Pembina Valley Pets Online - Pembina Valley Pets online is here to provide information regarding the store as well as how to care for your animal

Average Size: 2-15 inches (depending on species)

Lifespan: 5+ years

Hygiene and Health:

Firstly dusting crickets with powdered calcium will really help their strength. You should do this 2-3 times a week. Once they reach maturity you can switch the dusting to multivitamin but make sure there is calcium in this multi-dust.

Most Chameleons do not like standing water and prefer to drink moving water so you’ll either need to spray the leaves in the cage a few times per day or run a dripper for the water dish. Some Chameleons will drink as soon as you spray and others will wait. Some people leave ice cubes on the top of the cage and let the ice melt and drip on plants for them.

Behavior:

Chameleons are famous for changing colors they can change to green, brown, black, blue. They change colors for many reasons such as excitement, stress, temperature, lighting conditions, etc. The Chameleon is not a pet which do like to be handled, however all pets can be tamed. Another very interesting feature is they have a tongue which is sometimes 1 1/2 times the size of their body. This is how they grab their pray.

Chameleons also do a lot of climbing, moving, grabbing, and gesturing. They also are notorious for doing many repeat movements. It almost looks as if you are rewarding a movie and repeating it over and over again. Males are a fair bit more hardy.

Diet: Crickets should be feed primarily and then mealworms, superworms, waxworms, butterworms, and earthworms. Butterworms are probably the best due to their high amount of calcium, and limit the waxworm feeding because they are high in fat. The crickets will need to be heavily gutloaded using fruit and not just fish flakes. The crickets must also be only 1/2 the width of your chameleons mouth to avoid him choking. Chame’s also are picky so you’ll have to find out which food they like the best. SOme Chameleons will actually eat green leave vebtables as well.

Habitat:

Chameleons require a full screened cage that is large such as 3′by3′by3′. Since they are prone to stress the reflection in the mirror will surely cause a lot of stress in them. In addition to this a quiet atmosphere that is free of flashing lights suits best. The habitat must have lots of plants, vines, sticks, and leaves in the enclosure. Chameleons love to climb as they do spend most of their life high up in tree’s in the wild. Thick plant life in your reptarium will reduce the stress of them as they actually do get stressed from movement in the room. In no situation should you put two chameleons together in one cage.

Its recommended that you offer lighting which creates 85-95F during the day. A chameleon will go to the appropriate level of the cage in order to obtain the right temperature for them. Turn this off for night to get a 70-85f temperature light. They also need UVB rays so you’ll need either a combo heat/UVB light or two seperate sources.

Loner or Groupies:

Chameleons must be housed alone as they will fight if they get the chance to at most times.

Additional Info:

They are intended for advanced pet owners becuase of the high stress level they have, high cost, and maintanience of chameleons. Some people claim that the chameleon lives close to 90% of every minute of the day under stress. Pembina Valley Pets does not carry chameleons on a regular basis because of their fragile nature but can special order any time. They do not do well with change but do get hardy as they age. With this comes the benefit of one of the most interesting reptiles that are available to the public. If you are an extreme reptile hobbiest then this is a must to your collection. Although moody they are absolutely stunning in color, personality, and movement.