which breed

[gemz123]

hi i need some advise on which chameleon is the best i have previously had a female veiled and male veiled but he was agressive however my previous female i could do anything with she basically had a open viv she would stay on my sholder when i was doin stuff she always wanted to be handled.
Now i need advise weither to have another female or a different breed i want them to be friendly (i know each cham will have own personality ) just would like to know in general ???????????????????? thanks please advise me

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Ive never witnessed an aggressive jacksons myself. While still going with the each cham has their own personality theory. Ive got a cpl of pairs of panthers right now and 3 of the four i currently have are handleable and will hand feed. I'd say go with a jacksons or a panther but thats just my personal opinion.

 

[gemz123]

i have heard that panthers are very tempermental and that jacksons are hard to alive and prone to illness !!!!

Do you know what a high crested chameleon is ???

 

[Texas Panther Man]

If youve managed to keep a veiled alive for a cpl of yrs you could def care for a jacksons also. They just need a little less heat and less supplementation and a little more humidity than the veiled did. They are pretty hardy little chams if you do your homework first. My panthers arent what I'd call tempermental. Now, my male veiled I had was an aggressive tempermental butthead. He'd like you one day and the next day he'd take a finger off if you touched his enclosure. The high casqued chams arent seen much here in the US. So Ive only seen pics and have no hands on exp with them.

 

[gemz123]

like i said my female was brill and i was devistated when she died but i know the feeling my male doesnt like to be handled even though he will take food from your hand i just want a cham whom i can interact with not something that is left in a viv i really dont know what to do ?????

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Most of mine are fine with weekly handling during cage cleaning and at that time i move them to take showers. But to be honest im of the opinion that the cham is going to benefit more from as little handling as possible. If you want a lizard with the personality of a dog I'd honestly say get a bearded dragon. They love interaction and will follow you around the house.

 

[Chris Anderson]

gemz123,

You sent me a PM asking the common name of T. hoehnelii, how big they got, etc. I didn't initially realize what you were looking for (a chameleon that you can hold) and thought it would be beneficial if I mentioned here a couple of the things I said in my PMs.

First, I do not in general consider chameleons as a whole to be "friendly" animals. Some individuals do behave in a friendly manner but I do not consider this to be the typical norm. In my opinion friendly and not aggressive are not the same thing so even non-aggressive individuals would rarely qualify as friendly in my opinion. Most chameleons would prefer to be left alone. Some species in general tolerate not being left alone better than others, and you may be more likely to find a "friendly" individual in one of these species, but most individuals of even these species still want to be left alone for the most part.

Secondly, as a general rule of thumb, I have found that the species which might be considered to have a tendency to be more aggressive (C. calyptratus, F. pardalis, C. dilepis, etc.) typically are so because they are less afraid or shy and are often the hardier species. The species which most would not consider being prone to aggressive behaviors typically are much shier and stress out much easier. Obviously this is a generalization and there are exceptions (ex. T. oweni is often quite aggressive but is said to stress out very easily) but if you are looking for a species you can hold, I would recommend a species that one might consider to be more prone to being aggressive as they are more likely to handle being handled alright.

Bottom line, if you want a chameleon to be able to hold it, get a CB panther or a veiled in my opinion. There is a chance you may end up with a more aggressive animal, but you are less likely to cause the death of the animal because of the handling than you would be with some of these smaller, shier, more delicate species.

Chris

 

[Texas Ranger]

Or a Blue tounge skink. They love to be withn people. Mine watches tv with us. And sits on my shoulder while I do anything. But if you want a cham. I would go with a male panther. And consider a older one so you can know its way of being from the previous owner. IMO

Hope this helps

 

[gemz123]

thanks guys its certainly given me a lot to think about from the sounds of it i was really lucky with my previous female veiled thank again !!