expo blues - newby confused by drab colors

[Chamsterdam]

hi all

i'm new to your world. i've been considering buying a cham for a few weeks now and was super excited to attend an expo in my hood. this was going to be a decisive moment in my life -- my first up-close experience with those vibrant, gorgeous creatures i had only scene in pictures. if these guys were for real, i had to have one.

i already decided on the cage and accessories, the vendors to purchase feeders, psyched up my daughter for the new member of our family. the only thing left was to pick a cham. i didn't want to do anything till i had actually seen some in person (the ones the pet stores shy away from), hence the expo.

and what a disappointment it was. i was pleasantly surprised by the number of vendors selling chams (at least 4), but on display were a fairly drab bunch of lizards. no, they weren't just females or juveniles. i'm talking adult panthers (ambilobe, nosy be, etc.). and (some of) the vendors are established with well-done websites. ok, there were two exceptions to the letdown. one vendor had stunning mellers' -- kinda surprising since their focus seemed to be snakes. and another had some extremely colorful ambilobes that were, inexplicably, not displayed (only shown if asked for).

so now i'm left with my arms in the air. has anyone else out there had similar experiences? is there a good explanation? wouldn't any breeder want to display their best at a show? were they just trying to get rid of non-breeder quality stock? or worse, have all the photos i've seen been of chams displaying for females (revealing colors the average owner would not experience). also curious is the fact that several breeders do not seem to bother responding to e-mails (i know someone recently posted to complain about this too). from a buyer's perspective, none of this adds up.

can anyone out there explain what happened or offer up some advice? tell me my cham dreams aren't dead!

[it's not my intention to pick on any specific companies, so i kept names out of it. i know lots of breeders are on this site.]

 

[chequepoint]

Most websites and photos feature chameleons "Fired Up" which is them at their most vibrant. At a show there is a good chance that the animals were stressed and showing their darker, unhappy coloration.

A lot of chameleons don't reach their most vibrant coloration until 18 months or so.. so while they may be quite colorful at 6 months.. the best is yet to come.

The vendor probably wasn't showing his ambilobes to help minimize their stress..

A chameleon will be at its most colorful in bright natural sunlight, when courting a female, or when threatened. That is why most websites take their photos outside, with another male chameleon just out of site.

That said, a chameleon will probably fire up for you without much effort, and mine always fire up because they're so scared of the camera.. and they actually show beautiful colors at rest when they are secure in their environment.. so all is not lost.

 

[kinyonga]

Where you looking at babies or adults?

 

[chequepoint]

vendors are established with well-done websites.

Just as an aside.. Don't ever be fooled by a well done website.. Some of the best breeders around have websites that look like they were done in 1998, and there are guys around here that have websites that look like they're a large company, when in reality 3 months ago they could barely keep a chameleon alive.

And so nobody gets their feelings hurt, I'm sure there are good breeders with good websites.

 

[sandrachameleon]

As a rule, I wouldnt use the word drab to describe a chameleon. I dont know what you saw at the show, so I can't speak to whether or not those animals were representative of most chameleons. If you saw mostly younger ones (I dont know what age you or those vendors consider adult) then drab colours are to be expected. if the animals were stressed (which seems possible if not likely at a large show) the chameleons would be darker and drabber in colour. But if you were expecting chameleons that glow in the dark and look like lit christmas trees, perhaps you're expectations were too high.

If you want to see a few pictures of basic, standard, nothing amzaingly special, not-fired-up, what you can expect type chameleons, feel free to peruse my small album on this site. https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/sandrachameleon-albums-sandra-s-chameleons.html
the first picture is a hybrid chameleon somewhat fired-up (because he didnt like the camera that day). The rest of the pictures are normal every day colours, not fired up, with exception of the last one in which Emmet is a bit stressed (again by the camera). You will notice several pictures of Lennie - in May as a young adult, and back in September as a young one. You'll see a big difference in colour. The pictures are not doctored or prize winning - this is truly what my chameleons look like.

 

[Chamsterdam]

thanks everyone. this forum has been invaluable. i will soldier on...

 

[joeandsoph]

Please do soldier one.

My chamelelon is female and all she is is just plain green, rather boring you may think. But I love her all the same and would never ever swap her. Once you pick one, you wont go back =D

Anyway they are great fun to watch and they really are characters.