Species of chameleons preferred.

Species of chameleons preferred.

Postby lerikoen » Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:00 pm

Hi all.I am currently looking into the different species of chameleon and was wondering which are preferred. This is for anyone who has ever owned/or is currently owning a chameleon/s: What species of chameleons do you prefer, and why? :)
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Re: Species of chameleons preferred.

Postby wadekilian » Thu Oct 11, 2012 10:48 pm

All indigenous chameleons are illegal so I guess you can rule those out immediately.

Previously, I've only kept a Veiled Chameleon, and in my experience they are fairly straight forwardas long as you provide proper husbandry. Also the contraction of MBD isn't uncommon with this species. Especially if you don't meet their UV and calcium requirements.

I've heard that Panther Chameleons are also pretty straight forward, but I haven't actually had experience in keeping them. I read in David Hagget's book that they are also hardy chameleons and they don't get MBD as easily as Veiled Chams. They're a lot more colourful that Veileds, but that also leads to a higher price tag.

You can also find other's like Parson's, Oustalets and Jackson's, but rather wait for someone else to give their opinions on those.
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Re: Species of chameleons preferred.

Postby Chamssss » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:26 am

Veileds are pretty straight forward except that they seem to be more prone to mbd than that of most other species (but keep in mind mbd can happen to any species of chameleons)

Panthers are nice, they can have better attitudes than veileds but each chameleon can be different. I had a seriously nice coloured male from the original first bloodline available, but there are a few different bloodlines to choose from these days and I am breeding one of the new bloodlines soon. Though there has not been many pure locales of panthers available in SA, I am working on getting new locales.

And I really enjoy keeping jacksons out of all the chameleons I have kept, they are so much smaller than veileds and panthers, the only problem is they don't fair well when the temperatures are too high and the humidity too low. You don't want to put a jacksons through heat stress, it will die.

That's from my personal experience, I wouldn't keep any parsons yet because they require most of your free time, and they need huge cages and serious requirments, they are seen as the ultimate of chameleons to keep, hence the $2500 price tag in the US. I don't think you will find any in SA at the moment though. There are some eggs incubating but the waiting list is long and incubation time is around 2 years.

There is also some mellers going around lately which aren't badly priced but they are not for beginners. They die easily because of stress and parasites. I'm going to try a mellers at some point soon.

Sadly you won't find any carpet chameleons for sale as not many people managed to breed them successuonce david haggett stopped breeding them.

Some people do have a few male oustalets but it seems all the females died. There might be some people secretly breeding them, let's just hope and wait for some babies to be available at some point.

And then there are some other species available in random pet stores, such as pygmy's.
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Re: Species of chameleons preferred.

Postby Chameleons » Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:20 am

The easiest species to obtain in SA is still the Veiled. If they are kept carefully, with attention to diet, temperature and lighting, then they should not suffer from MBD. That is if you can get good stock to start with. Panthers are a superb chameleon with less MBD risk. The risk, to a great extent, is related to the speed of growth - people often overfeed young Veiled which then grow faster than the calcium can be absorbed. Panthers typically grow slower, hence the lower risk.

The risk is often compounded when they are very small, i.e. below 4 months. At that stage it is easy to get a lot of growth and it is also easy to provide incorrect UV and insufficient spupplements. The answer is to check who has had them before you buy them. Who bred them and does the pet shop have the right set up while they wait for them to sell. I have seen some very good pet shops in SA that I would have no problems buying from; they know what they are doing and care properly for their animals. It is up to you to check! ;)

Carpets were always our favourite as they were smaller and had great 'personalities' - and bred like rabbits! But I believe that they are not easily obtained in SA any more.

Whatever species you get, if you provide the correct care, you will have an awesome pet.
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Re: Species of chameleons preferred.

Postby Bushviper » Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:41 am

Chameleons wrote:Carpets were always our favourite as they were smaller and had great 'personalities' - and bred like rabbits! But I believe that they are not easily obtained in SA any more.


... and then lo and behold this weekend there were Carpets available at the expo. I am sure they will soon become more freely available.
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Re: Species of chameleons preferred.

Postby Chameleons » Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:53 pm

That's good to hear. They are well worth trying. The only caveat would be to ensure that they are captive bred specimens and not wild caught. If the latter, when they are kept together while waiting to ship overseas they can (allegedly) pair as young as 5 months, leading to very weakened females.

But if they are captive bred, do give them a try. It's only a personal viewpoint but these were by far and away my wife's favourites and were easy to breed.
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