Should I buy (save) this guy??

[Sheao]

Rememder keeping a Chameleon is not that hard when your setup is right. If u take him u need to have a cage setup and done b4 u buy him. The rewards of owning one is great

 

[Jono]

I'd get him.
Its possible that the store may not look after him properly.
Its definite that you could look after him well and give the little guy a good life.

 

[Rhino]

It's a shame the way pet stores care for animals. The local pet store near me has a baby veiled (not sure of the sex of the cham) in a 15 gallon glass aquarium, with screen top, a uvb light on top, no heat bulb, 2 vines in the tank and cedar chips as the bedding.

 

[CHAMaDdIcT]

wow thats kinda sad that they live like that but i would get him, as long as you know you can set aside the time to take care of him

 

[Carlton]

The only problem with buying him is that you are "rewarding" the shop for trying to keep and sell an animal they obviously don't know the proper care of. If the shop staff is interested in learning the proper care that's great and I'd make as much available to them as you can. Those chams will be very lucky to get a buyer who actually knows enough to research before bringing them home. A lot of pet shops use customer's concern and guilt to sell their animals. Maybe this one doesn't, but they've got to be more responsible about the species they decide to sell. That price seems high. If you do decide to buy one, I would only do it with the understanding that you will give the shop the CORRECT care information and expect them to use it and make it available to any future cham buyers (such as for the female). If you ever see them house a pair of chams together like that again tell them you won't buy anything there again.

 

[LovitaVelvet]

I'd love to buy him and give him a great home. Should I buy him, even with the lack of care...or should I only buy from a place that takes great care of what they sale?

Thanks for your time.

josh

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Unfortunately there are a lot of places that do not take particularly good care of the Chams they are selling. I bought a female Senegal last week from a store that had her is an enclosure that was too small without proper UV light. She was a little bruised up too, but appeared to be in decent health. Since bringing her home and getting her in a decent set up, she has been doing great. I would have preferred to not have given though store my money, I am incredibly happy with my new cham and she is noticeably happier in her new home.

So you really want that Chameleon and feel as though you are ready to take care of it go with what you really want to do, which is buy him. You wouldn't be asking for advise about the situation otherwise.

 

[JoshuaTree]

Thanks so much for all the replys....to you all. I'm going to buy him. I'm going to try to buy the female as well. But I've got to get another cage and setup first.....which may take a month or so.

Right now I just got my 24"x24"x48" cage for the male. I'll have the setup complete within the next week...then he's coming to his new home.

Heres the cage I got...he'll have plenty of space to play:

http://www.flchams.com/cages.asp (its the 24x24x48 for $115)


Since I'm new....I'm sure I have lots of questions for all of you. I'm doing lots of reading and research.

josh

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

lovely choice of the cage

 

[Carlton]

Well, as you plan the 2 cages remember you can save a little by putting them side by side (with a simple visual barrier between such as a piece of opaque plastic sheeting), use one longer UV fluorescent tube stretching over both, and one basking floodlight placed over where the 2 cages meet so both get the heat from one fixture. You can set up a fogger or mister that reaches both cages, and even combine under cage drainage that way. You'll end up with a larger "divided" cage rather than two separate ones.

Still, please offer the shop good husbandry info and ask that they make it available if they sell any chams in future. Hopefully they will be open to learning more about them.