Albert_the_Cham
New Member
Hey everyone, I live in Portland, OR and I was driving on a fairly busy road on Monday when suddenly I see a lizard slowly crossing the street. I put on my hazard lights and pulled over as soon as I could. Come to find out it was a chameleon. I have never even seen a cham in real life at this point, so imagine my excitement/concern/confusion. I picked him up, not knowing that you should never pick it up by it's torso, rather coax it to step onto your hand, and he gave me a little warning hiss. I got him on my hand and I started knocking on doors at the apartments across the street. Nobody knew of anyone in the complex with a cham, so I went to the pet store that was a block away. They were dumbfounded, and also not super helpful as they only really handle food and treats for cats and dogs. They suggested I take him to the veterinary clinic two blocks away. I walked in with him and everyone that worked there started coming out of the woodwork to see this guy. The main vet told me that he looked to be about two years old, in good health if not a little underweight. One of the vet techs gave me a Cat Cab cardboard box with a pad in the bottom so that I didn't have to wrangle him in the car while driving, and I snapped off a few small branches from a tree outside their office, just so he had something in there. In hindsight, I think this was not necessary, but again, on Monday I knew next to nothing about these creatures. A few people mentioned that there was a pet store not far away that has the necessary accoutrements to get him set up. I wound up spending around $300 on my credit card to get him into an enclosure, fed, warm, lit, and watered. Then, once he was relaxing in his room inside my room, I posted to Nextdoor and Craigslist to see if anyone would respond. I also searched in all the pertinent areas of the internet for missing chameleon postings. So far I have only had one lead, and they lost their cham months ago in the same area I found this one, so I guess that could be possible that he survived over the Summer? Not really sure. They don't seem to think so.
So for now, it seems like I have a new pet. I call him Albert, because I found him on Alberta street. This week has been insane and totally unexpected, but I am happy to host such a cool dude. Here are a few pictures I have taken so far. Thanks for reading!
So for now, it seems like I have a new pet. I call him Albert, because I found him on Alberta street. This week has been insane and totally unexpected, but I am happy to host such a cool dude. Here are a few pictures I have taken so far. Thanks for reading!
