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On July 4th this year, my girlfriend and I decided that it was time to realise a dream that we had both had since were teenagers and purchase a chameleon. We had been reading up for weeks on how to care for one of these fascinating reptiles and decided that we had learnt enough to take the brave step of choosing one from a reputable exotic pet shop not far from where we live. I have to say, I was nervous at the thought of 'taking the plunge' and owning one of these cute little creatures... all of the literature mentions how difficult they are to keep, feed and make sure they stay healthy.
However, when we walked into the shop and talked with the owner, we came to realise that maybe it wasn't so hard afterall. We took our time and chose the most handsome looking little fella from a large 'vivarium' that contained about 30-40 baby chameleons. He was a beautiful shade of pale pastel green with some subtle darker stripes traversing his tiny frame. When the shop owner removed him from the vivarium and let us hold him, he didn't change colour which was apparently a good sign, indicating that he was 'comfortable' with us. After paying for Cooper and a few other things that we needed to make his life with us comfortable, we hailed a taxi and couldn't wait to get him home and introduce him to his previously purchased and fully kitted out vivarium, complete with vines, a plant, two lights (UVA and UVB), a water fountain, and a worm bowl that was placed just far enough away from an overhanging vine branch for his long and sticky tongue to reach inside and snare a cricket or worm. Luckily, we had bought Cooper a takeaway meal on the way home and we proceeded to feed him a small cricket and some wax worms which he had no hesitation in snatching out of our fingers with his 6 inch long tongue!
Now, Cooper is almost 3 months old and is growing day by day, and after about 6 months will be fully grown. He spends his days climbing up and down the long and twisting vines that run top to bottom in his vivarium, making sure to stop off at the worm bowl for regular meals. By about 7pm, he is starting to look tired and makes his way to his favourite and highest branch to settle on it for the night. Soon after his eyes start to close, his tail curls into that classic chameleon look spiral shape and the timer on his lights cut out. He doesn't move until morning time around 8am when his lights come back on and he's hungry for his first meal. From the top branch, he makes his way downwards for breakfast and to drink from the water fountain. We try to take him out of his vivarium and handle him regularly so he gets used to us. We have quite a few plants dotted around our apartment and there's a particular one near a window that overlooks a busy main road which he has chosen as his favourite place to hang out and watch the world go by. Below are various pictures... as you can see, he's very photogenic and seems to love having his picture taken!
I hope you enjoyed reading about 'Cooper'.... if you have any questions about chameleons, please drop a comment below and I'll do my best to answer.
Hey, look at me.... I'm just hangin' out!
