Nobody Wants Veileds?

[ir0k]

I feel the same way, I have 2 panthers and 1 vield and I love both species. My veild dino is a character as my panthers are way more laid back. Jannb is right, my veild does not liked to be caged much. he likes to be out climbing his pothos.

as for pricing, I have seen quit a shift in the way panther chameleons are selling. about 6 months ago there was not 1 person in my area selling them on craigslist. Now there are at least 3 and you can see them each week drop the price to undercut each other. As for veilds I see them consistently sell for 50-80 in the pet shops to about 30-50 from local breeders.

My vield is as much loved as my panthers are. He is very special to me.



Cheers!
Chris

 

[SycoSquirl]

i feel it depends on the seller on how much veilds are going for. My parents bought mine as a "sub adult" for 180 or so, the only reason im not getting another veiled since mine passed is because it would be too sad. ( I get too attached to things)

 

[waynek]

I have a pair of veilds but I wonder weather I will breed them or not .

 

[Mike Fisher]

The price for veileds bottomed out @ $12.50 ea. for 100 lots, and $10.00 ea for 1000 lots in late 1990's. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

 

[Lizardguy1]

Interesting discussion- there are certainly lots of breeders out there for Veileds, from small hobbyists to large commercial enterprises. What seems to be little understood on this forum is the volume of Veileds that come from wild caught stock from florida's feral populations- if you are buying a veiled from a florida dealer I would venture to guess it originated from a feral population. Since these large commercial distributors ship nationwide (and even overseas), there is also a good chance if you are picking up a baby veiled in A Petsmart or Petco on the west coast it's wild caught as well.

I have personal experience when I lived in South Florida of selling my captive bred hatchlings to a couple of these large stores- into the communal cage of hatchlings they went, where the number of WC babies was 5 times the number that I sold to this store. It's purely a volume business, and the fact that my captive hatched had sound maternal nutrition and care, ideal incubation conditions, and the babies were started on fortified fruit flies and pinhead crickets gained no premium from the dealer. I received the same flat wholesale rate as the kids who collect hundreds of WC hatchlings from "ranching" feral populations. Such methods obviously lower the time and labor involved in producing hatchling Veileds for the pet trade.

In the end Veiled chameleons are a commodity subject to supply and demand like any other product- the demand is relatively constant, or perhaps slowing growing as Chameleon popularity grows, however the supply clearly exceeds the demand, which means they are going yo be cheap-

 

[Lizardguy1]

Mike- wholesale is generally less than that in South Florida right now- I had a clutch hatch in January, was able to sell it in February for $12/ea. However when the feral hatchlings start appearing in large numbers (May-August is the peak time of year) prices drop to $7.50-$8/ea.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Mike- wholesale is generally less than that in South Florida right now- I had a clutch hatch in January, was able to sell it in February for $12/ea. However when the feral hatchlings start appearing in large numbers (May-August is the peak time of year) prices drop to $7.50-$8/ea.

Yeah, I forgot about WC now available in the USA. I would say that even with the lower price, the profit is higher because no feeder or electricity expenses. There was actually a period of negative return in the 90's, that's when the quantity veiled breeders called it quits.

Lots of people frown on quantity breeders of chams, but without them we'd still be importing veileds. If panther breeders continue on the same path, we may not need to import pardalis in the future either. That should really be the goal anyway.

 

[RyU]

"If panther breeders continue on the same path, we may not need to import pardalis in the future either. That should really be the goal anyway. [/QUOTE]

Agree 100%. Panthers are getting quite common and every baby we hatch out is one less that's being plucked out from the wild. Breed on.

 

[brownie64]

Personally if i ever did decide to dedicate myself to breeding chameleons, which i most likely will in the future, i would love to breed Jacksons Chameleons!!! They are just awesome looking and something about the live birth makes it that much cooler to me!! Are Jacksons looked at the same way veileds to most people?? I know the price isnt too high for em.... Also i have a Veiled. my first and only cham. He was super aggressive when i got him but within ONE WEEK i got him to be super nice and handleable... just took about 15 minutes of handling a day and a lot of hand feeding! i also noticed theyre "all bark and no bite" cuz when mine trys to bite me it honestly doesnt hurt not one bit and most of the time even if he does manage to get my finger tip in his mouth he wont even bite... hes really just tryna scare you off... Awesome pet and i Love him despite his mark down price!!! Those are my thoughts ^.^

Good luck raising Jackson babies they are a whole lotta fun if you like watching perfectly healthy looking chams die for no apparent reason. I would leave that one to the most experienced. I've been at it for over 16 years, and my skills are no match for them.

 

[brownie64]

Calyptratus have been used as feeders for a long time. They are easy to breed and prolific which makes them an ideal feeder. Like it or not it's just the way it is.

Chameleons in general are poor sellers. Besides pardalis most breeders struggle to find buyers.

Carl

That may be where you live, but I'll bet they breed them just for that purpose and don't buy them individually. I can assure you I wouldn't pay $20.00 for a veiled as a feeder never mind $75-$100 or more. And maybe if the prices would come down on the panthers more people would buy them. A lot of people like myself don't like buying little babies because the risk of loss is too great. And the sub adults, and adults run $400.00 and up. Just my opinion. And as far as I'm concerned anyone feeding a chameleon to a snake when there is mice, and rats don't have a heart, or a brain.

 

[Carlton]

I have a pair of veilds but I wonder weather I will breed them or not .

There is no rule in cham keeping stating that you must breed or produce babies. You can enjoy them either way, and reproduction does have its risks for the female at least.

 

[junglefries]

Calyptratus have been used as feeders for a long time. They are easy to breed and prolific which makes them an ideal feeder. Like it or not it's just the way it is.

Chameleons in general are poor sellers. Besides pardalis most breeders struggle to find buyers.

Carl

I actually had to abandon breeding veils. I found myself with 160 hatchlings and more eggs incubating. This was one male and three females, however only two females producing mostly. At one point it cost me , 6000 crickets in five days. I also was breeding my own hydeii, crickets and roaches. It just isn't feasible moneywise to most. I got lucky with some help from Laurie, two pet stores, and another buyer from CA (u know who you are, and again thank you). Had I not had communication with both of them, my story would have been completely different. I put them online here for $25-40 with hardly any takers. The stores locally sell them for $40, except for Petsmart who sells them for $70. When you figure in their cost to raise them for three months before selling, it can be hard just to break even. Then there is the maintenance. They poop ALL day long and LOTS of it! I had to clean the cage bottoms three times a day and spray the cage out at least twice a week. Even keeping about 15 (2 month old) veils in a 24x24x48" cages, they created havoc. It can be just too much work, unless they are your passion. They started off one of my favorites, and now I cringe upon site. They put rabbits to shame. Had I not been an animal lover, feeders would have sounded like a great idea. Keep in mind people, in nature snakes eat chams ALL day long.

 

[hallie316]

I do think it has to do with them being available at pet stores too. They're the most popular, so there's more supply.

Personally, we decided to get a sternfeldi instead of a veiled because they are smaller and don't have casques. It was just a preference, although veiled chameleons are more hardy and still super awesome.