moogle73
New Member
Of course you can get it all for less if buying used and second hand from Craig’s list eBay or where ever, that’s not what I was saying or the point I was getting at. Most people when purchasing a brand new pet for the very first time, usually stay with brand new items since they are not “comfortable” with the new animal yet (no matter if that’s chameleons, geckos, cats, or dogs) it’s not till later down the line, months or years later with experience under their belt do they think "you know what I don’t NEED that specific new thing, I can make do with this instead". So to think a brand new chameleon owner, is going to be able to scower Craig’s list looking for used parts to throw together an enclosure on the ultra cheap end is asking a little much… sure some may do it just fine, but the vast majority of new owners will be looking at only new products.
Plus if you read the numbers the majority of that “750-1000” I said, is basing in an expensive panther chameleon (the type everyone oooo’s and awww’s over and usually winds up buying first) you take out the cost of that expensive colorful chameleon, and rest of the set up BRAND NEW I was saying would cost you about $400-450 which is pretty dead on (and thats including an expensive automated misting setup)… again not buying USED.
Go find me a BRAND NEW 24x24x48 metal screened enclosure shipped to your door for less than $80… because you won’t, most are $100+. The only one that can be had for “significantly” less than 100, and closer to $80 is the reptibreeze (the worst of all the metal screened enclosures).
Then find me a BRAND NEW 24”+ T5 with hood with T5uvb light, again, you won’t find that for less than $30, and assuming you want a live plants, its highly recommended to also have a 6500k light, needing 2 hoods, or a more expensive dual light single hood setup, as well as another full spectrum bulb which goes $15-20. Start adding all that up and your approaching $100 pretty fast if not already going over. And that is based off of all ONLINE prices, not local pet store prices which are going to be even higher on these bulbs, I have seen all uvb bulbs at my local pet stores cost nearly double what they cost at online retailers (again, if you want to skimp, not go real plants, and drop the 6500k full spectrum you can, and save some money)
Vitamins - also much more than “$10” most people use vitamin supplements, plus plain calcium supplements, and calcium with d3 supplements, each one costing $6-10+ on their own… that’s more than double what your claiming it costs.
Then you have the “spray bottle”, and yes even though most if not all people start out with the “spray bottle” technique… its hardly one that is the best. And I’m not looking to insult anyone who does use spray bottle technique as its fine under the right circumstances, and I have used spray bottle technique as I’m sure all of us have at one point or another if not still using it. But ever since having a misting system I could never in a thousand years imagine myself going back to a spray bottle. The spray bottle seems so antiquated, poor, and for lack of a better word off the top of my head “ghetto” compared to full misting set ups. The chameleons LOVE the automated misting set up, its extremely beneficial to them and their health. Especially since with the automated set ups I can mist them any hour of the day and space them out properly, if I’m a work, or picking up my son, or where ever, my chameleons don’t suffer due to me not being there to mist them constantly at the same time every day. With the automated systems they consistently get the same amount of misting, at the same exact time, with the same amount of duration day in and day out. Consistency is king, and in every way an automated misting system better than a spray bottle, and if you get past cost of a misting setup, and consider what is in the best interest of my animal, misting systems win hands down… So yes, if it’s something you can afford, I would recommend people get it sooner than later if not right off the bat, which is why I included it in the cost of a new setup for a chameleon. But just like everything else, if you can’t afford it, you can cut corners, get by with misting multiple times a day from a bottle in conjunction with a dripper and then possibly later down the line investing in one when you can afford it.
Plants – again, you can go to Michaels, buy a huge bag of fake plants / vines, fill the enclosure and be done with it. But is that in the best interest of the chameleon? That could be debated endlessly which I won’t get into. But most people prefer to have living plants in their enclosures, and although not terribly expensive, do add up between vines / perches / trees / plants / hanging plants / etc. (Not counting the additional cost of full spectrum lighting for the health of the plants covered above)
But regardless of the costs… all that goes back kind of to the original post, if you’re a new chameleon owner, and your cutting corners left and right on costs, then maybe a chameleon is too expensive for you to own RIGHT NOW, (not forever, just right now and that goes with all pets) and instead you should save up for a few more months, buy what’s in the best interests of your animal ahead of time in those extra months, and THEN get a chameleon. That was sort of my reason behind listing out all the amounts, and “guestiating” on the high end. As more times than not, things wind up costing more than you originally though, so it’s better to budget high, and have money left over, than budget low, and not have enough to take care of your animal… especially since most if not all new chameleon owners have no idea what anything costs for anything related to the care of a chameleon.
