purchasing from LLL reptile

[namelessjo]

I live close to the retail store for LLL reptile and i was wondering what people think about buying a vieled cham from them. I know that it is best to aviod pet stores at all costs for chams but since LLL is a reptile specialty store I was thinkin i would do that to aviod shipping charges from buyin from breeders. What are your thoughts about this?

 

[SoCaliSon]

Going down to actually look at the animals would be the only way I would recommend buying chams from them. If you go and see poor husbandry, and suffereing animals, you know not to get one. This also allows you to closely examine the animal so you know what you are getting. Pay attention to how the cham is being housed. If it appears skinny, Eyes sunken in, bowing limbs, eyes closed... do not buy it. You want the one that is the most active, alert chameleon in the cage. You could buy a perfectly healthy animal, from the saddest places and still end up happy, it is when you let these places choose your baby for you that you get stuck with a less than quality animal. Just pick a healthy one!

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Going down to actually look at the animals would be the only way I would recommend buying chams from them. If you go and see poor husbandry, and suffereing animals, you know not to get one. This also allows you to closely examine the animal so you know what you are getting. Pay attention to how the cham is being housed. If it appears skinny, Eyes sunken in, bowing limbs, eyes closed... do not buy it. You want the one that is the most active, alert chameleon in the cage. You could buy a perfectly healthy animal, from the saddest places and still end up happy, it is when you let these places choose your baby for you that you get stuck with a less than quality animal. Just pick a healthy one!

Agreed! Well put Joe.

I purchased a melleri from there only because it was the healthiest looking WC melleri I have ever seen. I am at the oceanside store quite often and have seen good and bad looking animals.

They have some really nice stuff sometimes. Its all about weeding out the junk.

Personally I would look for a local breeder before I purchased from a reptile store. You are in Cali so there has to be someone close that has some. I would give that a shot first. Then use a reptile store as a last resort.

 

[namelessjo]

The only local breeder i found was chameleonsonly.com but unfortunatly they wont ship. Do you know of any local breeders?

 

[SoCaliSon]

I thought ChameleonOnly... Only ships... They don't allow on site pick ups.

 

[blackbetty]

The only local breeder i found was chameleonsonly.com but unfortunatly they wont ship. Do you know of any local breeders?

Im confused.. chameleonsonly is a "local" breeder you say so why need them to ship? Maybe my headache is messing with my reading skills...

 

[ColorChanginClick]

Just to share experience and I know every experience/animal differs greatly but I live in Texas and got my panther cham from them and couldn't have been more pleased with the entire transaction and this was during the summer when temps were very high here in texas and he arrived not only safely but I was very impressed with the packaging

 

[rcmike]

I have a headache too and that didn't make sense to me either.

 

[reyesjoshuacruz]

lll gets wild caught and mix panthers.

they have specials from time to time.

Everytime i went there i saw atleast 2 dead or dying large chams in the cages, and dead pigs all over

stay away from panthers if you care about locale, and stay away from everything else unless you can handle WC

all in all, they are right, good stuff for a good price if you weed through and treat accordingly


i would deff quar. any animal i got from them

 

[Kat77]

Chameleonsonly.com (the Kammers) ship, are you sure you read that right? Additionally, why would you need shipping if they are local?

Everything Joe (SoCali) said is spot on, just be sure that you are getting a healthy, alert animal. Be sure you get a fecal done on which ever animal you choose to get.

 

[dodolah]

o gosh... i bought all my chameleons (with the exception of 1) from Kammerflage (chameleonsonly). I am local as well and they insist on shipping it as they do not allow pick up.

The only reason why they do not ship that i can think of is the extreme weather.
But, seriously, I would rather either wait for reptile expo or buy direct from breeder.
It's very rare (although it's possible) to get healthy chameleons from pet store.

If you insist, then research like you've never research before.
So, by the time you get to the store, you know all the proper husbandry, how to spot sick animals, and how to differentiate between "reptile specialist" from "reptile mumbo jumboist."

the latter one is most common to be found in pet store. Sometimes, they masked their identity as the first one. One of the general tips to spot one is their incessant behavior on offering you unnecessary things such as glass aquarium, CF UVB bulbs, waterfall, and so on.

Be aware!

 

[reyesjoshuacruz]

whats tuff is the best looking go first. that doesnt mean they are the healthiest.

you can always try and wait a few weeks to see who makes it, but by that time people have already taken their chances on the ones that look ok and just the bad ones are left.


or they were healthy enough at first but have contracted something from a fellow captor


but where are you located i know a couple places in so cal that are worth checking out.

lahabra, anaheim, ect...

 

[namelessjo]

sorry for the confusion. when i said local I meant that they are in the area not that they sell locally. chameleonsonly.com only ships. Does anyone know any southern CA breeders that allow pick ups?

 

[namelessjo]

I am in the San Diego area.