HELP have the pet shop lied?

[Beckie]

I am now a very proud parent to a male, yemen chameleon, Pascal.
I have wanted a chameleon for 4 years and have done a LOT of research. I won't buy a pet until i am completely happy that i can fully care for the animal, and did precisely that this time.
My problem is that the pet shop, (a very reputabe pet shop i have used several times) told me that my little man is 3 months old....I know how big yemens get and also know what measurements his enclosure should be etc however i didn't know how big a 3 month cham is until looking on here at some of your pictures.
Judging by your pictures my little fella is certainly not 3 months and i was wondering if any of you could try and let me know how old you all think he is.
He is about 2" from nose to base of tail and is just beginning to show signs of his adult colouration forming.
I've attached a picture of him on my husbands hand for you to see if this is of any help.
Thanks in advance! xx

 

[MeAndBean]

I think he looks about 1 month old. He is very cute! Mine looks just like him.

 

[Beckie]

Thank you!
I was guessing about 6 weeks from what pics I've seen so i wasn't far off what you were thinking!
Have you got any pics of your little one? x

 

[MeAndBean]

Here's Bean crawling on me

 

[carol5208]

not all chams grow at the exact same rate, but I do think he is younger than 3 months. They might have told you 3 months so it was safe to sell. 1 month is very young to sell a chameleon.

 

[Beckie]

ahhhh bean's gorgeous!

The bloke was adament he was 3 months, they had smaller at the pet hop too! I am just wondering if he is small too as they are a very reputable pet shop and i personally ahve never had or known anyone to habe any trouble with them.

Should i be concerned if he is only 1 month?

Also, can he eat anything other that a bit of greener, carrots etc and crickets yet or am i best to wait till he is a bit older? xx

 

[Beckie]

Sorry for all my spelling errors, my keyboard keeps sticking and i didn't read it back!

 

[fluxlizard]

LOL my veileds are usually nearly adults by 3 months.

But they grow at different rates depending on care and social heirchy (dominant individuals grow much faster when raised in groups) and just individual genetics and whatnot.

I wouldn't say the pet shop lied- maybe speculated with unmerited confidence on the age or a breeder or supplier told them something and they passed it on as fact.

He looks healthy- I wouldn't worry too much about age, just take careful care of him and he will grow quickly and do fine for you.

You can try veggies at this age if you can shred them small and thin enough. Personally I don't have the patience for that for such a small cham and I'd just wait another month and then it will be easy to do that...

 

[Tay And A]

yeah theres no way that he is three months old. he is very tiny. however the chams from the same clutch do grow at different rates. they can also end up being different sizes from their brothers. just make sure u feed hima good diet and he should be fine! =)


QUOTE=Beckie;923305]I am now a very proud parent to a male, yemen chameleon, Pascal.
I have wanted a chameleon for 4 years and have done a LOT of research. I won't buy a pet until i am completely happy that i can fully care for the animal, and did precisely that this time.
My problem is that the pet shop, (a very reputabe pet shop i have used several times) told me that my little man is 3 months old....I know how big yemens get and also know what measurements his enclosure should be etc however i didn't know how big a 3 month cham is until looking on here at some of your pictures.
Judging by your pictures my little fella is certainly not 3 months and i was wondering if any of you could try and let me know how old you all think he is.
He is about 2" from nose to base of tail and is just beginning to show signs of his adult colouration forming.
I've attached a picture of him on my husbands hand for you to see if this is of any help.
Thanks in advance! xx[/QUOTE]

 

[DavidBuchan]

I agree, definitely younger than 3 months, but perhaps up to 2......
Anyway, he's super cute and it does mean he'll happily eat tons of tiny crickets and fruit flies.
Welcome to the forum Here's a great basic caresheet I recommend to everyone with Veileds - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

 

[FunkyKangaroo]

he looks just like mine! how do you hold him at such a young age? i just got my little guy to eat from hand and he doesn't hide from me anymore!

 

[Beckie]

Thanks guys!
He does eat really well IMO, last night a tiny fly flew into his enclosure...it lasted the whole of 2 seconds.
Can't wait till he's big enough to eat spiders!

 

[Beckie]

Funky kangaroo,
I think it's cos he was in a busyish pet shop on a corner so he's used to people. He comes straight out onto us. We've never encouraged it but I'm glad he's so settled he does seen to prefer my hubby to me though
I'm sure he'll grow out of that! Xx

 

[kingsleysandoval]

from what i have learned in this forum, eggs don't hatch at the same time. maybe the breeder based all the ages of the clutch to the time when the first cham came out of the egg. i don't know for sure cause my first clutch of veiled chams are still incubating as of the moment. but i think it is possible that some hatch a month or two earlier than the rest. so maybe the breeder generalized their age basing on the cham that had hatched first of the clutch.

 

[Beckie]

Thanks kingley. I didn't think of that but I suppose you can't really remember when each one hatches if youre a breeder, I can't barely remember my families birthdays let alone lots of little chams that all look the same!