Thinking about acquiring a Cham

[sdlivin]

Hey guys,

I joined this forum a few weeks ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can about Chams. I will probably be purchasing one here shortly and I want some honest opinions on:

1) How labor intensive are Chams really?

2) Is free ranging difficult?

3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much?

4) How much should you really hold your Cham?

5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham?

Thanks!

 

[nightcrawler]

Hey guys,

I joined this forum a few weeks ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can about Chams. I will probably be purchasing one here shortly and I want some honest opinions on:

1) How labor intensive are Chams really?
i have to get up atleast one hour early and go to bed
one hour later everyday, not including making sure that he gets his
afternoon watering and feeding
2) Is free ranging difficult?
im not too sure but it would be hard to make sure
he is getting enough uvb, heat, and keeping him safe
3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much?
dogs are usually bad, some wont mind it but about 90%
will be stressed out by it
4) How much should you really hold your Cham?
as little as possible
5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham?
not reaserching enough before i got him,
if i did i could of got everything right
Thanks!

hope that helps

 

[sdlivin]

good info

Thanks! Keep the good info coming. I like the idea of a hobby pet, but I also want one that I will get some sort of entertainment out of......the beauty is a good start I guess!

 

[dodolah]

see my answer below:

Hey guys,

I joined this forum a few weeks ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can about Chams. I will probably be purchasing one here shortly and I want some honest opinions on:

1) How labor intensive are Chams really?
Before i automated most of my chameleon care, it was labor intensive.
(auto mister is not necessary. But, it will save you a lot of time in the long run )

2) Is free ranging difficult?
I never set up free range since i do not have enough space for him to do that. So, i cannot answer you how difficult it is.


3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much?
you can have dogs; but, it is advisable to not let both of them have access to meet with each other. Put your cham in specific room where your dog won't b able to get in.

4) How much should you really hold your Cham?
unless necessary, i would not handle my cham.

5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham?
Not at all. I love them so much.

Thanks!

http://chamworld.blogspot.com

 

[Kevin1873]

Hey guys,

I joined this forum a few weeks ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can about Chams. I will probably be purchasing one here shortly and I want some honest opinions on:

1) How labor intensive are Chams really? (Well I'll tell you my schedule. I've simplified it the best I can but it still has some tweaking since I just got my cam 2 1/2 weeks ago. I live in California, work from 3 p.m. to about 1 a.m. come home cook dinner, fall asleep around 3 or 4 a.m. Then I wake up every morning at 7 a.m. Take about 8 crickets that I keep in a separate bin to gutload for 24 hours and feed them to willow along with 3 silk worms and 1 or 2 superworms. Then I wait about 30min for him to finish eating and then I mist his cage for about 5 min. Go back to bed, wake up around noon, make sure he's all good and mist his cage again, then one more time at about 2:45 before I go to work. Everyday I do this. I also make sure to check is poop so that I know if he's getting enough water cause I know the pig is eating enough. I replace his towel under his cage with a more dryer one even though it doesn't get that wet with the drainage I have. Clean out all the dead crickets when I come home for lunch, which is lights out for him. Then I make sure to give his cage a good cleaning once a week along with the cricket bin.

2) Is free ranging difficult? Do you mean his food or the Chameleon Itself. As for the Cham I wouldn't recommend it. In the food department for me it wasn't difficult, I got my Veiled Cham from Mike at FLChams and he free ranges all of his Chams so for me it was the best way to go right off the bat. Willow took a look at his feeder cup the first day and said nope so I quickly got rid of it, he really likes to hunt for his food.

3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much? No way, no cats, dogs, bunnies, gerbals, bats, or even other Chameleon's. Chameleon's are high stressed when it comes to them seeing something bigger than them that could possibly devour them for a snack. Now that doesn't mean you can't have any other animals, just as long as they aren't in the same room as the Chameleon. You want to keep your Cham in a low traffic environment.

4) How much should you really hold your Cham? In the 2 1/2 weeks I've had Willow, I've held him maybe 3 times and for no longer than 30 seconds. I really try to not hold him as much as I can. He's extremely territorial and does not like anything in his cage but his food.

5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham? I would have to say, not thinking of a better drainage system before hand. At first I used the towel method, I found with a dripper running 12 hours a day that was a horrible mess. So what I did was take a small rubbermaid food container, about 1 inch in height, placed it right side up on top of another container. Drilled a hole in the bottom and placed a 1/8" tubing in it that leads out of the cage and drains into a bucket. With this setup I only have to replace the towel once every couple of weeks instead of a soaking wet towel every day. My dripper hangs right over my Shefflera and the water falls from the leaves right into the pot which goes right into the container then down the hole, into the tube and out the bucket. It's a very simple setup but it works and keeps everything else dry which makes me a happy camper. Other than that I don't regret anything. I did 4 months of research for about 2-3 hours a day before I got Willow so I felt really comfortable with everything when I got him and even until now I can sense whats wrong with him and why from all the reading. I noticed today he wasn't as hungry as usual so I figured maybe he was due for another shed. Sure enough when I got home for lunch he was showing his light colors which he did about 15 hours before his last shed 1 week, 1 hour after he arrived. So if you do enough research, read everything you can, especially the information on the forums here than you should be prepared enough in time.

Thanks!

Hope all of this information can help you. Everyone lives in different time zones, has many different Chameleons and different schedules.

 

[Justin Carl]

QUOTE=sdlivin;86899]Hey guys,

I joined this forum a few weeks ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can about Chams. I will probably be purchasing one here shortly and I want some honest opinions on:

1) How labor intensive are Chams really?
It really depends on species. If you get a good starter chameleon like a Veiled its not that hard.
You really need to get into a routine first. Once you do that its all down hill.
I keep mine outside, but if you are inside a timer is a must.
Lets say you get a male Veiled.
I get up in the morning give him a good shower, about 5 minutes, then drop some food in his feeder cup, and fill up his dripper.
Takes about 5 minutes.

What species do you want?

2) Is free ranging difficult?
I wouldnt.

3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much?
Try to keep them in a low traffic area.
Not sure where nightcrawler got his statistics from.
How big are your dogs?
Where/what room do you plan on keeping him?

4) How much should you really hold your Cham?
minimal

5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham?
You cant have just one.
You want another and another and another.....

Thanks![/QUOTE]

Good luck

 

[ChrisnLisa]

Hey guys,

I joined this forum a few weeks ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can about Chams. I will probably be purchasing one here shortly and I want some honest opinions on:

1) How labor intensive are Chams really?
I apologize in advance if this gets redundant. My morning routine takes about 20 minutes. I fill the drippers. Then I go through about 3/4 of a gallon of water with the garden mister. Throw some feeders in the cups and I'm good to go. All in all the initial set up is probably the hardest part. Getting the basking temp, ambient temp, and humidity down. Getting good plants and cage supplies. After that its all a routine.

2) Is free ranging difficult?
We have no experience with it. Although I have seen very cool outdoor free range set ups. You would have to live someplace pretty warm to do it though.

3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much?
We have two dogs. A shepard mix and a beagle. Both complete spazed out dorks. We keep the chameleons in our room away from the insanity that happens between the dogs cats and us. So its possible to have dogs as well just keep them away from the chameleon.

4) How much should you really hold your Cham?
The occasional picture, maybe. A lot of people use branches to move their chameleons around. As little as possible. Not to mention if your chameleon even lets you get near it to handle it. One of our veileds is very passive, the other will try to take your finger of if you get near him without food. The female veiled hides. The panther runs or just does the little turn into a stick routine.
5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham?
Not buying from a reputable breeder. Our first veiled was sick when we bought him without our knowing about it. When we tried to reason with the pet store owner he would have nothing to do with us or the chameleon. That is also where the lack of research comes into play. He was our only casualty.
Research research research!

Thanks!

They really are amazing animals to own. It really is a strange type of gratification you get from raising these wonderful creatures.

 

[chuka1212]

Here are my experiences---


1) How labor intensive are Chams really?

I've spent about an hour or two a day caring for my guy(a veiled). They require work but once a routine is established, it's not too bad. There are the daily things that need to be done: Temperature/humidity checks, feeding, misting, and drainage issues. And weekly things such as disinfecting the cage, other cleaning and general maint.
2) Is free ranging difficult?

?Don't know

3) Can you have dogs with Chams or will the dog spook them too much?

Mine is spooked quite a bit just by me, so I bet a dog would freak them out.

4) How much should you really hold your Cham?

I can never hold mine, and have heard that it only increases stress.

5) What are some of the things you guys regretted after purchasing your Cham?

-It always ends up costing more money than you plan on. Not really a regret but just something to keep in mind.

-As a new owner I am constantly worried and obsessed. I call my wife twice a day to make sure he's doing well, to check the humidity and temps, his color, and how much he has eaten from his cup.

-Someone mentioned this but I had a disaster with drainage issues that pretty much ruined (visually) the front of my dresser... so yeah remember that constantly dripping water does create a mess...

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Don't hold the animal very much.
Don't mix dogs and free ranging.
No regrets here.
Research as much as you can ... then do about three times more.
They are a bit of work ... additionally, they require more nurturing and intuition on your part than any other reptile I can think of.
It takes awhile to get there.
Good luck ... planning is a huge part of the excitement and fun!

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad