THEY BROUGHT OUT THE CHAMELEON IN HER CAGE. It was the best day of my life. And ever since, I have been in love with chameleons, and always will. (Sorry this is so long)

Amazing story. Mine is this

Basically I live watching snake videos on YouTube love them but my parents would never let me get a snake ever… one day I search snake videos and I see one of Neptune the chameleon’s videos and I watch it and I think they are awesome. So I pull up the cutest photo of a Cham I can find and show it to my parents they thought it was cute so I said if I save up can I get one my dad said yes. As you know chameleons are expensive but I have four siblings so I convince them to split the cost with me. My uncles coming to visit and my dad says I can get one after they leave I forget about them till 2 weeks after my uncle leaves. At this point I have the chameleon kit and etc in my cart. I ask my mom can I get a chameleon she said no absolutely not. I’m devastated so I forget about it. I see a Neptune video and watch and start doing a lot of research but not enough bc this was my first cage setup. I find a pink chameleon and show it to my mom and she loves it and says yes we go order the stuff when it all comes and is setup we buy the chameleon ever since I’ve been trying to give him the best life. I know I have a couple fake plants but it’s almost my birthday and I’m going to get Aton of plants to put in his cage and for Christmas I’m going to build a giant cage and I promise you it will be the best cage you will ever see

 

[MissSkittles]

@LukeTheLizard & @Green Dino I love your stories!

 

[Mountain Dragon]

@LukeTheLizard & @Green Dino I love your stories!

Thankyou so much

 

[LukeTheLizard]

Thank you so much! What's yours?

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Thank you so much! What's yours?

Just bout to ask that

 

[LukeTheLizard]

Finally, I beat someone at typing!

 

[JACKO ChaMELeon]

I really enjoyed the video, thanks for posting

 

[MissSkittles]

Never had a reptile in my life. Stepdaughter had a chameleon and (being an animal lover) I told her if she ever needed a new home for it, I’d take it. No clue on care requirements and barely even knew what a chameleon looked like. Stepdaughter had wrong everything and only useful info she gave was they drink drops off of leaves. Sight unseen I took what has become my crazy sweet Grumpy and this began my rapid learning on giving Grumpy the best life I could. Just over 2 years ago I started with an incomplete chameleon kit. Now I have a reptile room.
Edit: Thankfully I found the forum within days and had the resources to make things right.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Never had a reptile in my life. Stepdaughter had a chameleon and (being an animal lover) I told her if she ever needed a new home for it, I’d take it. No clue on care requirements and barely even knew what a chameleon looked like. Stepdaughter had wrong everything and only useful info she gave was they drink drops off of leaves. Sight unseen I took what has become my crazy sweet Grumpy and this began my rapid learning on giving Grumpy the best life I could. Just over 2 years ago I started with an incomplete chameleon kit. Now I have a reptile room.

Wow what a great story. Proof that any one can start from anywhere

 

[LukeTheLizard]

Amazing story! I wish I had a reptile room!

 

[LukeTheLizard]

Wow what a great story. Proof that any one can start from anywhere

Exactly.

 

[MissSkittles]

In everything in life, we all start somewhere. I was a bit afraid to make my first post. I (wrongfully) assumed that reptile people were so much younger than I and would have attitude. I was however correct in my assumption that reptile people are super cool.

 

[suprdude]

Thanks for this. I was hoping this would be 5 cool/unique things about chameleons, but maybe you already covered that in a previous video. Obvious choices are independent movement of eyes, coloring, tongue extension, unusual walking movement, and fused toes

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Wow what a great story. Proof that any one can start from anywhere

Actually, it's not. Like every other similar story on this site, there are TWO people/sides—the person who adopts/rescues an animal in distress, and another person who couldn't/didn't/won't do what's necessary to provide for the animal properly. Not a judgment—just the facts.

I say "animal" because it's not unique to chameleons or reptiles.

What bothers me about vids like this (and I like most of what Gingero produces) is that it oversimplifies many aspects (puts on rose-colored glasses) rather than represent things realistically.

This can result in "fad pets", e.g. chihuahuas after Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Dalmations following 101 Dalmations, Clown Fish following Nemo, and so many more.
https://www.thedodo.com/trend-pets-mastiff-1102238324.html
fad pets following movies media

I'm not saying that this video is going to do that by itself, but it's ammo for the naive to show their families how easy chameleons are—part of the problem vs. part of the solution.

And let us not forget the spike in pet chameleons following Tangled & Rango. How many Pascals and Rangos have been rescued by folks here? How many died?
https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2011/03/articles/animals/reptiles/beware-of-the-rango-effect/

In a couple of places in the video, feeding is compared to feeding a dog. Since I have both, let's look at that.

Feeding chameleon

Must have live feeders on-hand, which must be fed/maintained in & of themselves in bins/keepers, and gutloaded.​

Must get crickets out of bin and put in feeder run cup.​

Must get other feeders out of other bins and put in other cup (variety).​

Must clean up/deal with uneaten feeders.​

Must either raise feeders (requiring time & resources) or periodically order them—often from different sources.​

Just the feeding part (not including associated ordering, cleaning, maintenance, etc.) takes me 15-30 minutes per day.​

Feeding dog

Buy large bag of food every other month.​

Scoop a cup of food out of the bag and dump it in his bowl.​

Takes me 5 seconds twice a day.​

​

Dog wins.

​

In other places, odors were mentioned. ALL animals have odors; some are just stronger than others. Clint Laidlaw admonished that bearded dragons have an odor (4:45). I've kept a bearded dragon for almost 2 years, and if he had any noticeable odor whatsoever, either me or he'd be gone. He doesn't stink because I take care of his needs and clean his enclosure promptly before he walks through it or spreads it around. Bathing not required.

My point here is that pet odors in most cases (possible exception: musk producing animals) can be controlled. If people have stinky dogs or cats, it's not the dog or cat—it's the owner's care (some pet owners have different tolerances for pet odor—that's a different discussion).

I think there are plenty of good reasons why chameleons make good pets, but NONE of them were mentioned. In no particular order:

They are challenging​

They are fascinating​

They are educational​

They are beautiful​

They are rewarding​

"Awesome" is like "cool"—one of the reasons pets become fads.

Any good reasons should be tempered with downsides (expensive, a lot of work, not for handling, must keep live feeders available, etc.) because those looking for validation aren't going to watch 5 Reasons NOT to Get a Chameleon; they want what they want, and that's why we see so many rescues.

I think a better option would be to combine the two topics, laying out both pros & cons together realistically in the same video, and delete the other two. Just my opinion.

 

[suprdude]

What bothers me about vids like this (and I like most of what @Gingero produces) is that it oversimplifies many aspects (puts on rose-colored glasses) rather than represent things realistically.

You clearly haven't watched her videos all the way through. If anything, she is overly cautious about articulating how difficult raising chameleon is. Her videos are very pragmatic and realistic.

 

[suprdude]

Any good reasons should be tempered with downsides

This short video was not intended to be a stand-alone, comprehensive, review of all the pros and cons. Gingero has tons of videos describing the downsides of owning a chameleon. Please do your homework

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Actually, it's not. Like every other similar story on this site, there are TWO people/sides—the person who adopts/rescues an animal in distress, and another person who couldn't/didn't/won't do what's necessary to provide for the animal properly. Not a judgment—just the facts.

I say "animal" because it's not unique to chameleons or reptiles.

What bothers me about vids like this (and I like most of what Gingero produces) is that it oversimplifies many aspects (puts on rose-colored glasses) rather than represent things realistically.

This can result in "fad pets", e.g. chihuahuas after Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Dalmations following 101 Dalmations, Clown Fish following Nemo, and so many more.
https://www.thedodo.com/trend-pets-mastiff-1102238324.html
fad pets following movies media

I'm not saying that this video is going to do that by itself, but it's ammo for the naive to show their families how easy chameleons are—part of the problem vs. part of the solution.

And let us not forget the spike in pet chameleons following Tangled & Rango. How many Pascals and Rangos have been rescued by folks here? How many died?
https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2011/03/articles/animals/reptiles/beware-of-the-rango-effect/

In a couple of places in the video, feeding is compared to feeding a dog. Since I have both, let's look at that.

Feeding chameleon

Must have live feeders on-hand, which must be fed/maintained in & of themselves in bins/keepers, and gutloaded.​

Must get crickets out of bin and put in feeder run cup.​

Must get other feeders out of other bins and put in other cup (variety).​

Must clean up/deal with uneaten feeders.​

Must either raise feeders (requiring time & resources) or periodically order them—often from different sources.​

Just the feeding part (not including associated ordering, cleaning, maintenance, etc.) takes me 15-30 minutes per day.​

Feeding dog

Buy large bag of food every other month.​

Scoop a cup of food out of the bag and dump it in his bowl.​

Takes me 5 seconds twice a day.​

​

Dog wins.

​

In other places, odors were mentioned. ALL animals have odors; some are just stronger than others. Clint Laidlaw admonished that bearded dragons have an odor (4:45). I've kept a bearded dragon for almost 2 years, and if he had any noticeable odor whatsoever, either me or he'd be gone. He doesn't stink because I take care of his needs and clean his enclosure promptly before he walks through it or spreads it around. Bathing not required.

My point here is that pet odors in most cases (possible exception: musk producing animals) can be controlled. If people have stinky dogs or cats, it's not the dog or cat—it's the owner's care (some pet owners have different tolerances for pet odor—that's a different discussion).

I think there are plenty of good reasons why chameleons make good pets, but NONE of them were mentioned. In no particular order:

They are challenging​

They are fascinating​

They are educational​

They are beautiful​

They are rewarding​

"Awesome" is like "cool"—one of the reasons pets become fads.

Any good reasons should be tempered with downsides (expensive, a lot of work, not for handling, must keep live feeders available, etc.) because those looking for validation aren't going to watch 5 Reasons NOT to Get a Chameleon; they want what they want, and that's why we see so many rescues.

I think a better option would be to combine the two topics, laying out both pros & cons together realistically in the same video, and delete the other two. Just my opinion.

I do agree with you on the whole thing except that she has Aton of videos and a lot of them say she doesn’t recommend a chameleon or doesn’t think they are easy and you have to have knowledge about them to get started but as a whole I agree with you and I do agree with you on the no anyone can start anywhere it’s like the saying practice makes perfect no if you practice the wrong fudmentals in anything you won’t be perfect but perfect practice make perfect. So anyone can start anywhere and perfect the thing they are trying but if they don’t then you won’t end up anywhere