The slippery slope of Cham ownership...

[clarkrw3]

:holds my palms to my face and shakes head:....

Lets just say less than a year ago i didn't have any Reptiles (not for a while anyway).. Now i have 5 Chams and 5 Geckos!!

At one point i had 7 Chams.

I have sold parts off my racecar to fund the purchase of Chams (This coming from a guy who you could not keep out of a car or the track).

I have literally over 1000 hours of Cham research!! Its crazy how the public, my wife and kids has taken to my Hobby. This does not help the cause. At one point my wife was keeping me in-check, those days are long gone!!

I recently took a trip with my wife and kids to the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey, while there i saw signs for Chameleons on display. Rushed upstairs to find no Chams. I asked what was the deal with the tease?. They said they had a pair of Jacksons and they were stressing over the Center's visitor foot traffic. But i did notice that they also had them housed in the same exhibit with 3-4 Leaf tail Geckos(Uroplatus). I assume this was the cause for them stressing. Explained to the keepers my concerns and they are going to make changes and possibly have a Chameleon Only exhibit.

I offered to donate a male Ambliobe Panther for the exhibit if i can come in and help with the enclosure . This may seem like a act of kindness. But it's my greed to immerse myself with Chameleons that's driving this "good" gesture. lmaooo boohahahaha boohahahah!!

In off the deep end for sure!

Loved the story Jon!! Don't even get me started on my geckos, I can't even keep my sig accurate came home with my two new chams only to check the incubator and have two new geckos

wow you guys all need rehab! lol! I don't know how, but I stayed with one for over two years and the only reason I got a second was because it was 5 minutes from my house and needed a good home when someone posted on the forum here. I still would probably have one! I have been tempted MANY times though I will admit!

All I can say Carol is you have some serious will power!! ever thought about becoming a nun? Lol

I will only buy this one turns into 2 and so on just bought a larger house and was making sure cage tables fit and drainage tubes would run thrugh wall and setting up section for when i have babies and havent even been doing this a year yet but we love em!!!!!!

I hear you!! When do you want to get a Cham meeting going in AZ?!?

 

[ibdragons]

First I went from quads to a panther ,then to collect a panther from each locale,then I decided to breed them ,then I knew I was hooked (actually realized it) when I bought feeders for my feeders

 

[laurie]

I need some help, the snow has melted and still I am sliding. I seem to be thinking I need more chams. I promised my self I would cut down and stay down. looks like a may have a cham caretaker come take care of me and my chams after surgery. I was so worried about how I would care for my chams.

 

[JonRich]

So i have just commited to a whole new level of slipperyness!!

So i have been having soo much fun with planted terrariums that i am now redoing ALL (aside from the 2 Panthers i'm still going to keep) of my cages and doing a rack system to house 6-8 Glass Terrariums of various sizes to house some rare reptiles.

I just did the math and it's going to cost me about $1500 for just hardware and another $1000 to plant everything, most likely another misting system. Also going to enclose everything with wood (hiding all the lighing and hardware, only showing the glass fronts)..Not to mention the cost of the goodies that will be housed in these things.

So far i'll be Keeping..
*DartFrogs (type pending)
*Lwilliamsi Electric Blue Day Geckos
*Bradypodion (type pending).. This enclosure will be partially screened
*Some type of Crustaceans, im thinking Vampire Crabs
*Some type of Pygmy Chameleon (type pending)
*A grow tank for just plants to add to existing enclosures
Plus i will have a two 18x18x24 ExoTerras for open ideas.

I really want something thats going to look like it belongs in my home and not like a garage with screened cages of different sizes. Which is how my home is starting to look now.

The wife is onboard!!

Aiming for something like this..This has really been a dream of mine, to have a neat display to enjoy with my kids and friends.

There will be a couch set up infront this thing and a coffee table to put my foot up on.

 

[azgnoinc]

Reading through all 5 pages of responses I find myself chuckling, relating to pretty much all of the cham addicts that I share joyous & informative company with here.
The slope started as thought of- "Ive been away for a few years, a Kammers Panther would be great.." ....leading to - Wow, 2 BB Ambilobe females- what a great pair .. Oh, I need something for the terrarium ..enter the Elliot's cham, then come the eggs, cause Archimedes needs some loving....and then comes the first clutch of eggs, then the 2nd, then the 3rd....and somewhere along the way it was a great idea enclose an entire half of the basement for chameleons only - plus the food cultures of pill bugs, mealworms, dubia, mantis...Oh - yeah - babies will be on the way so better get the FF cultures going...and then there's babies... LOTS of babies....and enter the rice flour beetle culture...and so on and...OH - more eggs from more clutches - meaning MORE babies........
Oh yeah, crickets - who could forget 3 different sizes of CRICKETS!!!!

Cruising down the slope... then WHAM!!! I'm now rocketing down the ramp at XGames.....

 

[Calypso]

WOW JonRich!!! That is one of the most impressive setups I've ever if not the most. One day I hope to acheive the same level of awesomeness in my home. Congrats and good luck