When you know you're ready for cham keeping

jamest0o0

Chameleon Enthusiast
When you are capable of copy and pasting the 'how to ask for help' form, while having the fortitude to spend 5 minutes filling it out. And lastly, are able to shut your ego down for one minute and take the spoonfed advice. That which you will never get in the pet store, from people that have no other motive but to help fellow cham keepers.

(y)
 
I had the how to ask for help form saved to my phone's clipboard but whenever I pasted it, it wouldn't format correctly so I just post a link to it instead. If I'm on my computer however, then I post the form.
 
Also when you utilize the Resource page to answer basic husbandry questions. This Resource page is also found in three separate places on the home page... I'm fine with explains the "whys" of certain things like misting or lighting, but constantly spoon feeding information that most of the time I copy and paste directly from the caresheet gets a bit annoying.

Its rather concerning to me that lately there have been a lot of threads popping up where the answer is right in the Resource page of the forums. Most new members would be able to find the answer in less time than it takes to create a new thread and wait for an answer...

Sorry about the rant. lol
 
@JacksJill anyone that can't handle reading that probably shouldn't own a chameleon lol. I completely agree with it. What gets to me isn't even the people that jump into it with bad husbandry due to ignorance, most people that buy from petstores think those employees are animal whisperers and just take their word for it and I don't blame them. What's really annoying are the people that ask for advice and then don't take it. Or the people that refuse to fill out the form and keep doing the run around. You are clearly unfit for chameleon keeping if that's the case. The best signs in a good keeper aren't their amazing enclosures right off the get go, but how they respond humbly to each person's advice and stay at it trying to do their best. These people aren't the ones that will have trouble 99% of the time.

On another note, one thing that has gotten to me recently, which is mentioned in that rant, how some random new member will come out of nowhere and tell somebody that what they're doing is fine and they do it too. Most of the time with species they don't even keep. New members can't easily tell who here have legit experience and those without. I know I didn't when I started posting here. There was a recent thread where someone advocated for putting hats on your chameleon, almost every single member that I trust for advice wouldn't do that, while the people that supported it are probably gone from this forum/hobby already or will be within the next few weeks. I won't hold back when it comes to people mistreating animals.
 
I'm new to the hobby and was absolutely heart broken when our Jackson "Louie" passed. We had our setup completely wrong and bound to fail on advice from the pet shop. Our new Cham is getting the benefit from the lessons from Louie and we are taking advice and setting him up properly to avoid the problems in the future. I dearly thank you all for your experience and patience with us that are new to keeping these wonderful little guys.
 
The one thing that pet stores do, purely by accident, is bring in new sharp chameleon fans who notice things aren't right with their new pet and find this forum. Sometimes they are in time and save their new friend, sometimes sadly they can't, but go on with what they learned and become good cham homes. Then best of all they share what they learned and make others good homes for chameleons. I love when I see that. It's what keeps me answering the same question again and again.
I like the newbies that try to help but qualify their advise with the statement that they are new to this also so check around. Sometimes the hardest thing to know is how much you don't know.
 
The one thing that pet stores do, purely by accident, is bring in new sharp chameleon fans who notice things aren't right with their new pet and find this forum. Sometimes they are in time and save their new friend, sometimes sadly they can't, but go on with what they learned and become good cham homes. Then best of all they share what they learned and make others good homes for chameleons. I love when I see that. It's what keeps me answering the same question again and again.
I like the newbies that try to help but qualify their advise with the statement that they are new to this also so check around. Sometimes the hardest thing to know is how much you don't know.

Agreed! And as a newbie, I try to do that as well, I am still quite new, but if I can impart simple basic info or direct people to caresheets, I feel like I'm helping give back a bit. But if they want specifics on lighting or something I'm still not 100% on, I try to remember to say that, and hope a more experience member jumps into the thread :D
 
@jamest0o0 I never saw that post and would never put a hat on a chameleon, I can't even think of a way to put a hat on a chameleon without stressing it out, injuring it or just to have fall off right away. But then again, some people never fail to surprise me with their ingenuity, disregard for an animal's well being and sheer stupidity. That hat thing is a great example of that.

@blue_cham I still consider myself a newb here and certainly do not know everything, but I am an avid researcher and respectfully bow out when I know something is beyond my knowledge or I do not have enough experience to be certain. Often times I'll tag a more experienced keeper in these situations and give my best guess, if I have one, so I still get notifications about the thread and can learn from it.
 
Often times I'll tag a more experienced keeper in these situations and give my best guess, if I have one, so I still get notifications about the thread and can learn from it.

I don't know the keepers well enough yet to tag anyone (one day!) but I will definitely use that tagging strategy, that is a great way to learn. If you don't mind me asking as I am curious now. How long have you been keeping chams Jevin?
 
I don't know the keepers well enough yet to tag anyone (one day!) but I will definitely use that tagging strategy, that is a great way to learn. If you don't mind me asking as I am curious now. How long have you been keeping chams Jevin?
Right now five years total, but I had a break for a few years between my first and second Cham and acquired a bearded dragon during that time. But even though I wasn't too active on here during the time where I didn't have a chameleon, I still researched about them as they've always fascinated me and would drop in here from time to time to read a few threads. I learned quite a bit from my first Cham as to the how I could improve my care but definitely was not inept when taking care of my first chameleon, biggest mistake I made that led to a shortened life was over feeding her, but despite that fact she still lived for four years, not the best life span, but also not the worst.
 
Side note, I don't mean to annoy any of the more experienced keepers by tagging them in threads that are out of my depth. Just want to help out fellow keepers, learn from the more experienced keepers and add to my knowledge.
 
@JacksJill There was a recent thread where someone advocated for putting hats on your chameleon, almost every single member that I trust for advice wouldn't do that, while the people that supported it are probably gone from this forum/hobby already or will be within the next few weeks. I won't hold back when it comes to people mistreating animals.

I don’t think it’s mistreating a chameleon to put a hat on the chameleon for Christmas or birthday photos. I’ve put hats on my chameleons plenty of times and I love my chameleons dearly and would never do anything to hurt them. I haven’t left the forums and not planning to either.
 
I don’t think it’s mistreating a chameleon to put a hat on the chameleon for Christmas or birthday photos. I’ve put hats on my chameleons plenty of times and I love my chameleons dearly and would never do anything to hurt them. I haven’t left the forums and not planning to either.
For veiled chameleons I can figure out a way to make it work, but for like a Panther I can't think of a way to make it work without stressing the animal out. Veiled chameleons tall casque makes it easy to do and probably wouldn'
bother them much more than when they are shedding their casque, and usually @jannb you don't have the hat on for very long, correct? I think the post was about for extended periods of time like a permanent accessory. I never saw the thread though. Also, I think you fall into the almost every forum member @jamest0o0 trusts wouldn't do that. Also my post was in regards to chameleon species without the tall casque the veiled chameleon's have.
 
Chameleonforums is the place to be for chameleon owners, period.
It tought me it's not okay to put your chameleon in a ball and throw it... I can't help I thought it was okay, there was this cartoon on TV op people putting all kinds of animals into a ball and throw it at eachother to have them animals fight... Now, I really don't understand why this is on TV, such a bad influence...
 
@jannb I could have worded it better. As I have stated in other threads, it's not you that i think is the problem. But there are many new members here that will jump at any chance to do stupid things with their animals. I just think sometimes we need to be aware of who's reading. I myself definitely get too snippy with people sometimes, it's because I have a low tolerance for certain things. I'm better off just ignoring most threads for the sake of peace.
 
Chameleonforums is the place to be for chameleon owners, period.
It tought me it's not okay to put your chameleon in a ball and throw it... I can't help I thought it was okay, there was this cartoon on TV op people putting all kinds of animals into a ball and throw it at eachother to have them animals fight... Now, I really don't understand why this is on TV, such a bad influence...

Wait.. what lol, are you serious?
 
@jannb I could have worded it better. As I have stated in other threads, it's not you that i think is the problem. But there are many new members here that will jump at any chance to do stupid things with their animals. I just think sometimes we need to be aware of who's reading. I myself definitely get too snippy with people sometimes, it's because I have a low tolerance for certain things. I'm better off just ignoring most threads for the sake of peace.
Yeah, so basically like someone recommending it as a permanent accessory, not just for basically photo ops. And in regards to that post about animals in balls, I think that is the stuff of nightmares and honestly believe that to be true for such a show to exist.
 
@jannb I could have worded it better. As I have stated in other threads, it's not you that i think is the problem. But there are many new members here that will jump at any chance to do stupid things with their animals. I just think sometimes we need to be aware of who's reading. I myself definitely get too snippy with people sometimes, it's because I have a low tolerance for certain things. I'm better off just ignoring most threads for the sake of peace.
You're so grumpy when you're hungry, have a snickers!
 
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