Well...

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Posted by Annaka on December 16, 2002 at 01:00:31:

In Reply to: Re: thank you posted by PH Meliss on December 14, 2002 at 11:13:28:

:Define "commonly kept chameleons". :)

Okay, should have said common SUCCESSFULY kept chameleons. (I know, I know, define successfull etc.) I mean, the ones kept alive and repeatedly bred through several generations in captivity? The big three seem to be Veileds, Panthers and Jacksons. (OTOH, a "chameleon" to a complete newbie will be something colorfull, with funny eyes and feet, that climbs trees in a rainforest, not the little brown stumpy-tailed leaf mimics.)

:For him to be 5, you obviously selected the right chameleon species whose environmental requriements you recreated for your green anole.

I have a problem with this whole "recreating environmental requirements" idea. The animal's preferred living environment may be 50 ft up in the canopy of some indigenous tree species, on a branch covered with epiphytes, eating native butterflies - there's no way to reasonably recreate that. In captivity, the veils, panthers and jacksons will most often get a fairly large screen cage, a ficus plant, some branches, heat/UV lighting, a dripper and periodic misting. The only differences are in the preferred body temp of the animals, and the air humidity levels that are required to keep them healthy. Each animal will choose to thermoregulate, so if they are given enough temp options, they will show you what they prefer. (so will Corytophanes, once they get used to seeing people and stop their petrified hanging on the screen) Humidity is a more picky issue, but again, they will show definite "red flag" signs when something is wrong.

:It can be dangerous for the animals when we make assumptions based on common names alone. It can also be dangerous when we generalize too broadly, as in "care for it like you would a chameleon".

:So, I find it horrifying that these aspects of the trade continue to go on, and that they do so often without people realizing what the real story is behind the scenes...:::

Well, no contest there, totaly agree with you. However, since in your prevous post you said "it is rather horrifying to think how many people who bought these lizards thinking they were chameleons and tried to care for them according to some generic "chameleon care" format." - well, that phrase puzzled me... Sounded as if you were saying the level of care/experience needed to keep a cham healthy was inadequate for this animal. Like you say, chameleons aren't exactly "easy" to keep properly.

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