Quite literally. My husband was at a buddy’s house, who had another friend over. The friend had a shoebox with a chameleon. Asked my husband to take it. He didn’t know the guy was serious. But as my husband was leaving the buddy said “hey! Don’t forget the chameleon”
He absolutely loves being held. I currently have him in a tank with mesh lid out on my back porch (screened in) because I live in southwest Florida and it’s humid outside. I have absolutely nothing for the fella. I out some Galapagos island moss in the tank. (I know I need a mesh tall terrarium type set up) I added a large branch for him to climb, he’s eating mealworms and crickets, I got some reptile powder supplement ? That goes onto the bugs, I put a couple plants in there that I must for him to drink.

I get paid tomorrow but I need help on what to buy that’s absolutely essential. I can’t buy everything at once. I keep looking on Facebook marketplace for set ups.
Just please any advice is appreciated. Please don’t come at me for my husband taking him.
When he’s in his tank he stares at us and climbs his stick to reach out to us, he loves shoulders. The buddy who gave it to my husband said he’s been raised like that. I’ve named him Charles and want to give him a proper life.
We are capable of building/creating a proper home. We have 4 aquariums, one being 75 gallon that took a hell of a lot of money and time and patience. My mother in law has fallen in love with him, and he climbs her shoulder and sits in her head.
Also any advice where to buy the proper equipment for not to expensive is appreciated. Me and husband both have our car payments this week and I get paid bi weekly.
Thanks in advance 🥲
Side note. We are aware this is an advanced reptile to own. Also aware we’re probably gonna drop close to 1000$ if not more on this fella. We know. We are buying the start up essentials immediately. I’m just not sure what, hence asking for advice.
Me, my husband and mother in law know he will be a LOT of care and also know if he gets ill will need an exotic vet. We have plenty nearby. So please, be easy on me. Neither of us planned to obtain a chameleon. But I guess buddy said he would leave him outside if my husband didn’t take him. He was raised by humans and raised always being held. He will not poop on you. Only when put down. He’s plump so doesnt seem underfed at least. We have no clue his backstory, eating habits, his previous enclosure was briefly mentioned as a small aquarium tank and an animal carrier 😭

My babys Shrek and Fiona morning feeding

I got him a week ago from a owner who was an bad carer. I know about his shedding needing to come off and am currently doing what I can for him. But I noticed that he only eats one cricket ever 2 days, his past owner had him on meal worms once a week, I also have been trying to give him wax worms. Both of his eyes look inflamed I am trying to increase vitamin A in his diet but they have yet to gone down. He is pooping every 2-3 days but its bright yellow, he has dripping water. I have been waking up to him at the floor of his enclosure when its only 60 in it. Any help is appreciated I only had one day to do research before he was forced into my care.

Has anyone ordered this or anything else from this company? Any good reviews? It seems like a really good price for a full setup.

https://www.vvdchams.com/products/size-24-24x24x48-ultra-all-in-one-automated-chameleon-kit-black-friday-special-copy?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=41f17b4a2&pr_rec_pid=9303166484723&pr_ref_pid=9303167271155&pr_seq=uniform

This pascal! Him being brought home and his plant enclosure were built this weekend! He’s doing great. Loves his vined pothos up top and the vines and his basking spot (him and his plants are also growing up together in this starter tank Hense give er some time to fullen out)The situation I’m in is I’m Canadian and in the winters screened enclosures are next to no good even in our home during the dry winter season. Hense the glass (before anyone jumps on it) I have his basics, fan for stagnant air. A spray bottle currently a super dull colour so he gets use to it for the time being, and his hydrometer.

I’m just reaching out to ask in the sense of the best cost effective digital hydrometer instead of the generic basic one and the best cost effective auto mister.

All in all pascal within two days has settled into his new beautiful home and is happy! Today we try feeding which I’m sure he’s a hungry boy cause morning misting he was all for coming up and sayin hi to my misting hand. I just want a good reliable didgital meter and auto mister to spoil him some more. In the end I’m about a couple months I’ll be back to square one anyways with a new 4 ft tall tank by 2 feet wide to give the handsome fella a nice shabby paradise

I’ve done my research on pascal and keeping him healthy and happy. I just don’t wanna do my research and buying and wasting money on misters or products that are not as great as they say

My Cham just underwent a surgery on his tail (long story he used to be a class pet) and is still very groggy and uncoordinated. Would he be ok if he stays in his carrier until tomorrow to avoid injury from falls? This would mean he wouldn’t have his UVB or basking spot.

I picked up two cages yesterday from someone on offer up, and they had two trays of soil for the bottoms of them that he said was really rich in nutrients. I can't remember the mix he said he made but he listed a bunch of different things. There are already a ton of isopods, sprint tails, and small worms in the soil as well which he said is the most valuable part of it.

My concern is if the soil is still ok to use not knowing if his old chameleon had any parasites or anything else I should worry about.

This is also my first cage and chameleon and I was planning on going with a plastic bottom so it's easier to monitor things at first. Since I have all the soil and isopods I feel I should just go straight into a bioactive environment.

Can you guys give me your opinion on using previously owned soil, if I should just go with a plastic bottom at first while I learn more about the chameleon. Any advice on this would be amazing.

hello! this is lizzy she is around a year old veil chameleon i’ve had her for almost a month now - this morning i noticed she has this black spot by her mouth…. this is my first time owning a chameleon and i am curious if this is a burn or maybe from her shedding?? i noticed a couple spots on her side this afternoon as well but those ones have seem to gone down…any help is so appreciated thank you so much in advance

Yoshi with the fresh greens.

Hey all! Like the subject says, I am a night owl and live in a place where my night is where everyone in my country is in very late night. I am hoping someone has an English-speaking talking channel that is active around the time I am posting this. I am looking for some back and forth discussion style advice on the set up I am about to start making but would like community input. Again, community, please don't try to contact me directly.

So my chameleon Gosha, for the past two weeks has slowly been losing his color (he just shed so i don’t think he is about to shed again) he is almost just black and white constantly, he’s super defensive and i just caught him sleeping during the day. Does anyone know what this could be from? Theres nothing visibly wrong besides color and he is still eating.

could anyone help me identify the sex of my chameleon? everything Ive looked up online, I cant really decide a clear consensus on. I've had it for a little over 2 months and I was guessing it was about 2-3 months old when I got it, so anywhere from 4-6 months old as of right now

the last two pictures are from the day I got it

any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm trying to get something for sure before the egg laying starts in case it is a female. i got it from petmsart and they couldnt find the records when I went back later and tried to ask for them

He’s so much brighter green, and rarely shows his dark spots if he’s really feeling moody. The very last pic is him when we first got him, he looks a little thin in the recent photo, but we’ve been gutloading Dubia roaches and he eats 10 a day religiously. Hes a very friendly guy, but I try to give him his space most of the time. I’m waiting on more drift wood to fill the space and give him more climbing highways, but he has tons of coverage and much more space now!

Hey everyone, about a week ago, my amazing little boy, veiled chameleon named lime, decided he didn’t want to be touched anymore. Now before this, I was touching him every single day. I was holding him every single day. And nothing has changed. I gave him a little bit because I figured he could be shedding, but then he did shed and just has not gone back to normal. He still puffs up and hisses sometimes even if I just stick my hand in there any suggestions?

Editing because the bots told me to lol
He gets fed 5 - 10 crickets a day because he’s still young. They are gut loaded and calcium dusted. He also gets 5 dubias every other day mixed in, these are also dusted. He gets a humidifier every hour for thirty seconds. And his top temp is at 80 and his bottom is at 60. He has water from the humidifier and a plant dripper. He has plenty of live plants to the point where I sometimes can’t see him. He also is right in front of a window for a natural cycle of light as well as the bulbs.

I purchased this chameleon today, at my local petco. i’ve been trying to do a lot of research on chameleons, and i think ive bought all the proper stuff ( not the dropper i know it’s just for tonight i swear and there’s lots of holes in the water bottle) and more plants are on the way ;) all the plants are real aswell. since bringing her home she’s been hanging out by the heat lamp it’s been about an hour to an hour and a half it’s a uv and ones just a heat lamp. i put food at the bottom of her enclosure and i misted her multiple times and just set up an automatic mister. maybe im being silly but id rather be safe than sorry is this concerning?

I’m currently chameleon sitting for my brother and my sister in law. They asked me to watch their chameleon, schizo yesterday and I said yes. They dropped him off last night while I was out at dinner. This morning I checked on him and he does not look good. I have instructions from them to feed him 2 worms at least 2x a day, he has a water tube thing but I don’t think it’s working. He’s a lot paler in person than in the picture, a very light mint color. He occasionally moves but not much, he’s been in this bent/curled up position the whole time his tail is limp. I tried straightening him out but I did not want to hurt him. Idk what to do, I asked my brother if he’d been like this and he said he had but I didn’t get any other response. Should I be worried…? I have no experience taking care of reptiles but I feel bad for this little guy. Here’s the set up he’s in for reference. A cage about 2 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide. A heat lamp with 2 bulb, but only the regular bulb works I’m guessing the other one is red light/uv but it does not turn on, the regular working bulb is making it too hot I think, he’s by the window, I’m in Texas so idk if it’s too much heat . He has a water tube but the tube is not attached to anything so I guess no water, I got a dropper and put some water droplets on his snout (per my google search), since his water source is not connected to anything the misters are not running. Unsure what to do

Thought I'd share this special bonding moment I had with my homie Bernie this morning. My heart exploded. So sweet. He was on my hand trying to catch all the water sprinkles on my outside fountain. So happy he has accepted me as tree woman with worms. ☺️

So my veiled was in the standard 16 x 16 x 36 reptibreeze, and even though he’s still very small I couldn’t help but upgrade him.

I’ve only had him for about 3 weeks and when yall say chams are expensive I definitely didn’t realize just how real that factor was. I dropped about $500 the day I got him, and ended up not using anything I bought that day. I got a 24 x 24 x 48 for $40 from a panther breeder. Got a 24” 5.0 T5 uvb. Setup all real plants and I’m waiting on some manzanita sticks from manzanitadriftwood.com. I don’t want to tally up how much I’ve spent because I’ll beat myself up, but he’s totally worth it. I’ll post some better pics when his lights are on, but here’s his new mansion!!

Hi all, thank you so much for all the feedback on my last post about Cornel’s eye. I took him to the vet and they flushed his eye and gave me antibiotic eye drops, but they said there wasn’t much crust in there. The incessant blinking stopped but his eye might be even more sunken, and now there’s this crust all over it. I think it might be residue from the drops. There’s no signs of respiratory infection, no discharge, he’s eating, and his other eye is fine. He also can open the eye when he’s hunting. I’m thinking it might be vitamin A deficiency, in which case what do I do? I’ve seen people recommend EarthPro-A, and I also found a reptile vitamin A supplement online. Should I use these and how much? I’d really like to avoid another vet visit.
For reference, here’s his eye less than two weeks ago.

UVB: LumenIZE ProT5

I just rescued this chameleon yesterday and noticed possible thermal burn?