burnedrose
New Member
Hello all!
I just joined tonight, so I figured an introduction is in order.
Umm..where to begin?
Since this is a chameleon forum, I guess I'll start by talking about my history with chameleons!
I used to live in Hawaii and while out there, I noticed people loved the Jackson's chameleons. My boyfriend is an experienced herp owner and since most herps are illegal in Hawaii, he decided to give chameleons a try. He built our first cage from scratch - it stood 3 feet tall, four feet long and about a foot and a half wide. It had a great screen all around - one of those non-metal screens that won't rust.
He let me pick our first chameleon. We went down to the local pet store and looked at the jackson's (which are only $20 in hawaii! but, unfortunately, most are wild caught). I saw a beautiful adult male with great horns and bright eyes and when we went to check him out for disease ( we read up a LOT before even starting this whole thing) he was very lively. I decided that he would become my baby. We named him karma, after, of course, the culture club song that everyone loves to hate.
Karma lived three long years before he finally succumbed to old age. next, we bought a male and a female and we planned on starting a breeding colony so we wouldn't see all the wild caughts dying off in the pet stores. Unfortunately, within days, our male chameleon, Zumanity, died. The vet thought he may have contracted a disease in the pet store. Our female, Varekai thrived. However, a year later, we were moved onto a military base and they didn't allow chameleons in the base housing. So we gave Varekai away to a gentleman who was also trying to start a breeding colony. Last I heard, she is still alive, almost two years later. Yay Varekai!
I moved back to NY this past year. I hadn't owned a chameleon in almost two years, so I opted to look into buying another. The day my grandmother died, I was extremely distraught - usually, when I get upset, i go down to the pet store and play with the animals and keep them company, as not many people seem to play with them at all. This particular day, I noticed they got a juvenile female veiled chameleon in. First off, she was being kept in a glass aquarium, second, she had no misting, just a bowl of water, third, crickets were running all over the place, fourth, she was so darkly colored that I didn't expect her to really survive another day. My instincts kicked in and I bought her, on the spot, as well as a new cage and the entire set up. I was determined to keep her alive. I named her K2, like the mountain, but also for Karma 2.
This was back in april. Now she is growing and she actually walks over to me when I open her cage door and perches on my hand. I think she somehow knows, in her little chameleon brain, that I saved her and needed her just as much as she needed me.
...and thats all I hafta say about that.
I just joined tonight, so I figured an introduction is in order.
Umm..where to begin?
Since this is a chameleon forum, I guess I'll start by talking about my history with chameleons!
I used to live in Hawaii and while out there, I noticed people loved the Jackson's chameleons. My boyfriend is an experienced herp owner and since most herps are illegal in Hawaii, he decided to give chameleons a try. He built our first cage from scratch - it stood 3 feet tall, four feet long and about a foot and a half wide. It had a great screen all around - one of those non-metal screens that won't rust.
He let me pick our first chameleon. We went down to the local pet store and looked at the jackson's (which are only $20 in hawaii! but, unfortunately, most are wild caught). I saw a beautiful adult male with great horns and bright eyes and when we went to check him out for disease ( we read up a LOT before even starting this whole thing) he was very lively. I decided that he would become my baby. We named him karma, after, of course, the culture club song that everyone loves to hate.
Karma lived three long years before he finally succumbed to old age. next, we bought a male and a female and we planned on starting a breeding colony so we wouldn't see all the wild caughts dying off in the pet stores. Unfortunately, within days, our male chameleon, Zumanity, died. The vet thought he may have contracted a disease in the pet store. Our female, Varekai thrived. However, a year later, we were moved onto a military base and they didn't allow chameleons in the base housing. So we gave Varekai away to a gentleman who was also trying to start a breeding colony. Last I heard, she is still alive, almost two years later. Yay Varekai!
I moved back to NY this past year. I hadn't owned a chameleon in almost two years, so I opted to look into buying another. The day my grandmother died, I was extremely distraught - usually, when I get upset, i go down to the pet store and play with the animals and keep them company, as not many people seem to play with them at all. This particular day, I noticed they got a juvenile female veiled chameleon in. First off, she was being kept in a glass aquarium, second, she had no misting, just a bowl of water, third, crickets were running all over the place, fourth, she was so darkly colored that I didn't expect her to really survive another day. My instincts kicked in and I bought her, on the spot, as well as a new cage and the entire set up. I was determined to keep her alive. I named her K2, like the mountain, but also for Karma 2.
This was back in april. Now she is growing and she actually walks over to me when I open her cage door and perches on my hand. I think she somehow knows, in her little chameleon brain, that I saved her and needed her just as much as she needed me.
...and thats all I hafta say about that.
