insertexpletivehere
New Member
This is probably going to be long, for that I apologize.
We just got our first chameleon just over a week ago. I had wanted one since I was a young teenager but due to family rules ("the only pets that can have a tail in this house are the dog and cats!") I wasn't able to get one. I briefly thought about it while I was in college but I was also traveling a lot so I got a puppy instead during my last semester. The puppy was not an impulse purchase, I'm just trying to keep this a bit short, she came with me everywhere. I reevaluated my chameleon desire in my early 20s and again decided that I did not have the time to commit to one or the experience, the caresheets I was reading at that time frightened me and I came to the conclusion that there was no way I was ever going to be able to keep a chameleon alive and eventually abandoned the idea for about 5 years. The I started working at an exotic vet. I would see all sorts of reptiles come in and started working on my SO to allow me to get one. He, understandably, kept saying no for various reasons; we already have dogs and cats, he's afraid of reptiles, etc. I backed off for a bit until a very sick leopard gecko came in to the clinic - she was treatable but the owner wanted to euthanize her. She ended up being surrendered and after begging and assuring him that she wasn't able to escape, I was allowed to bring her home. She renewed my love for reptiles and made me realize that not only was I able to keep her alive but I was also good at it. We quickly acquired more from various sources - one leo male from a breeder at an expo. a pet store reject leo that was just handed to me, a crested from a classified site and another crested that was given to me due to a mass on his side (that came off when he shed, he's perfectly healthy). The SO has come to realize that he loves watching the reptiles and will even throw some of the feeders in with them so he can watch them eat. He will not interact with them but he does like them. That's the back story.
Anyways, the chameleon we got is an ambilobe. He was kept with about 14 other chameleons in a small enclosure, the owners were attempting to breed them. When they started fighting and getting sick, they surrendered them to a local (reputable) pet store. They were all fixed up and put up for sale at discounted prices due to their less than perfect appearance - most were missing portions of their tails, including my guy.
We have a bit of reptile breeding experience due to two of our leos that we cannot separate, neither will eat if they aren't together, so we had eggs. We incubated them and gave/sold them to friends and friends of friends. All are doing well and we actually have requests for next breeding season. The SO enjoyed the baby leos quite a bit and really helped with their care while I was at work, which surprised me quite a bit. He really wants to try with chameleons as well, I'm fine with it and we have the room if we have to keep all the offspring.
I'm having a bit of an ethical dilemma with this though, I'm pretty sure this stems from dog rescue work that I did "back in the day". I'm probably anthropomorphizing the chameleon more than I would like to admit in regards to this. Is it ethical in the chameleon breeding world to breed a rescue if they are receptive and in good health?
There is an expo coming up here in September that we were originally planning on getting our chameleon at but now the SO has said that he would like to get a female there, he has no problems with breeding the male we have but the rescue part of it is what is bothering me.
Any thoughts?
We just got our first chameleon just over a week ago. I had wanted one since I was a young teenager but due to family rules ("the only pets that can have a tail in this house are the dog and cats!") I wasn't able to get one. I briefly thought about it while I was in college but I was also traveling a lot so I got a puppy instead during my last semester. The puppy was not an impulse purchase, I'm just trying to keep this a bit short, she came with me everywhere. I reevaluated my chameleon desire in my early 20s and again decided that I did not have the time to commit to one or the experience, the caresheets I was reading at that time frightened me and I came to the conclusion that there was no way I was ever going to be able to keep a chameleon alive and eventually abandoned the idea for about 5 years. The I started working at an exotic vet. I would see all sorts of reptiles come in and started working on my SO to allow me to get one. He, understandably, kept saying no for various reasons; we already have dogs and cats, he's afraid of reptiles, etc. I backed off for a bit until a very sick leopard gecko came in to the clinic - she was treatable but the owner wanted to euthanize her. She ended up being surrendered and after begging and assuring him that she wasn't able to escape, I was allowed to bring her home. She renewed my love for reptiles and made me realize that not only was I able to keep her alive but I was also good at it. We quickly acquired more from various sources - one leo male from a breeder at an expo. a pet store reject leo that was just handed to me, a crested from a classified site and another crested that was given to me due to a mass on his side (that came off when he shed, he's perfectly healthy). The SO has come to realize that he loves watching the reptiles and will even throw some of the feeders in with them so he can watch them eat. He will not interact with them but he does like them. That's the back story.
Anyways, the chameleon we got is an ambilobe. He was kept with about 14 other chameleons in a small enclosure, the owners were attempting to breed them. When they started fighting and getting sick, they surrendered them to a local (reputable) pet store. They were all fixed up and put up for sale at discounted prices due to their less than perfect appearance - most were missing portions of their tails, including my guy.
We have a bit of reptile breeding experience due to two of our leos that we cannot separate, neither will eat if they aren't together, so we had eggs. We incubated them and gave/sold them to friends and friends of friends. All are doing well and we actually have requests for next breeding season. The SO enjoyed the baby leos quite a bit and really helped with their care while I was at work, which surprised me quite a bit. He really wants to try with chameleons as well, I'm fine with it and we have the room if we have to keep all the offspring.
I'm having a bit of an ethical dilemma with this though, I'm pretty sure this stems from dog rescue work that I did "back in the day". I'm probably anthropomorphizing the chameleon more than I would like to admit in regards to this. Is it ethical in the chameleon breeding world to breed a rescue if they are receptive and in good health?
There is an expo coming up here in September that we were originally planning on getting our chameleon at but now the SO has said that he would like to get a female there, he has no problems with breeding the male we have but the rescue part of it is what is bothering me.
Any thoughts?
I love that about you.
