New to having a chameleons

[ChocolateBacon]

I would certainly contact the breeder for some explanations.

You have a panther chameleon. More specifically, an Ambilobe. Ambilobe refers to the locale - specific location in Madagascar from where they come. Different locales have different colorations.

Your little one looks more like 2 months old. Her body, excluding her tail, should be about the size of your palm is she's 5 months. If they're still the size of your finger, they're under 4 months.

Females are brown, grey, beige in general. Some light hues of oranges and blues or so, but definitely worth a lot less money because of their lack of color.

Only the males are colorful. That's why people usually only show off pictures of the babies' sires (dads) or their mothers' sires. Pics of dams (moms) aren't shown off because they only carry the color genetics, but don't actually show them themselves.

And yes, they lay eggs like chickens do without roosters. You will need to have an egg laying bin available for her.

And in terms of housing, I'm sure others have pointed it all out, but make sure you read up on the care info sheets and make some revisions to the enclosure and care.

 

[Juliaf3]

I would certainly contact the breeder for some explanations.

You have a panther chameleon. More specifically, an Ambilobe. Ambilobe refers to the locale - specific location in Madagascar from where they come. Different locales have different colorations.

Your little one looks more like 2 months old. Her body, excluding her tail, should be about the size of your palm is she's 5 months. If they're still the size of your finger, they're under 4 months.

Females are brown, grey, beige in general. Some light hues of oranges and blues or so, but definitely worth a lot less money because of their lack of color.

Only the males are colorful. That's why people usually only show off pictures of the babies' sires (dads) or their mothers' sires. Pics of dams (moms) aren't shown off because they only carry the color genetics, but don't actually show them themselves.

And yes, they lay eggs like chickens do without roosters. You will need to have an egg laying bin available for her.

And in terms of housing, I'm sure others have pointed it all out, but make sure you read up on the care info sheets and make some revisions to the enclosure and care.

Well hello there chocolate bacon. Wow that sounds delicious lol

 

[ChocolateBacon]

Oh, and here's a good way to visualize gut loading. Imagine crickets and other feeder insects as being the delivery trucks. You want to load whatever goods you want to deliver to your chameleon into the delivery trucks. If you don't put them in the trucks, they won't get delivered. No one wants to receive an empty delivery truck! There had better be some goods inside those trucks when they arrive!

Those orange jellies and powdered cricket food that they sell commercially at pet stores are nutritionally useless. You need to feed your insects greens, fruits, veggies. The healthy stuff. By putting them into the guts of the insects, you're putting them into the guys of your chams.

 

[ChocolateBacon]

Julia, chocolate bacon is delicious. As are bacon maple cupcakes. You just can't go wrong with bacon. They even have bacon deodorant and toothpaste now.

 

[Juliaf3]

Julia, chocolate bacon is delicious. As are bacon maple cupcakes. You just can't go wrong with bacon. They even have bacon deodorant and toothpaste now.

My friend actually was going to make me a maple bacon cup cake today. It's 9 pm where I'm at, I'm still waiting.....she should have been done hours ago. I forgot all about it until you posted in here lol

 

[Lathis]

Bacon peanut butter cookies are a favorite in our house

 

[Juliaf3]

Bacon peanut butter cookies are a favorite in our house

Oh my soul..... Y'all are killing me!

 

[shmeenakoz]

OMG when I was a mammal eater back in the day… I friggin' LOVED peanut butter bacon sandwiches!!! One of my fave childhood memories Back to the OP, Any updates on talking to the breeder?

 

[brieannab]

No word from breeder yet but all this talk about bacon is making me want some I'll keep everyone up to date thanks for your knowledge and support. My heart is a little broke also I got prices wrong when I said them earlier it's 250$ for males witch is what I paid and 200$ for females must have been a typo on me sorry. ....

 

[Devokid]

View attachment 94511 here is a pic of him right now and the other pic is his dad...is a carpet a kind of panther? View attachment 94512

Oh snap! Another person from Utah. I thought Mike and I were the only ones on here . And no, a carpet is a different species.

 

[Devokid]

I would also like to point out that females can be beautiful. My avatar, for example, is a picture of my female ambilobe. She is spectacularly colored when she wants to be, but is usually a very nice pastel pink when happy.

 

[brieannab]

Yes I'm in utah. So is my breeder thank goodness! Hopefully planing a switch out for a male will happen in about a week!

 

[Juliaf3]

Yes I'm in utah. So is my breeder thank goodness! Hopefully planing a switch out for a male will happen in about a week!

Yay!!! Hopefully you can hand pick your little man!


Utah- pretty cool-I've been a lot of places, but never Utah, unless it was a layover.

 

[brieannab]

Yeah I hope I hope it just happens before I get more attached or before my daughter dose. Yes I was born and raised here in Utah. Love it here. Not a big mormon either. I'm a vet tech but not on reptiles I wish I was I work more with large animals like horses, cows, pigs, dogs and cats. Want to go back to school to get to know reptiles more.

 

[brownie64]

curious

Yes, the dirt is bad. They can eat it and it can cause blockages.

First of all I not trying to be a jerk, and hope I don't come off that way but I have been keeping Chameleons for over 16 years, and have always had a planted dirt substrate, I personally haven't had one single case of impaction, have I just been lucky, or just maybe it's not that big of an issue. I personally think it is way more easy to maintain their humidity with a dirt substrate, I guess what I'm saying I think the benefits outweigh the risk. Could you show my some reports on the impaction problem, because I just don't see it. I mean isn't this the same thing they have in the wild. If you keep them well hydrated I really don't think it should be a problem. Besides how often do they eat off the bottom anyway. Actually I personally would be afraid of river rocks because if they did accidently ingest one of those they would either choke, or definitely be impacted. So anyone out there have any proof that dirt is the evil that is being portrayed as, please show me I truly am interested.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

I have had a Cham die from impaction and I have pulled substrate out of cham's mouths. I have also known several other very reputable chameleon owners who have had the same thing happen.

These forums are to provide people with information about what works for the individual. I try to provide the best environment for my chams and if removing the substrate will elevate risk and worry, I do it. I live in a dry climate and can keep the humidity up with a automatic misting system and cold mist humidifier.

Consider yourself lucky you have not had to deal with this problem. And the river rocks I use in my pots are very large. There is no possibility of ingestion.

 

[brownie64]

sorry

I have had a Cham die from impaction and I have pulled substrate out of cham's mouths. I have also known several other very reputable chameleon owners who have had the same thing happen.

These forums are to provide people with information about what works for the individual. I try to provide the best environment for my chams and if removing the substrate will elevate risk and worry, I do it. I live in a dry climate and can keep the humidity up with a automatic misting system and cold mist humidifier.

Consider yourself lucky you have not had to deal with this problem. And the river rocks I use in my pots are very large. There is no possibility of ingestion.

truly sorry to hear about your loss. and I wasn't contradicting what you were saying or implying you were wrong in any way. But I live in a cold climate, and in the winter time it is really hard to keep the humidity up, But I guess I could get some large enough river rocks to cover my substrate, and not have to worry about the problem at all. I could get the humidity from the substrate, and not worry about impaction. I guess I've been lucky, but when we first started out back in the early 90s everyone had dirt substrate. Everyone still uses them for pygmy chameleons today. But better safe than sorry.

And to anyone else out there could you please provide some stats on this issue, it would be very appreciated.

 

[Juliaf3]

Yeah I hope I hope it just happens before I get more attached or before my daughter dose. Yes I was born and raised here in Utah. Love it here. Not a big mormon either. I'm a vet tech but not on reptiles I wish I was I work more with large animals like horses, cows, pigs, dogs and cats. Want to go back to school to get to know reptiles more.

Everytime I here the word Utah Instanly think of that tv show big love. I don't think it's on anymore. Were they Mormons? I don't know much about Mormons. When I say don't know much, I mean nothing other than it's a religious group lol I had a friend in high school who was a jahovahs witness or how ever that is spelled.

I have a daughter too! She's 7 going on about 30 lol

 

[brieannab]

Haha my daughter is 6 going on 16 my little diva. Utah is known for Mormons that's why I said I'm not a Mormon lol I've never heard of that show either.

 

[Juliaf3]

Haha my daughter is 6 going on 16 my little diva. Utah is known for Mormons that's why I said I'm not a Mormon lol I've never heard of that show either.

How's things going with your Cham switch?