Today we take a close look at the Waxy Monkey Tree Frog. No, it is not a chameleon, but you will be much more successful with this species if you use chameleon husbandry rather than standard frog husbandry. And to introduce us to this unique frog is none other than Philippe de Vosjoli.

 

Welcome to another episode of the Outer Fringes where we explore an arboreal reptile – or amphibian – that chameleon keepers would be uniquely suited to understand. Today we are talking about Phyllomedusa sauvagii, the Waxy Monkey Tree Frog. This is the most unfrog frog. It climbs in the branches prowling about like a cat and it perches like an unusually cute gargoyle. It’s arboreal nature and its adaptations to a dry environment puts it firmly into husbandry conditions that many chameleon keepers will recognize.

 

I am very happy to have Philippe de Vosjoli back on the podcast. People who have been around recognize this name as the founder of the Vivarium magazine and the Advanced Vivarium Systems collection of herpetocultural reference books. He has a wide experience with reptile and amphibian care and, over these many decades, has been active in the legal status of reptile keeping and promoting the value of keeping reptiles in the first place. We will get insight into the care of Phyllomedusa sauvagii, but we will also touch on Philippe’s perspective on the role of the breeder in the community. If some of what we talk about sounds familiar to you regular podcast listeners it is because Philippe’s work was instrumental in forming my views.   I am pleased to bring you this interview.

The Chameleon Academy Podcast can be found on any smartphone podcasting app, but there is a free app dedicated to the Chameleon Academy that gives you undistracted access to the entire episode library! The episodes come to the app first and it keeps you from having to search. This app is available for both iPhone and Android phones. Click the appropriate icon below to go directly to the download page!

The Chameleon Academy Podcast started its first four seasons as the Chameleon Breeder Podcast. in 2020, the name was changed to tie it in to chameleonacademy.com which is the website base for the latest in chameleon husbandry.

Note: as of 7/18/20 there have been website issues with chameleonacademy.com and I am using this website for podcast episode accessibility until I can sort out the database issue…isn’t website maintenance a joy? If you are referencing this page after July 2020 chances are good that the website will have been back up and running for a while and you are welcome to check it out at https://chameleonacademy.com.

Welcome to the season 4 finale! We will be taking a winter break and preparing for season five! Sign up to the social media outreach to get regular updates over the winter break!

2019 has been a year of growth for us in the chameleon community in a number of ways. Today I review what progress we have made in 2019 and lay out what is ahead for us to figure out in 2020!

 

Welcome to another week on the Chameleon Breeder Podcast! As my long time listeners know, I take a break at the end of the year to refresh and plan for 2020. In reality, there isn’t much resting as I spend much of the time build up the episodes for the next season. So, this will be the last episode of season 4 of this podcast. I have actually started arranging interviews and recording for season 5 so you can enjoy the holidays with the confidence that the podcast will return in a few months ready to dive into moving us forward in chameleon knowledge.

 

2019 has been a very active year here on the podcast. Do you remember us starting this season going along with Mark Scherz on his scientific expedition to Montagne d’Ambre in Madagascar. It was a big year for Mark as he soon after received his PhD. For the first time, captive bred Meller’s Chameleons have been easily available through the efforts of Dale Tamura, Martine Dejardins, and James Killey . Frank Payne and Kevin Stanford have begun offering captive bred Furcifer minor. And Cameroon has allowed us to work with Trioceros cristatus again. Luckily, the few shipments that have come in have fallen into the hands of some dedicated breeders. Wild caught specimens from Cameroon typically come in very rough so if you have the chance to pick up a captive bred specimen of Trioceros cristatus or the peacock chameleon, Trioceros serratus, I would jump at the opportunity. Craig Durbin and Aaron Allred came on and shared their successes with the Parson’s Chameleon. The significance here is that availability of captive bred parson’s chameleons is on longer a sporadic lucky clutch that hatches. It is now a consistent success. Yes, there may be a wait if you want one, but it is no longer a huge question as to whether one will eventually be making its way to you.

 

I think the area we have had the greatest progress in 2019 is not only in understanding the natural hydration cycle, but implementing it. It was in season 3 that I started focusing great effort on understanding the natural cycle of cool temperatures and high humidity at night and warmer daytime temperatures with a decrease in humidity. And the results of implementing this cycle have answered some of the major struggles I have had with hydration. Why do chameleons gulp water during the day but run away from our misters? Nothing was a satisfying answer until I started working on an in-depth, multi-episode study on the Veiled Chameleon which led me across the world to find the few chameleon people that were able to travel to Yemen. In interviewing Petr Necas who has observed Chamaeleo calyptratus calyptratus in Yemen, Florida, and was responsible for sending the first specimens to the US, a picture of natural hydration cycles emerged. Further discussions with Petr about the conditions of the Jackson’s Chameleon in Kenya fleshed out that understanding. You can follow those episodes in season three and see the progression of introducing a new concept to the community.

 

Since then we have revisited the concept of natural hydration cycles and nighttime fogging over and over, and, more importantly, more people in the community have reproduced the success of chameleons no longer having that thirst during the day that just wasn’t making sense for an animal that goes through one or two dry seasons (depending on the region). Now, it has been a progression and a learning experience. We have had people take the concept of 100% night time humidity very seriously and pumped fog into a glass terrarium all night with very little ventilation. This definitely created 100% humidity, but crossed the line into too much of a good thing. So I did an episode Mario Jungmann on how to implement nighttime fogging with ventilation and airflow. And we will be touching on it through season five as well. These are important concepts and, like implementing UVB, I would love the problem of the community understanding it so deeply that it becomes boring to hear about it. I’ll consider that mission accomplished!  Though, if I, who pretty much makes it my job to bring all this together, am still learning all the different aspects of the theory and implementation, I suspect we have a long way to go before we hit the limit!

 

Which, of course, provides a perfect segue into UVB which is another topic which we have discussed heavily here. This is the area that we will have great growth in 2020 in understanding. Currently, the standard advice is that you need T5 High Output linear UVB bulbs for chameleons. And this is grossly simplistic in a way that becomes dangerous. There is a huge difference between the UVB produced by a T5 5.0 in a quad bulb fixture and a T5 12% in a single bulb fixture. And then people are now playing around with 14% T5 for their chameleon. Just because we have not measured where the limit is for safe UVB does not mean it doesn’t exist. Too little UVB is a serious problem. But that doesn’t mean that the sky is the limit for blasting the cage with UVB. Saying T5 is not enough. And then there are situations where the lower power of t8s or even compact fluorescents are more appropriate. These are all tools. When used appropriately they are the perfect solution. When misused they can cause MBD or burns. So, we will be diving into meticulous detail on implementing UVB lights. This is sorely needed in our present T5 focused community. T5s are a great tool. But they need to be understood.

 

Of course, the purpose of getting the UVB is to get the supplementation correct. It would be great to be able to get synthetic vitamin D3 out of the diet. People have done it. I have done it. But I am trying different things with different groups of babies to truly understand where the limits are. We need to know a little bit more before we cut the community off the synthetic D3 powders cold turkey.

 

So let’s talk about where we need to go in the coming year. Here are the unknowns that are on my plate.

• What is the lowest effective UVB level we can provide in our chameleon cage and get full necessary vitamin D3 synthesis? Both Pete Hawkins and I have verified that UVI 3 does the job for veiled chameleons. So, does UVI 2 work? How about UVI 1? Is it different for panther chameleons or jackson’s chameleons? We will be working on getting at least the beginnings of those answers in 2020.
• What are necessary parameters for growing up Jackson’s Chameleons? This species is known to be extra sensitive and difficult to grow up past four months. Why do some people experience a sudden die off? This is unknown. Hypothesises include not enough nighttime temperature drop, a fat soluble vitamin deficiency where they got an initial dose from their mother, but ran out of by three months, or simply the stresses of co-habitation. This is difficult as the effects of all of these are cumulative and would happen over time. Therefore it is exceedingly tough to isolate one. But that is what we are here for. How necessary is the night time drop? How deep does it have to go? Figuring out the vitamin A transfer from mother to babies is also in there. Though I have to say, if you were to ask me which I think the most likely of those three our sudden death reports are due to, I would put my vote on the close cohabitation of babies. The differences in singly raised babies and group raised babies are not hard to reproduce. Of course, the answer could be all of them!
• How do we get preformed vitamin A out of our supplementation? We have yet to figure out the pattern between the successful breeders who never use pre-formed vitamin A and the keeper of one chameleon that gets vitamin A deficiency. This is complicated by the oversimplification of the community that says that chameleons do not convert carotenoids. This is based on one experiment where beta carotene did not appear to convert to vitamin A in panther chameleons. Long term breeding projects that do not use preformed vitamin A at all show that there is much more to the story and this one study should not be used as a broadbrush. But until the few people pushing our knowledge forward can pin point a reproduceable solution I fear we cannot change the narrative. The mob prefers over-confidence to truthful acknowledgement of the limits of our knowledge. No matter the subject, if you say “we don’t know” you will be immediately replaced by the Facebook expert that has no problem taking advantage of the unknowns to know they can’t be proven wrong with whatever it is they have decided is universal truth. Just be careful out there. A confident answer is not always confidence from true understanding.

 

And, you are welcome to join in finding any of these answers. If any one of these challenges speaks to you then contact me and we can discuss how to coordinate efforts. We are not producing a scientific paper. We are crowdsourcing. This is how it works. One person makes a hypothesis or makes a discovery within somewhat controlled conditions. Then someone else takes it a step further and adds something. At all times, everything must be defined enough that anyone else can repeat the experiment. There is not “trust me” involved here. It is 100% “challenge and check” me. In the case of UV Index, There are two numbers we care about. The minimum effective UV Index for D3 synthesis and the maximum safe UV Index to where damage is not caused within the approved cage set-up. Minimum effective UV Index is tested as whether a female of the species can lay a fully calcified clutch of eggs. If she can do that and recover to standard daily activity we can be functionally certain that her body has been able to synthesize as much D3 as she needed. Pete Hawkins raised up a female veiled chameleon under a UV Index of 3 and never gave D3 in her supplements. This female has laid successive clutches of fully calcified eggs. Perfect. Strong data point. I grabbed that and did a test with two pairs. One under UVI 3 and one under UVI 6. I confirmed his results of UVI 3. And with the second pair under UVI 6 I showed that more UVB does not produce healthier or bigger animals. This was to squash one of those Facebook sayings that was not founded on anything proven and, even with a PhD in biology saying it was false -it just wouldn’t die. It takes a lot of work to prove something. It takes no work to spout off something which has circumstantial evidence at best. So, no, higher UVB does not make for larger chameleons. If anyone wants to say that that is true again they will have to have at least the same level of controlled, reproduceable experiment. That is the way science works even at our loose hobby level. But the point here is that I was able to build off of what Pete did and use UVI 3 as a proven starting point with known success. So to go forward, I will be raising babies under UVI 2 and UVI 1 to see if those levels are sufficient. UVI 3 works, but it may be more than they need. In fact, I would be surprised if that much is needed. But there is only one way to find out. Hopefully, sometime in Season five we will be talking about the results of this test. One guy’s test with limited numbers is hardly a definitive test, but it is far better than determining chameleon husbandry based on who has more time to post the most times on Facebook. And, remember, anything I present as a conclusion is encouraged to be challenged. Check and challenge everything. But, and here is the rule, if you are going to challenge it, you have to have at least the same level of experimentation. I know social media has empowered everyone to think that every opinion has equal weight and can be, nay, should beshared…but I suggest we reign back that enthusiasm and be thoughtful of the value of quality check-and-challenge.

 

One thing I would like to say about the husbandry information that has been passed down to us is that I have a healthy respect for those that have gone before. Although everything needs to constantly challenged with new information and new technology we need to be careful not to become arrogant with our view of the world. There is a reason for every one of the husbandry mantras that we have. I disagree with sayings like glass cages cause respiratory infections, Jackson’s Chameleons can live together, or having substrate causes impaction. But each one of these has a kernel of truth. And before we can dismantle these myths we need to understand why they came to be. Someone somewhere observed something and enough people thought it was a good enough idea that they repeated it. So, to truly dismantle these myths so they cannot be brought back we need to dig into their origins.

There was a time when people tried keeping chameleons in glass aquariums. It did not go well and chameleons died. Screen cages were then used successfully for decades. So, before we start introducing glass terrariums back into our husbandry mix it would be appropriate to explain why the glass cage = RI saying started in the first place and explaining what is different now that we think will produce better results. And, of course, there is a podcast episode on just that.

 

Can we ever get away from Jackson’s Chameleons being sold as a bonded pair? Probably not, but why does this persist even with well meaning people who are not just trying to make extra money? The kernel of truth here is that Jackson’s Chameleons are just more subtle in their body communication that can be observed by humans. We already are coming to the table with the assumption that everything in the animal kingdom wants to pair up like we humans do. So, through the filter or our life experience, it appears that they are getting along.

Experienced keepers know this isn’t true, but we have to be aware and respect that that is what it looks like to the casual observer. And usually the casual observer is who we are talking to. Be aware that even when you explain everything, it still looks like they are getting along. So there is a lot of explaining that must accompany you saying that Jackson’s Chameleons should be kept separate. Once again, I dedicated an entire podcast to explaining it. And that is the huge advantage to having a podcast. I am given 30 minutes to explain a simple concept which, we all know, is not really simple.

 

As far as substrate and impaction. Someone somewhere had a chameleon with substrate in their stomach and got constipated and died. Necropsy shows substrate in the digestive track. Conclusion: substrate = impaction = death. This is a nice clean conclusion if you ignore all the people keeping chameleons in naturalistic terrariums with open soil all around and not having impaction issues. So, what do we do with this one? Well, we follow the same template. Figure out its origins, figure out how it is understood today, and then address both of those in your argument to put the myth to rest. Not all of these are straight forward and not all the origins are known, but for anyone trying to move the community forward, it is important to understand where things came from and deal with that origin. It is like finding the rootball of the weed. That is the only way to make sure it doesn’t just keep coming back.

 

One thing that will be very different in 2020 is that I will be gearing the Dragon Strand chameleon caging line to give greater support to the naturalistic hydration cycles. Listeners to my caging episode will remember that a cage can, simply, be considered a container that has differing levels of ventilation. The community is slowly transitioning from the 100% screen cage which, actually, is a difficult cage to work with when considering humidity. This is why so many people close off one to three sides of the screen cage. It is kind of funny that the people giving advice that chameleons need screen cages are okay with cutting off ventilation as long as there is a screen cage underneath! But I will admit there is a benefit to dynamically adjusting how much ventilation you have. That said, I think training the community in the use of fans to create airflow is the right way to go rather than to do screen cage hacks. We did one episode this season on airflow. There will be more. And, the advantage of being in charge of my own chameleon caging company is that my cage designs can adjust to what we in the chameleon community need. It drives my manufacturer crazy to have to constantly be making changes, but the whole reason for me doing this is that we can have a caging company that adjusts to the latest in chameleon husbandry advances rather than us having to adjust to whatever the manufacturer of cheap import cages decides is most cost effective.

 

2020 will be an exciting year of growth. And we are going to embrace the growth. Note that the reason this podcast exists is not to just blare out standard husbandry advice in a different medium. It is to be a constant notification of what we are figuring out. It is the centerpiece of gathering the advances within the hobbyist community. The scientific community writes papers which are then able to be added to everyone’s library of information. The hobbyist community, unfortunately, has a much more tribal knowledge base. My hope is that by selecting the most experienced breeder and keepers to bring on here that you can assimilate their experience and spend your time breaking new ground. One of the most significant hobbyist findings in 2020 may be the establishment of the minimum effective UV Index for vitamin D3 synthesis in veiled chameleons. Even if we find out it has to be a minimum of UVI 3, there is tremendous value in knowing that is the limit. And so, through this podcast, you’ll be able to follow the progress. We are checking and challenging everything we think we know and are actively creating tomorrow’s husbandry guidelines.

 

Thank you for spending this time with me every week. Stay safe, and keep an eye on the social media accounts for the announcement of season five. I am most active on Instagram under my Chameleon_Breeder account. You can also find me on the Chameleon Breeder Facebook account, but, if you want to discuss a chameleon husbandry situation, the best place to go is The Chameleon Enthusiasts Facebook group where I am part of a whole team that can help. You’ll find a number of previous podcast guests there. Previous guests Dr. Chris Anderson, Dr. Mark Scherz, Elise Stein, and Alycia Lowe are there so you have a concentration of competence in one place. I’ll put these links in the show notes. And I’d like to remind you all that the best way to keep track of what is going on here is with the Chameleon Breeder iPhone app. Here you will have all the episodes in easy reach. It has been a wonderful and extremely productive season four. I wish you safe holidays and remind you to be very careful how you wrap up those special feeders for under the Christmas tree.  You don’t need your gift to Godzilla unwrapping itself! And, with that, it is time to exit stage left.  I shall see you next year!

Wouldn’t it be great making money doing what you love? Have you ever wondered how to start a business in reptiles or chameleons? Today we talk about starting a business in the reptile community.

This podcast episode comes from questions I get from many people, but most lately, from Jordan on Instagram. She matches the profile of many of us. Deeply passionate about her reptiles and seeing doing anything else as, frankly, less fulfilling. I am suspecting many of you listening can relate 100%. So, what is the reptile job market like and how do we set up something where we can work with reptiles for a living?

That of course, is as huge question and we could put together a weekend seminar and just scratch the surface. You can become a veterinarian, vet tech, animal trainer, or go work at a pet store. So there is a broad discussion to be had. And I have had episodes talking to a veterinarian, vet tech, and a pet store owner for you to reference. But today I am going to focus on what it takes to start a small business catering to the reptile industry.

As with every episode, this episode is going to come from my personal perspective. I currently am the owner of the Dragon Strand caging company. This is a company I created to make cages for chameleon people. Before that I did large scale breeding, small scale breeding, and wholescale breeding. So I have experience across much of what we in the community think of when we are envisioning starting a reptile business. But this has not been my sole source of income. In real life, (or, some might say, my cover story) I do product marketing in the consumer electronics industry. This is particularly relevant to this conversation because the job of a product marketer is to create products that meet the needs or wants of a specific, reachable demographic in order to further the company goals. Each product I make is a little business that has a lifecycle and must be maintained as a business in itself, but also as part of the whole. The bottom line is that developing business concepts is what I do. So we will jump in and discuss creating a small business concept that achieves your goals. I will be your product marketing manager for an episode.

First of all, we need to evaluate your goals and determine if the reptile community can fulfill those goals. If your goal is to get rich then this will be a very difficult way to do it. The community is small and disjointed. To accumulate wealth you need a large base of customers from which to sell your product or services. There definitely are people in the reptile industry that I would consider wealthy, but, as with any job that is also a hobby, there is an enormous amount of competition. And if people love doing it they often consider enjoyment as part of their payment and are willing to give up on money to do it. This means that there is a strong price competition and a race to the bottom to where prices hover where no one can make a living.

Most of us, though, are like this. We are happy to accept a lower paycheck if we can hang with our beloved reptiles. And if we live away from the city center where it is cheaper and don’t go on vacations it isn’t that bad for us. Because, who needs the hustle and bustle of people when you are hanging out with primordial beasts and what vacation spot would be more fantastic than your reptile room? So, let’s accept that you are willing to give up the more expensive things in life to live a happy life. Really, what you need is a business that pays for itself, feeds, clothes, and houses you, and pays for medical care. How hard this is to achieve depends on how expensive you want to live. You can easily price yourself out of having a reptile business just by living in, say, Southern California within 100 miles of the coast. Since this is highly dependent on where you live I will leave it up to you to place yourself in the location that gives you the greatest chance of success.

Let’s turn our attention to what kind of business. The easiest think to jump into is breeding your favorite reptiles. It is what you are doing already so this is simple. You may also be breeding feeder insects so there is another possibility. You can also invent a product if you have the skills to do so. I personally know people who have created and sell vitamin and mineral supplements, written books, create cage backdrops, sanitize branches, make stands, and make cages.

In all of this, here is the thing. You need to bring something new to the market. The market does not care about what you want. They just care about what you can do for them. And here is my first big hint in starting your own business.

Do something original that has true value.Bring something new to the market. Do not just copy someone else. Add value to what already exists. And make sure that value has true benefit. “Different” is not the same as value. Value is something people are willing to pay for. And this is important. Because if you cannot communicate the value of what you are doing you can’t get someone to pay money for it.

Now, value is not only in the product itself. There is convenience. Can you offer it in a different way? Someone who makes cheap coffee may have a business even with Starbucks all around if they sell their coffee on the subway. Can you physically be somewhere selling something and that is the advantage? So there are many angles that you can approach this.

Niche Down. Pick your passion and be specific. As specific as possible. And become the very best at the one very specific thing. Our industry is full of success for people that did just that. Josh’s Frogs, which, this year, was in Inc Magazines 5000 fastest growing companies and was in the top half, started out in Josh’s apartment with him selling fruit flies and dart frogs.

Rebecca from Leopard Gecko Talk on YouTube started with a love for her Leopard Gecko and turned that into a successful YouTube Channel that, not too long ago, celebrated her 100,000 subscriber. And she is knocking on the door of 200,000 as of the recording of this podcast. Marita De La Pena is building her business as the Deadly Tarantula Girl. We also have Josh Halter who is known as the Bio Dude who started his business focused on bio-active vivarium. And, heck, there is this Bill Strand guy who decided he was going to produce the best chameleon cages. All of these are very specific niches that speak to our passions. We start small and focused and be excellent at what we do. IF you do this you have the benefit of knowing your market intimately.

The thing is that once you are known for being excellent at that one thing you can expand.

Know the difference between a hobby and a business.There are three levels to a breeding operation. A sole business supports itself and your lifestyle. A side business supports itself and contributes to the general fund. A hobby is a loss no matter how much sales it brings in to offset its cost. The point is, do not think you have a business because you are making sales. Yes, the IRS now is interested in your activities, but your question here is not how to make sales and have bragging rights to your friends and all of social media that you are a mover and a shaker breeder. Your goal is how to have a true business that is actually healthy. And that means you must have a realistic knowledge of the true costs and income.  If your breeding is paying for all the bills and your life then you have a business. Otherwise it is a hobby. If the people you admire that have this great business are working another job then breeding is a side job at best, but, probably, it is a hobby that offsets a percentage of the costs through sales.

Price fairly.Or else you are out of business. Sales are nothing without profit. You need to charge your customers what your bank accepts. You will be pressured from all sides to provide the lowest price. You will be told that your competitor is charging less. You need to charge what it takes for you to keep doing this. Consider yourself an employee that needs to take home a paycheck to pay the rent. The thing is that if you do not charge what you need to survive then you will be doing this as a side job only. It is true that people shop on price. And if someone else is willing to sell cheaply then you will lose out unless you can communicate why your’s has more value. But do not fall into the trap of selling for less than it takes to pay for itself and for your time to conduct the business. If you can’t sustain this then do something else. If you cannot make money at something you are trying to make your business then cut bait and doing something else. This is why weekend breeders or garage tinkerers come on to the scene with great fanfare all stoked that they have a business card, but end up fading away soon after with only an abandoned Facebook page left to tell of its passing. Someone somewhere, usually the spouse, figured out that all the time went into this project, but it wasn’t paying off. You see, when you build a business you are spending time doing that instead of everything else. You are not spending time with your family or friends. Of course, this is with the promise of great things ahead. But once they catch wind that your bestselling feature is that you aren’t making as much money as everyone else that flashy logo isn’t all that impressive to them. And when you hit the 12 month mark of working every night and through the weekends the luster of having your own business doesn’t shine as much if the numbers tell you it never will lift off. It was a lot of fun saying you are in business, but it doesn’t have the same satisfaction when you realize the unspoken truth that it really isn’t. Logos, social media pages, an LLC, business cards, and a business account at the bank don’t make a business. Producing a product that pays for itself and for you to live is. And so people quit. You obviously cannot price beyond reason, but you have to price in a way that sustains your efforts.

Now look at the businesses around that have grown and are successful. How many of the examples of success here started with the idea that they were going to start a business that would sustain themselves? Not many. What happens is that we are deeply involved with a passion and we stick with it until we are surprised one day to find that there is a possibility that it could actually be a business. This is where you look into yourself and decide what do you love? If it is a passion, this shouldn’t be too hard of an action item.

And, I know what you are thinking. How can you make a business from what you love? You love Green Banana Roaches. Who the heck even knows what one is? You got a deli cups of them at a reptile show and just fell in love. You found you could breed them and are slightly embarrassed to share just how much you enjoy when one gets out and flutters away looking like a fairy bouncing around with those gorgeous pale green wings. Of course, none of your friends or family get it. Good luck getting them to even come near your collection! So, how in the world, do you translate your passion for green roaches into something that makes money?

Well, let’s put together a scenario. And, I hope you see what I am doing here. This is a template that can applied to green banana roaches, carnivorous plants, chameleons, sports drinks, or bath towels.

First, It starts with a passion. This is what will sustain you over the years it takes to build something into a business. And this is what you will use to interest others. You become an expert. This doesn’t mean just gathering all the information odds and ends on the internet and calling yourself an expert. Although, yes, that happens quite often, but I am talking about something true and deep. And we are talking your passion, not a chosen profession where you fake it until you make it. You are going to be the real thing here. So you gather all that information and then you test it all. Challenge it all. Expand it all. What we are doing here is establishing you as a person of substance. That will be done by people observing what you are doing rather than by how many times you can answer a question on social media.

Let me explain. The absolute deluge of information out there has created a whole class of data compilers. They want to make a name for themselves so they gather all the data and then regurgitate it out so they can be seen as experts. You’ll know them because they know one thing and one thing only and are willing to fight to be seen as right. You do not get to expert status by fighting everyone who is already established. This is a huge mistake by hobbyists trying to make a name for themselves. Your name will be made by what you do, not how many online arguments you win.

People take the easy path. Whereas before it was hard work to be able to call yourself an expert, now it is much easier to memorize talking points and talk a big game. The good news for you is that this means that if you actually put in the work to take all the information available and make it your own you can…shudder…be an actual expert.

So make it your own. Don’t spend so much time trying to be a big name and spend that time quietly building up your experience. And once you have a colony of roaches going ask – how can you make them breed faster? How can you make them grow bigger? how can you make them more nutritious?

My entire caging company grew out of my desire to have individual cages for each of my baby chameleons. I was tired of Sterilite bins and butterfly cages. I wanted to invest in solid caging for my babies. And that is what started it all. My question “How do I make this better”. I didn’t have to ask anyone what they wanted because I was my own expert consultant in what I needed. So become your own expert consultant. And it takes time. The Dragon Strand caging looks simple, but the fact is that I had been experimenting with the Breeder style concept, which was mostly solid sides, for more than 15 years before deciding to make it into a commercially made product. For those unfamiliar, in 2013 I started my chameleon caging company with the Breeder series which has the sides and back white PVC and the front and top screen. To a community indoctrinated that screen cages were absolutely necessary and anything else gave respiratory infections, coming out with a cage line that had three solid sides would be the last thing conventional wisdom would suggest. The reason why I could do it and be successful is that I had a decade and a half of experience with that design that said this was the way to go. I had been refining my experience with that cage configuration for longer than many of the expert regurgitators on social media had been involved with chameleons.

The only way to know your stuff is to make it your own and put in the time. And this is how you begin charting your own path. I know how easy it would be to follow where someone else has gone. If you are following in the direction that someone else is going then you are competing on someone else’s home field. And, yes, if you are just jumping in to do something then this is what you have to do. You have to follow in someone else’s footprints and yell loudly to get attention. I know it seems easier to steal a community from someone else rather than build your own. Well, I am going to tell you that any audience you can steal away by your fancy words will leave you as soon as the next shiny thing comes along. So, be patient, and build a strong base of followers by building something unique to yourself. So start your Green Banana Roach Facebook page/Instagram account, YouTube channel, even if there are five of them already. This is not a zero sum game where there can be only one. Do not be distracted about what the others are doing. Do not copy. Learn from others, but do not follow. I can’t stress this enough. Chart your own course. Build your own community. And not by stealing or poaching from other content creators. Create a space that is cool to be in and dedicate yourself to creating as good of a space as possible. And assume that you will have no followers for the first six months. Work on creating a space that people want to come to rather than spending all that time trying to get people to your space. I am dangerously close to quoting a movie here, but it is so true. Build it, and they will come.

I can tell you that people who love green banana roaches will eagerly follow more than one account or business if they offer different perspectives.

So you create your Green Banana Roach digital presence with the elements of your choice. Pick one to specialize in. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok, podcast, blog? I know we feel the pressure to do all of them, but you can’t. At least not well. Pick one and pour your energies into making it awesome. Facebook is conversational. Instagram is visual. YouTube is video, Tik Tok is short video gags, podcasting is audio, blogging is written. What is your strength? You can have toeholds in all the social medias you want, but real success will come from investing time and energy into the platform. That means more than just posting, You have to interact. The more you interact the more successful you will be. And, honestly, you only need one platform. Entire businesses revolve around a Facebook account or Instagram account and have no footprint on the other. Pick your favorite and be excellent there. Be accessible. Interact. Build your following. Though, note that Facebook is hostile towards live animal sales. You will be shut down. Instagram has not had the same hostility yet, but it is owned by Facebook and has the same rules. This is why we have laws against monopolies. Unfortunately, something slipped through the cracks, because Facebook has become too powerful and the major social media apps are under their control. YouTube is Google so that is a little safer, but who knows how long. The safest, of course, is having your own website so you are in control of your own platform.

And this problem is everywhere. Have you heard of Etsy? It started off as a sales platform for hand crafters. Many people built their entire business around etsy and grew quite profitable. Well, the people in charge decided they wanted to be more like Amazon and regularly implement new terms and conditions that are essentially killing the base of hand crafters. This is the danger of relying on someone else’s platform. But when starting out, you will have to be on these social media platforms. Just be careful which one you invest five years growing. Reptile breeders who had their businesses based off their Facebook presence suddenly found themselves having to start over some place else. So, just be careful. You can’t predict the future. Just do the best you can. Believe me, in building a business you will have many twists, turns, dead ends, and starting over.

While this is all going on you will need another source of income. Go into starting a business with a long term view in mind. If you budget in three years to build up your base you are starting to have realistic expectations. How much you can build the business by this point is up to how much time you can spend on building it during this time.

That passion for Green Banana Roaches can become an active social media group. And you can start selling cups of your own via mail (check the regulations) and at shows. You may find that your audience really loves the exotic roaches so you start breeding harlequin roaches and those huge ones from Australia. You become a supplier of exotic roaches and build up a clientele of people wanting roaches. You educate them on how to house them beautifully. In an industry that shows off their roaches in plastic bins, you show them off in lush vivariums. Your approach gathers a healthy following. You start offering other invertebrates and find that your approach of housing them becomes what you are known best for and your followers eat up your videos on how to create natural vivariums. You start selling terrarium supplies and have to take out a small loan to build up inventory and feed yourself as you write an ebook on the subject. You are invited to be a guest on a podcast or YouTube video. Your name gets out there more and with that there are more people who would rather buy their dry goods from you and get both their supplies and education from the same place.

You see how this builds on itself and grows? So, how much money can you end up making from that first deli cup of green banana roaches? Well, that is unknown. I am telling you right now that nobody knows. Can I tell you how many people scoffed at the idea of a podcast on chameleons? Or questioned whether a chameleon caging company that offered more expensive cages then existed at the time could do well? It is easy to predict failure. 9 times out of 10 they’ll be right. In fact, predicting failure is the single most boring way to be right. It takes no skill and you can get that feeling of being right and saying I told you so with absolutely no wisdom in your head. And having the world full of people predicting failure is a great way to weed out the timid. So when someone says there is no way you are going to make it with your green banana roach passion I want you to feel good about that. Look at these people as guardians of your future because they are discouraging everyone else who is not passionate out of your way. They are clearing the road of your competitors for you! Just realize they never go away. There is always failure to be had and people whose lives are wrapped up in predicting it. I can guarantee, if you are an entrepreneur, sooner or later you will have to start being more selective about the type of people you hang out with. It takes a special person to handle being around someone who has a vision of what could be without being threatened or jealous. If you are constantly pushing forward, I fear you will have to get used to a very small true friend base and a fluid social circle, but that is for another podcast.

So, lets summarize. If you are interested in starting a business in the reptile world start small with something you love. Give yourself three years to build a social media following. Be a doer that explores all the options and create your own path to follow. Bring something new to the table whether in product, service, or approach. Build this up while supporting yourself with another job for as long as you can. Price your product so that when the time comes that the only way to continue growing is to quit your other job, that the growth you can provide with the extra time dedicated will sustain your life. And, then work your butt off. Once you do this you will be in a panic situation where you are fighting for your financial life. Give yourself a year of 14 hours days 7 days a week to build that business into something strong.

How long does it take? How much money can you make? All is unknown. Am I encouraging you to take the leap?  No. I am not. I suggest you stay in your comfortable 9-5 job with health benefits and paid vacation. It is a much easier life. And you have weekends off. Having your own business is brutal. And playing with chameleons is fun, but when you have to do it 14 hours a day 7 days a week and deal with a public that isn’t always reasonable or rational you may think back and remember that doing this as a hobby and dreaming about doing it as a business was a whole lot more fun than actually doing it as a business. You find you are no longer able to afford a vacation, much less leave the house with a whole herd of chameleons needing to be taken care of. It sounded wonderful when you started, but after two years of it and realizing that you need a full time person to take care of chameleons and a full time person to do the selling and social media and you have only one you…your paradise is now a trap. So, no. I don’t encourage you to do this. I am actually still paying off the last business I had that failed. And it was dramatic. I lost thousands of dollars due to an unexpected civil war and was finally shut down because of a global pandemic. Include that in your business plan. Things happen and they can ruin you. It was ten years before I recovered enough to start again.

Talking to my friends who are actually making a living in the reptile industry and we have conversations about bankruptcies, loans that were paid off just in the nick of time, having to start over….it isn’t pretty. So, and this is for starting any business, not just the reptile world, it is risky. 9 times out of ten, that annoying friend or family member will be able to say I told you so. A particularly annoying person in my circle said of me starting my caging business “ you think he would have learned from his last failure”. And these people will be all around you. They will be much more sympathetic to you being laid off than you having to close the doors of your business. So, it would be safest for me to encourage you to follow the well trod path of 9-5. And there is nothing wrong with that, actually! There are huge benefits and I have never felt any particular pride in saying that I had my own business. It is a balance between benefits of both. And I go back and forth between the two. I enjoy working for a large company greatly. I enjoy working on my own business. And what I do at the time is based on what benefits my family the most.

Break off into your own business only if there is a passion within you that cannot accept anything else. If you have a vision for green banana roaches in the world, you feel that call stronger than anything else, and it is a call you must answer, then, yes, you have to go. You will need that passion to get you through the wilds. The discouragements, the road blocks, and loneliness of being the only one who sees what you see. But if this is you, and you do prevail over everything the world has to throw at you to make you fall, then you get to be in a very special place where you are able to create something that didn’t exist before. And, that is an incredible feeling.

So, in the end, if you have a 9-5 job, I am not encouraging you  to leave it. But if you have a passion and that spark just wont go away then you don’t need my encouragement. You are already packing your backpack and just need a direction to go. So start in with the three year plan to build your expertise and social media following. If you are able to build it as a side job while you are working the job that pays the bills and you find that you actually have the business and marketing skills to make it work then you are ready to make the fateful decision. And, honestly, I am not sure how much you want to listen to me. I am of the mindset that the true failure is not trying. And I am glad of it. I have experienced amazing things. I really don’t know what the end of my story will be, but you can be sure the movie of my life will be fun to watch. You laugh , you’ll cry, and, secretly, I hope you will come away thinking, yeah, I need to try.

Good luck and perseverance to you. And, please, find me five years from now and let me know what you have built.      

You just got home from the pet store or reptile expo with your chameleon and chameleon kit and the online community has passionately informed you of the things that need to change. You tally them all up and they amount to,…well, everything. And with ten voices chiming in from every corner, including that crazy guy who keeps telling you to go back in time and research more, what do you do first? In this episode you have one voice and we will get things sorted out in a orderly and logical fashion with a little learning fun thrown it!

Today my episode will be very specific. I am talking to the people who have purchased the Chameleon Kit from ZooMed. This is the set-up which is the most commonly brought home. It is not meant to be the final cage set-up for your chameleon even if that is the way it was presented to you at point of sale. I am sorry for how that works. We in the chameleon community welcome a great many people who are now having to deal with the realization that the advice they got upon purchase wasn’t the most solid.

If you were linked to this podcast it was probably from someone who wants to help make the transition from this simple set-up to something that will last for the chameleon’s long life time. After listening to this podcast episode I’d like to send you back to that person or group so you can continue the process. In this episode I am going to specifically work with what is in the kit and help you get it set-up as good as possible for your chameleon to be taken care of while you work on all the upgrades.

If you found this on your own then at the end of the episode I will refer you to other episodes of the podcast that will take you the next steps.

 Chameleon are not that simple to set up. But if they are set up properly they are very hardy and enjoyable pets. The problem is that for pet stores and reptile show vendors to sell their chameleons it would really help if there was a cheap all-in-one boxed kit with a chameleon on the front that they could sell to you with your chameleon to get that money exchange and you on your merry way.

Enter the mechanisms of capitalism and lo and behold that product appeared.

Today I am going to talk about the one set-up the majority of new keepers are sent home with from pet stores and even reptile shows. The Zoo Med Chameleon Kit is a box that suggests it has everything you need and that is the way it is sold. So it may be a cold surprise when you are told that everything needs to change and then the advised expenses start climbing. And you are left confused as to what to do. Even if money was not an issue, who should you listen to? Pet store employee, who is trained to know the right stuff, tells you one thing and then internet mob screams something different.

It is not uncommon for people to have changed up their set-up three times and just gotten sick of hearing so many different opinions.

So that is what this podcast episode is about. Just me and you, your chameleon and the Chameleon Kit. And I will go through what is important and when so your little guy or girl can have the healthiest life possible. And, who am I that you should listen to me? Excellent question and definitely one you should be asking whenever accepting advice. That will help filter the cacophony of voices wanting the pleasure of your attention. My name is Bill Strand and I have been involved with chameleons for about 40 years and active in chameleon community education for 20 of those years. Part of that is continually diving into what we don’t know and challenging what we do know. And, with this podcast, you have found my main outreach to share chameleon related information. So, assuming that has passed the test for being worth the time to listen, let’s get on to helping you sort out that kit you have been sent home with.

 

First, Let’s go over what comes out of the box:

1. Cage
2. Vine
3. Carpet
4. Plant sprig
5. Repticalcium
6. Reptivite
7. Thermometer
8. Light fixture
9. UVB bulb (13 Watt)
10. Daylight Blue heat bulb (60 Watt)
11. Reptisafe sample

 

Cage:

The cage is a 16”x16”x30” screen cage. This is an excellent cage to start off with and is appropriate for a single chameleon up to about 4” in body length, or, what we call snout-to-vent. This doesn’t count the tail which tends to break the curve. There comes an issue if you purchased a chameleon larger than this or you have come home with a pair. Yes, the sales person should have known better, but here we are. We’ll look into this more after we go through all the other goodies in the box.

Lights:

The next thing we have is an innovative light fixture which holds two lights. The lights included are the Daylight Blue 60 Watt basking bulb and a Reptisun 5.0 13 watt mini compact fluorescent bulb. This will be the subject of great discussion in a little while. For now, it is enough to know that chameleons need light to see, light to bask in for warmth, and UVB rays so their skin can create vitamin D3 just like ours does. Without vitamin D3 they can’t absorb calcium, their bones do not harden and they die a slow painful death so this particular issue raises a great deal of passion and urgency in the community. So, yes, we will discuss this in detail coming up.

Cage Accessories:

We have a handful of cage accessories including a nice long twisty vine, a spring of plastic plant, and not one, but two, carpets for the bottom of the cage. So we will have fun putting that together I am sure

Nutrition:

Next we have some sample packs of powders. The first is Calcium without D3, Reptivite vitamin powder that does have D3, and a water conditioner.

Thermometer:

And finally, we have a thermometer with a probe that can get wet. Party on, dudes!

And I have to mention that chameleons cannot be kept together in this cage. If they are old enough to be sold at the retail level then they are beyond the age that you can get away with keeping them together because they are babies. And there is no such thing as a bonded pair. This is just the inexperience, or greed, of the pet store employee talking. So if you have two either take one back or else prepare to set up two enclosures. This is beyond opinion. If you are unsure what to believe because the pet store person said they can be kept together (and deep down you want this to be true) I have to just pull rank here and say they are wrong. Absolutely wrong and I’d be happy to say it to their faces. I have an entire episode on co-habitation if you want details on this. Episode 107.

Okay, so you put this all together, throw some crickets in the cage, and life is good! But, there is a lot more to this podcast so this is the part of the movie where the hero finds out that all is not good and that a complete transformation is necessary. And like that hero, at the end of this movie, you will have travelled a fascinating road. So let’s take that first step.

First of all, let’s set up the cage you have and explain the equipment you are dealing with.

To start with setting up the cage, you assemble it according to instructions and then we have to do something with the inside. Just set the carpet aside. I have no idea why that is in this kit. A solid floor is a much better bottom for a chameleon cage. The floor to the cage is fine.

Inside the cage, the included vine will come in handy, but the sprig of plastic leaves is of very little use. In a chameleon cage we need to create a forest edge which means a open area for basking and an area with dense plant leaves that the chameleon can feel safe and hidden. There is no way to do that with what is included in this kit. So your first mission is to put a plant inside this cage that has leaves the chameleon can hide in and feel safe. Luckily, these kinds of plants are found in most indoor plant retailers. You are looking for one that, with its pot, reaches almost 30”, which is the height of your cage and has a lot of leaf cover. Specific species to look for that would do this are the Umbrella Plant (Schefflera arboricola), the Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina), or the China Doll plant (Radermachera sinica). But it has to have a good head of leaves on it to be of use. So you may be spending $30 for a good size plant. This is worth it for what it does for the chameleon so budget for that amount. If you are unable to find a plant that is tall enough you can make a trailing vine like a pothos work by also buying a plant stand that will move the plant up and let it trail down. The plant species isn’t critical. It is the leaf density and if it is enough for the chameleon to hide in or behind. This will also be your drinking surface. Once the plant is in you can use that vine and wrap it around in side to give as much access to the cage corners as possible. And the plastic plant sprig? Hopefully you don’t need it, but it can provide extra coverage if your live plant is light on leaves in a certain area.

For branching you can get sticks from outside. How you mount these sticks depends on how long you intend to use this cage. If you have a carpet chameleon then you’ll be able to use this cage for its entire life and we can talk about permanent solutions to trick out the cage. If you have a  Veiled, Panther, or Jackson’s you will be growing out of that cage within single digit number of months so it would be best to simply buy the equipment you would need for the upgrade cage. For temporary set-up you can jam a stick in between the screen sides so the screen tension holds the stick in place and you can use push pins through the screen to hold the stick in place. Anything that puts stress on the screen which was not meant to be  lo0ad bearing is a hack and you would want to steer away from it for a set-up you intend to keep around for years.

Okay, now we get to the trickiest part of this and we will have to be clever as to how we execute this. The lighting included in this kit has a 13 watt compact fluorescent UVB bulb and a basking bulb. We need to arrange for the chameleon to have a basking branch that runs under both of these at a somewhat precise distance.

Here is a quick introduction to UVB and UVB lamps. UVB is the wavelength of sunlight we use to create vitamin D3. It is also the wavelength that causes sunburn and cancers. So there is a thin slice of amount of UVB which we want our chameleon to bask in. Not too high of numbers and not too low of numbers. Artificial UVB lamps need to be used with care because each one has a different gradient that they produce. This refers to how quickly they change value. If I wanted my chameleon to bask in the UV Index level of 2 to 3, but not more than 6, I need to find a lamp which has a big enough space for my chameleon to fit its body. So the technology that really works well for us is the linear T5 UVB Fluorescent lights. I can raise it above the cage so that my basking branch starts at 2 to 3 and the top of the cage 6” up is still under UV Index 6. So I
 have a gradient of 6 to 9 inches that I can use. The reason that the Compact Fluorescent Bulb that is included in this chameleon kit is so despised is because the top of the cage, right under the bulb, can be UVI 33 which is blisteringly strong. 1 inch down it is 9 which is still too strong. 2 inches down it is 4 which is starting to be useful. 3 inches down it is UV index of 2 which is good for babies. And 4 inches down it is UV Index of 1. So, yes, I can get my range of UVI 2 to 3, but it literally is only with a half inch slice of space three inches under the screen. And above that is at dangerous levels. So these compact bulbs do have a UVB gradient. It is just packed in such a small physical space that it really can’t be used effectively. So, until we get to the upgrade part, run and bend your vine so that the top of your chameleons head can be 3 inches from the screen top where the UVB bulb is. This will give you one small space in the cage where the UVB is good. Luckily, chameleons seem to be able to search out and bask in UVB so we will rely on our little friend to find that one sweet spot in the cage and get what he or she needs.

The heat bulb is also in the same situation. With 60W the useful distance is where you can hold the back of your hand under the light and it is warm and comfortable to you without being painful or uncomfortable due to heat. And you will need to run a vine at the distance that feels the best to you.

A word about the blue light. It is a daylight bulb, not necessarily a blue light bulb, but we really want white light. This blue light can be kept as a heat bulb for future use, but we will definitely be adding a fixture that has white light daylight bulbs in it.

And now we get to nutrition and those powders. The reptisafe water conditioner is…well, I have never used it. I don’t know why it needs to be there. You can use it by following the instructions or not. That won’t have an effect on your chameleon. Beyond that, you have two powders. The first is the ReptiCalcium without D3. This is just calcium powder. This is vitally important because our chameleons need calcium to grow their bones and for proper organ function. Our feeder insects, like crickets, are not only poor in calcium, but they are high in phosphorus. Our chameleons need a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio meaning we need to put enough calcium powder on the crickets to counteract the phosphorus levels. Now you next question is how much you need to dust. And this is not an exact answer and can’t be. With all the variables in how much is dusted, how much sticks, and how much as fallen off by time it is eaten there isn’t a good solid way to measure how much is needed. But, so far, us dusting our feeders every feeding with calcium has worked to raise healthy chameleons. So don’t worry so much about amount. The only thing you have to worry about is how much you feed your chameleon. If it is a growing baby then you can feed as much as they want every other day. If it is an adult you need to back off to 3 to 5 feeders every other day. As cool as they are when they eat and as much as they seem to just want to keep eating – especially the veileds- they are prone to obesity if we let them so we don’t let them.

The Reptivite with D3 is a vitamin powder. This is a tricky beast. It has vitamin A and vitamin D3. Both of those vitamins are fat soluble so there is possibility of overdose. So we want to give enough, but not too much. Now, because no one knows and our information is full of holes, it leaves room for people to have passionate opinions that are contradicting with warnings of horrible death if you listen to anyone else. So pick a routine that makes sense and stick with it even though other people are going to weep and gnash their teeth. I am sorry, but no one agrees so you will just have to pick one voice to listen to. Here is the difficulty. Your chameleon gets D3 from the UVB. Since the UVB is difficult to work with we don’t know if our chameleon is getting enough. We can use the Reptivite with D3 to supplement what he gets from the light, but with D3 from the light, his body will stop making it when he has enough. The body regulates how much it makes to keep it in the safe zone. When we give it through the diet we bypass the regulation and he can get too much. So how much more do we need to give? That is unknown so we have to make a guess. For veiled and panther chameleons, I am going to suggest you use the Reptivite once a week if this is a growing chameleon. I am more concerned with your chameleon, especially veiled chameleon getting Metabolic Bone Disease than I am a vitamin D3 overdose. So for now I am going to suggest you dust one feeding a week with the Reptivite with D3 while we are under the Chameleon Kit conditions. Once we upgrade your system we will rely more on the UVB bulb for D3 synthesis. Jackson’s Chameleons are much more sensitive to vitamins and will get fluid collars with too much so, for Jackson’s chameleons I’ll suggest doing the Reptivite every weeks instead.

Reptivite also has pre-formed vitamin A. This is another one we have to be careful not to overdose, but once a week at the levels in Reptivite should be fine for this short while. Now, one thing I do not like about Reptivite is that they include a perfect balance of Calcium and phosphorus in that 2:1 ratio we want. Unfortunately, this means we can’t put it on a cricket and have a balance. It shouldn’t be a big deal if you are doing it once a week, but if you want to make me feel better, mix in an equal part of that plain calcium and then there will be calcium enough to counter act the phosphorus in the cricket.

Does this sound all complicated? Yeah, I am sorry. It is. But let’s make it simple. Feed every other day. Dust all feedings with calcium except for the weekend feeding that is dusted with Reptivite with D3. Unless you have a jackson’s chameleon in which case you do the reptivite every two weeks.

For both of these make sure you are feeding your feeder insects fruits and vegetables and grains to ensure they are not just empty shells when you feed them to the chameleon. This is called gutloading and it is very important. The powders are supplements. Not meal replacement shakes.

To make this a complete summary, let’s talk about hydration. You may have gone home with any number of hydration devices or plans. The most common are a hand spray bottle or a dripper. Either of these can be used for now. If you are hand spraying then a spritz on the leaves every morning and afternoon should provide the water he needs. I always use a dripper to make sure he is getting enough. If he drinks from the dripper then I know I need to spray the leaves more. Don’t spray your chameleon as he won’t like it. But go ahead and keep spraying until he stops drinking if he starts drinking when you are spraying. There is no drainage tray included with this cage and that means an automatic misting system is probably not a good idea unless you get a tray to put under the cage to catch the water. The company does make a substrate tray, which will catch water, but this is not the appropriate accessory. You don’t want to catch the water inside the cage. It needs to be caught and stored outside the cage so it can’t mingle with the poop and make a disgusting situation. There are trays specifically made to be drainage trays, but these take some money and I am going to suggest that you not accessorize this cage, but start your plans for the next stage as quickly as possible.

We do have one last piece of equipment. The thermometer. This can be hung in the cage and you can monitor your ambient temperature. This allows you to track conditions and know whether you are meeting the needs of your particular species.

So this is what we can do with the cage as you have it out of the box. I took the challenge of figuring out how to make this work with as little excess items to purchase as possible. The things we couldn’t do without were the plant and the hand mister.

So, now that your chameleon is as set as is possible with what you have it is time to start the transition to a better set-up. The first two things that you will have to upgrade are the cage size and the UVB light and the supplementation. And they all three pretty much have to go together. The size and strength of the UVB light and fixture you get will depend on which cage you plan on graduating to. And the supplementation routine is directly related to the UVB and who you are talking to.

At this point I will let you go back to your social media group or the other episodes of my podcast for how to put together your forever cage. And I do this in recognition that this learning process is more comfortable when you have people helping you in real time. If you have people guiding you as to what needs changing then follow their guidelines. It is important that you follow only one person or group’s recommendations because getting a second opinion will just give you different results. And beware of husbandry by consensus. You cannot consolidate the ten different opinions you get off of a Facebook question into a coherent plan forward. Half the people who respond to your picture just want to be heard and have no idea what they are saying. And it is difficult for you to separate out the people that have experience. Well, unless you research the names. I invite you to listen to the previous episodes in this podcast. I go deep into topics, and you will definitely get a feel for what sounds right and what sounds off in the real world. If you want to check out more of these podcasts, I suggest starting with episode 113 which will lead you through selecting a proper chameleon cage, 114 which talks about creating an effective interior and 115 which is about maintaining the chameleon cage. And then just go back to episode 1 and listen on the way to work. By time you catch up your head will be filled with what we in the chameleon community know at this point.

Even if the first steps into the chameleon community were a little rocky, this is an amazing journey. I hope you are able to discover the beauty and wonder that I have in these mini tree dragons.

 

 

There is a lot of information about using UVB with chameleons bouncing around the internet. But how is it in execution? Today I bring you a discussion with Pete Hawkins who has raised a female veiled chameleon with UVB light and completely without dietary Vitamin D3.

Check out the links below to learn more about Pete!

The whole purpose of providing UVB light is to allow your chameleon to make vitamin D3 naturally through their skin. Although it is common to give D3 through the diet, this is not natural and we can overdose if we give too much. How much is too much is unknown. But instead of researching to figure that out, we are going to focus on researching how much UVB a chameleon needs to do D3 synthesis. As with every exploration there needs to be a starting point. For this starting point I talk with Pete Hawkins who was helping test the Arcadia EarthPro-A supplement which has no vitamin D3. His task was to raise a chameleon completely on UVB with no dietary D3.

Now, I want to give an introduction to what constitutes data in the search for UVB answers. Because there is enormous ambiguity and almost no hard data people in the social media echo chambers have become quite attached to their personal views, which, frankly, are based on nothing more than ideas pulled out of the air. Hard data is very difficult to come by as it takes years to pull together. So, let’s lay the ground rules for what constitutes solid information in the realm of UVB. For us to have a valid test as to whether a certain level of UVB is effective a female chameleon must be raised with no dietary D3 and then lay calcified eggs. That would be the top test as to whether the UVB level was sufficient. And, I am reporting today that we have a data point that fulfills that requirement. It is only one data point and we in the community must continue to test. Although, I will say before I bring on the interview with Pete, I have duplicated his findings with a test of my own. So, like any thing we accept as fact, it must be repeatable. Perhaps after listening in you would be interested in validating the test yourself.

And this is what we need to do to slowly crawl forward. We put together a feasible hypothesis and test it. Pete decided UVI3 was a valid level and proved it out. Building on this I did a test with two pairs of veiled chameleons with one pair being raised up with UVI 3 and one pair with UVI 6 to see if there was any difference. There was none and I am raising up the babies from that test right now. In addition to the test I ran, I validated the test Pete ran.

And what is the significance of these findings?

Well, within our UVB husbandry there are two important levels. The first is the minimum effective level which is the minimum level at which the chameleon can successfully synthesize enough D3 to not only grow up strong, but create calcified eggs. The next level is the maximum safe level. UVB will kill your chameleon. It burns and will produce cancers just like in humans so we  do NOT want to give them more than we need to. Between the tests that both Pete and I ran we can tentatively place UVI 3 to UVI 6 between the minimum effective and maximum safe levels for Veiled Chameleons.

Since there was no benefit to increasing from 3 to 6 we should now turn our minds to refining the minimum effective level. Could we get the same results with UVI 2? Maybe UVI 1? And this is where we can grow as a community. Of course, this is where I am placing my efforts and will let you know what I find out!

At this point we experiment more. If this interests you at all then please contact me. The more experiments we have running the better our data. But it is a touchy topic to test. Failure to synthesize D3 results in Metabolic Bone Disease. So anyone working with this should be ready to spend the money for blood tests to verify D3 levels and have an experienced keen eye to identify when things are not working out.

For the rest of the community, thanks to Pete, we know that UVI 3 is a safe level for veiled chameleons to live without dietary D3. I have duplicated that result in two animals so our confidence can grow. It is true that any scientific study would scoff at using three animals as an indication of anything. But, I will say that our community has gotten into the most heated battles being 100% sure of UVB husbandry even with the loudest voices not even having the benefit of a UVB meter so I think we can agree this is a step in the right direction.

So, where do we go from here? I give you no action item. At this point I am just making you aware of what is going on that is pushing us forward. You are welcome to use this information however it most benefits you. And, for my part, I will continue to bring you the latest advancements from every corner of the chameleon world.

Welcome to the Chameleon Community! This episode is just a short orientation to the community to get you off on the right foot! Below are a few links to places discussed in the podcast episode.

Introduction to episode

A warm welcome to the new members of our community. In this podcast episode I will be your introduction to the chameleon world. And for those of you who have been around for a while and have travelled with me for all these episodes it is time for us to take a step back and remember what it was like when we first came to the community. The experience can be jarring! And it is healthy for all of us to see through the eyes of a newcomer. But for the rest of this episode, I am talking to the person who has just joined our community.

 

You will find the chameleon community wide spread across all of the social media apps. Some stronger than others, but we are well represented. And, more than likely, this is how you join the community. There is a surprising number of people off the grid, so to speak, but they really aren’t part of the community that will overlap with you – at least for a while!

Social Media orientation

The first thing I want to do is address the reaction you may have gotten when you jumped onto your first Facebook group to show off your new chameleon that you are so proud of, ask for wisdom from the people who have chameleons already, and…. it is like a bomb went off in your hands. Wrong cage, wrong vines, wrong lighting, wrong supplementation, stop cuddling Pascal, why didn’t you do your research?

What in the world happened here?!?! What the heck is Anthropomorphizing? And what could be wrong with my set-up? I did everything the pet store person told me to do! And I know it is right because the kit I spent all that money on had a chameleon on the box. And who are all these keyboard warriors that think they have the right to judge me! The pet store said to watch out for all the trash advice on the internet and I guess this is what they were talking about!

 

Okay…let’s take a step back. If this was not your experience then I am glad your introduction to our community was a bit more civilized! But there is an unfortunate pattern that plays itself out over and over with new keepers and I’d like to address this directly up front.

It can be a jarring experience going from pet store or reptile show purchase to an online community. The problem is based on the fact that chameleon care is not easy or cheap, but that chameleons have enormous impulse buy potential. So capitalism being what it is, pet stores were hungry for a way to send customers home with their first chameleon with as cheap of a set-up as possible. The problem was that if you bundled an adult cage with all the appropriate equipment the price of that bundle would destroy your impulse buy market. So, instead of saying, hmmm, chameleons are incredibly cool, but are not suited for our target demographic, they created a product bundle that would keep the chameleon alive beyond the return period. And then they train the staff to sell the product and the chameleon. And you are trusting the pet store employee to tell you what you need to know. I have run into some pet store employees that were incredible and some that were completely incompetent. The problem is that if you are totally new to chameleons, you can’t tell the difference. They both talk with the same confidence level. So you spend a lot of money based on their advice, go home, and set up a small cage with a vine and a spring of plastic plant. Wow, that was easy! Oh my gosh, this chameleon loves me, he can’t wait to get out and play with me! This is so awesome! I can’t wait to make friends with other chameleon people!

And thus we are caught up with a decidedly poor social media experience. In groups that have thousands of members there will be a section of that population that will love to beat anyone up they can just to feel like they know something. In the more established groups, the moderator team will bang heads around and force people to act with respect. But if you post when the team is asleep, the rats will be out and there will be an unsavory situation until order is brought in.

If this was your experience, you were probably told your entire set-up needed to be replaced and that you should have done your research before getting a chameleon. Isn’t self-righteous judgement such a wonderful part of human personality? The fact is, you did your research. You talked to a person in a pet store uniform and you bought everything they told you to. There was no trying to be cheap. You literally were willing to do whatever it took to set up your new little friend!

Now here comes the confusion. What is right and why should you listen to all these new names on the internet?

Well, as one of those people on the internet trying to help new chameleon keepers I’ll explain. I always try to present both sides of a situation so people can make educated decisions for themselves. In this case there really isn’t much in the way of two sides. I’ll try and say this as gently as possible, but it is true that very few pet stores and, unfortunately, very few reptile stores will send you home with a correct chameleon set-up and education. And we know this because every day we have people joining our groups with various versions of poor advice. We are lucky when people come before their chameleon is sick because we can prevent the chameleon from getting sick. This is the hardest time for you to learn about what chameleons really need because you don’t yet see a problem. The people that are asking about why their chameleon is sick and dying are much more open to listening! But, that is when it is too late. And so, we see this day in and day out. Your situation is common. Stick around and within a couple days you’ll see people coming in with the exact same situation. It is an epidemic. Ideally, pet stores would give good advice, but the real danger is that they do not realize how bad the advice and products are that they are selling. So they do not know to tell you to do further research. And so, with the confidence of the care pamphlet why would you think you need more to learn? It isn’t until your chameleon is showing signs of illness you are given even a hint that you should check around and see what is wrong.

And we see this all the time as well. Heartbreak. Heartbreak from keepers that did everything they were told and are fully willing to do anything else it takes as far as money and set-up to keep their chameleon happy. And it isn’t until they check around about their chameleon not being able to hold itself up on its branch do they learn that their chameleon has an advanced stage of deadly metabolic bone disease that was completely preventable if they had the right light or proper supplements. And education now does not make up for a year of damage. Yes, we experienced keepers can spot the beginnings of MBD before it does permanent damage, but if this is your first chameleon there is no way you can know what trouble looks like until it is in its advanced stages.

Those of us on the frontlines of general chameleon social media or forum groups see this all the time. We have to correct and console. Some people on these groups are gentle and some people are just plain jerks.

 

So what now? Well, if you are listening to this podcast then you have decided to push through that initial experience and dig deeper. Obviously, there is a lot to learn and there is an entire library of podcast episodes you can use to fill in whatever topics you want. But I am going to give you a crash course right now to try and focus your energies in the right direction while you make heads and tails of this community.

 

First of all, Chameleon health. I am going to assume you have a veiled, panther, or jackson’s chameleon. This advice applies to most chameleons so as long as they are the same size, all is good. This will be the briefest of overviews just so you know where to dig in. There are entire podcasts on these subjects and respectable members of the community that can help guide you along in execution.

• Cage: You’ll need an appropriately sized cage. If you were sent home with a 16x16x30” cage then that will be good only for the few months your chameleon is a baby. I am sorry that this is only the first piece of inadequate equipment you have been sent home with. We will have a bit of a list here. Generally speaking, get yourself a 24” x 24” x 48” tall screen cage. There are other cage sizes that will work, but this is the most common cage available and it will work for you.
• Cage Interior. You need a layer of live plants for your chameleon to hide in. They can’t be on the ground. They have to be in the top half of the cage. I know this is challenging in a screen cage. I founded the Dragon Strand chameleon caging company and I had to actually invent a product that would allow us to do this because there just isn’t a good way of doing this. The Dragon Ledges screw into the frame so they allow you to mount plants and horizontal branches up where the chameleon needs them. If you don’t go this route then you need to either buy plants that are tall enough to have a lot of leaves in the upper section of the cage or else you can use plant stands to accomplish the same effect with shorter plants. However you do it you absolutely need plant cover for your chameleon to hide in. Not only is this for their sense of security, but we will need to provide UVB for your chameleon and they need to be able to get out of the UVB when they have had enough.
• Here is that UVB and probably the first thing you were told to change. Chameleons need UVB, just like we do, to produce vitamin D3. But, just like we get sunburns, too much UVB will cause problems with your chameleon. This is why we need that plant cover. Currently the best technology is a T5 linear fluorescent bulb. If your kit does not have a T5 linear then get one, but make sure if you are getting a strong UVB bulb that you also are getting that 48” tall (or other appropriate) cage. Putting a strong UVB over a 30” cage is too much. You’ll find so much of this is all connected.
• Supplementation and gutloading. You need calcium powder and a controlled amount of vitamins. This is where you will get a major amount of disagreement in the community. Just go with whatever your mentor has worked out. Worry about the rest of the community later. The reason why there is so much room for disagreement is because there is so little actually known. Since there is so much ambiguity and lack of hard facts it has been easy for people to slip into getting a little too personally invested. Just concentrate on getting one of these methods down and sit out the ridiculous fighting.

 

Basics of chameleons

And there are a handful of items about chameleons that we need to nip in the bud. The first is:

Cohabitation.This is when you have two chameleons living in the same cage. This is a big one because reptile stores will see the opportunity to sell you two chameleons instead of just one. The bottom line is that you can not keep chameleons together. They will eventual fight and this fighting may not be visible to your eye – especially if they freeze whenever you walk in the room. Once again, there is an entire podcast episode on cohabitation. Jackson’s Chameleons are particularly prone to being victims of this as they are much more subtle in their mannerisms. Just to save you pain and misery, just get separate cages for your chameleons before going online and bragging about your two chameleons in one cage.

 

And Affection.Here is where I get called cold, heartless, cynical, and, well, realistic. Chameleons are not capable of human emotion. We want them to. We see it in their eyes. They love us! So this is our compromise. You are welcome to believe your chameleon loves you if you love your chameleon back. And what this means is you accept him for what he is and you learn his language. And this is where it gets hard. To truly love him you need to understand him. Deep inside of your chameleon there is instinct that is designed for survival in the wild. There has not been enough time for them to be domesticated. So they do not like to be touched and they do not like to be played with. And they should never fall asleep during the day and if they fall asleep in your hand that is the sign that something life threatening is in process. I will link a handful of podcasts that will explain chameleon behavior in the show notes. If you love you chameleon you will learn their language and allow them to be what they are instead of what we humans desire them to be. Isn’t that the truest definition of love even between humans? The point is. Handle them as little as possible. There are very few exceptions, but most likely you will have a chameleon that would rather be left alone.

There is a community for everything and I am sure you will be able to find one that supports your desire to cuddle your chameleon. That is a sign that you should be somewhere else.

 

And, I am not going to tell you where you should be and what community you should join. Yes, I am active on a number of social media apps. It isn’t hard to find me. I am not hiding. But I am not going to recruit you to my groups. There are general chameleon groups and groups that are species specific. Search through the social media app of your choice and try out a number of groups. Each group will take on the personality of their leadership. And you will click with some and not with others. It is okay. Just drop the ones you don’t like. You may love my podcasts, but hate my group management style. I have a very tight walled garden type philosophy. Play nice and don’t start fights or you don’t get to come back.  Other groups enjoy the freedom of an unmoderated wild west where anyone can say anything and Saturday night’s alright for fighting. Maybe that is more your style. Just like in real life, you find your niche.

Now, I know you are thinking I am talking about Facebook here and I mostly am. But I’d like you to consider a third generation community. And this is my personal scale here. In the early 90s we had a print magazine that created community, the Chameleon Information Network. That is what I call the first global community because it was the first time we chameleon people had something that reached on a global scale. The second generation community was late 90s and nearly 2000s where we had email listserves like yahoo groups and we quickly morphed into the third generation which were forums. And there is still a forum that is highly active. The advantage of joining a group that has been around since 2003 is that you have a highly mature group that has a strong structure. It has already gone through all the political drama and is stable. The leadership team ensures a productive atmosphere. And it is an entire website dedicated to chameleon care with almost two decades of chameleon experience there for the researching. There is no membership limit. You can be part of more than one community. Include www.chameleonforums.comin your community circle.  

 

And before I leave the discussion about social media. I am going to go over a little bit of etiquette that may help your introduction to be a bit smoother.

• Social media is all about real people answering questions in real time, but people get tired of answering the same question over and over. To get the most response, do a search for your question and read up on the responses in the past. You not only will probably get your question answered, you may have another more advanced question that will pique the interest of some of the more advanced keepers. The search function is an excellent tool! It also doesn’t hurt to see what educational files are posted to whatever group you are involved in before you go public with a question.
• Observe the group dynamic. Each group has its topics which are very important. In one group you better not have plastic plants in the cage. In another group fixing your UVB is a prerequisite to everything else. In the groups I work with you don’t disrespect glass cages. Each group has a culture. Take a little bit of time to get a feel for it and you can slide in and introduce yourself when you feel comfortable.
• Rescuing a chameleon. It isn’t a rescue if you need rescuing. If you see a chameleon in a sad state, purchase that chameleon because you feel sorry for it, and then come to social media asking how to take care of a chameleon that is not really a rescue because now you are making people in the community come to your rescue. Just don’t call it a rescue. Say you felt sorry for the chameleon and made an impulse buy. Search the files and history of the group and then asked focused question. And, for goodness sake, do not say you rescued a chameleon and then start a GoFund Me to pay for supplies and vet visits. You have changed the location of the chameleon and are now campaigning for the community to rescue both you and the chameleon.
• Take things one step at a time. Do not jump into breeding your chameleon while you are asking questions about which UVB bulb you should use. And I am going to go straight for the heart here. Breeding chameleons as a money making business is exceptionally hard. I am not saying you can’t do it, but I am saying people have wanted to do it for decades and I can probably count on one hand the people who can actually make it work and have fingers left over to flag a cab down. Yeah, I know what happens when you use a calculator to multiply clutch size by market price. But it just doesn’t work out that easy. I’ll not be your dream killer, but maybe don’t talk about it too much at the beginning.
• Taking offense. This is social media where everyone’s post is their ego. This isn’t just chameleons, of course. All of social media is like this. Ignore the off base comments or report them to the admins. And, on your side, don’t post something because it just came to your mind. Just post if you truly know the answer. You see, we moderators have to respond to something if it is incorrect. If we leave it up then people will believe it – no matter what it is or how outlandish! So, post when you know the answer.

 

Topics in transition

Now, back to the community dynamics. One thing that drives new keepers crazy is when respected members of the community say completely opposite things. Sigh…I don’t know what to say other than we are constantly pushing our knowledge of chameleon husbandry forward and we all go at different speeds. I am part of the vanguard that is aggressively pushing for our husbandry to get closer and closer to the natural state. Some of the breeders I have the most respect for are at the totally opposite end of the spectrum and will only change one parameter at a time and not make it part of their public husbandry advice to their customers until they have tested it for three years over at least two full generations. And the bulk of the community is in between in when they accept new ideas. And this is fine. The sure-thing, multi-generation tested breeder husbandry advice is perfect for new keepers. If you are adventurous, fine, join me in working on a comprehensive natural hydration routine that integrates misters, drippers, foggers, and fans! I’d love the company! And one day it will be standard beginner husbandry. But it takes time to work out all the bugs and the ways it can go wrong. Start with the boring “old” ways. They have been tested ad nauseum! That is the PERFECT place to start!

Now, there are a few debated topics that you are likely to run into. I’ll give you a brief overview and warning so when you run into two experts hotly debating an issue you can know you are witnessing the transition process. Sit back, relax, and act like a tourist. Take pictures of the frothy mouths and ten years you can look back and say you were there.

 

Here’s a few things you will hear being debated that you don’t have to worry about

1) Fogging at night. This is a relatively new one. The community standard was misting during the day. That is when they drink isn’t it? Well, yes, but when you look at the natural hydration cycle it actually includes breathing humid air at night. For the longest time we have had our hydration cycles reversed. I am part of the group of people trying to help people integrate nighttime fogging. Like everything it can be done wrong and so it isn’t like everyone should just switch over. But we need to start the process. So you will witness some people say nighttime fogging is essential and some people scoff at it. This is not really a conflict you are witnessing per se, but a standard slow transition of more people getting comfortable with how to implement the practice. As for you? Do what your mentor advises. We made daytime misting work for many many years. If that is what they are saying then so be it.

2) Vitamin D3 and Vitamin A: Supplementation is one of the big areas of mystery. The core of the issue is that vitamins D3 and A are fat soluble so you can overdose on them. But no one knows where the necessary dosage line is or the overdose line is. And it is almost definitely a balance of different vitamins in the system, but some of us are working hard to figure out where those lines are. With more and more hard data the ambiguity and the ego posturing will subside. But until then just go with what your mentor says is the way to go and listen to this podcast for the latest findings. This is another area where I am working on pushing what we know.

3) Glass vs. Screen cages. The screen cage people think chameleons have to be in screen cages or they will die. The more advanced keepers know that glass is just as much of a tool as screen is. You know what I will say…follow what your mentor says.

 

There are many minor issues that are debated. Just observe for now.

 

A Mentor

I keep saying do what your mentor tells you to do. Who are these mentors and where does one find one? A mentor can be anyone with more experience than you that will advise you. You can have more than one mentor and you can switch mentors at any time. This is not a contracted position so no notice need be given when you decide someone is your mentor and no notice need be given when you move on. How you select who you listen to depends on your personality. It takes work to research the people who are actively helping beginners so most people just start listening to whomever answers their questions. And maybe you don’t want a mentor, but intend to figure it out yourself by weighing all the choices. That is fine too. Here is the important thing. All of our husbandry is connected. Especially, the UVB light and fixture choice is tied into the supplementation schedule and cage size. And each of us has tweaked the implementation to work for us. So it is important that you get the UVB light/fixture/ supplementation/cage parameters from one place. Don’t get the UVB recommendation from person 1 and the supplementation schedule from person 2 and pick up the cage that was at the pet store.

 

And so, where do you go from here? Shop around for a chameleon community that is on your favorite social media app. Facebook has a very active community and Chameleonforums.com is excellent. Instagram and YouTube are active on individual accounts, but aren’t the best as far as a group chat. And TikTok, well, good luck there!

 

As far as further research, this podcast has a wealth of information. You can start at episode 1 and just work your way through them all. By time you get back to this point you are going to be quite proficient in chameleon husbandry concepts! If reading is your think then check out www.chameleonnews.com. That was the electronic magazine of the early 2000. The information is still good.

 

Beyond that, keep your eye open and learn from the chameleon in front of you. Learn from us humans how to listen to what they tell you, but once you know their body language, they are your greatest teacher. Welcome to the world of chameleons. It is an incredibly fascinating place.

One of the most dynamic companies in our industry is Arcadia lighting with their dedication to moving reptile technologies and research forward. And that is due to the dedication of their Head of Science and Innovation, John Courteney-Smith, MRSB. In this episode, I talk with John about his products are today and where the technology is going.

What I am about to share with you was initially meant to be an interview asking John Courteney-Smith, the Head of Science and Innovation at Arcadia reptile, what was in store for us in the coming year with regards to lighting and supplements. What ended up happening was more of a conversation about topics that we both are working on. We certainly talked about lighting technology and where it is going, but I felt that I’d like to include you in on some of our conversations about fat soluble vitamins and the consequences of cheap lighting fixtures. So there really isn’t a formal start to this talk! I am going to jump us in right about the point where John and I were talking about the danger of going cheap when setting up the electronics for our caging. He starts taking about what to look for to tell you that your fixture is shortening the life of your bulb and I knew this had to be shared. Once we talk about that I get around to the business at hand and we talk about product lines!

In Episode 119, I explore what chameleons are like as a pet. I touched on it in this latest episode, but I go into detail in Ep 119. This is a good place to start and get a full idea of what a chameleon is like as a pet.

In Episode 114, I explore how to set up a chameleon cage. In this episode you will get a very good idea as to what is required to create an effective environment for our chameleon,

In Episode 96 I take a look at the most commonly kept chameleons and compare & contrast their care so that you can make an educated decision between the species.

Pets form the pillars of many of our growing up years. Both intellectually and emotionally. I am sure most of you listening have a great swelling of warmth when you think of pets in your life. I found it interesting how controversial the research is as to whether pets make for a better childhood. It seems it is very hard to prove this, but we all know it. And I read with amusement that the researchers who did a study that showed no benefit were essentially challenging it themselves.

Tthe joy and fascination  my pets brought me as a child and still in my adult life is so basic and real that I will immediately discount any study that suggests otherwise.  If you cannot prove it with science then, fine, I am a firm believer in the supernatural. You just put those numbers back in your pocket and I will happily retire my Spock ears.  My heart grows three times whenever my shiba inu dogs greet me at the door and share the stick they discovered that afternoon. I get lost in wonder just watching my chameleon move – or not move. A tear forms in my eye every time I remember my beloved cat who would snuggle in the crook of my arm each night to go to sleep. And I could go on and on as I pull each precious memory back out to feel for a moment once more.

If you have had similar experiences and memories it certainly is understandable that you would want your children to have such a life changing experiences themselves. Our culture, at least in the US where I am based, is well immersed in what it means to have a dog or cat. So parents seem to intrinsically know the answer as to whether they should bring a cat or dog into the home. It is actually quite simple. You, as the parent say no everytime your kid asks and you prepare for the inevitable day that a puppy or kitten somehow arrives home with your child. Or your dad. We never got a cat. It was always a mutual arrangement. My dad would never buy a cat or go to the pound. We always got what I call pre-pound cats. These were strays with no home and my father would present them with cat food. They were then free to stay or go as they pleased.  The more antisocial and wild the better. My Dad was not a cuddler and his life calling was to be friends with cats that agreed. He sometimes spent months building trust with a stray. And his victory was the day they let him scratch behind their ears. And that is all he would take from the relationship. And what this illustrates is that we all have different things that pets provide to us. So the answer to whether a chameleon would be good for your child is an honest analysis of what your child needs from an interaction with a pet. In this episode I am going to share with you what kind of pet a chameleon makes and will bring on parents from two families where a chameleon was the exact right pet. In hearing them talk you can get a feel for whether you are in the same situation.

Before we jump into chameleon specifics, I just want to establish a foundational axiom. Children cannot be relied upon to take care of a pet – any pet. Yes, they can help. And the more mature they are the more they can help, but the end responsibility to make sure this living being receives the food, water, and clean living conditions it requires always must be embrace by the parent. Any animal you bring into your home is your pet. Do NOT give a chameleon, or any animal, to your child for them to take full responsibility. I’d would much rather you instill in them a deep respect and value for life rather than use that life to teach your child the consequences of being distracted by the rigors of growing up. Before we take a step closer to this being a good idea we will change the wording from getting a chameleon for your child to bringing a chameleon into the home for your child to help you care for.

Generally, the quick and simple answer to the question of kids and chameleons is no. The typical kid who is full of energy, bouncing around with limitless dog chasing energy, and the attention span of a minute or two is going to get bored of a chameleon very quickly. Chameleons spend their lives moving as little as possible and most of them view us humans with trepidation. We look suspiciously like something that might eat them. So, chameleons are not good for any child, or adult, that wants to watch things move around. When you go to the zoo and walk through the reptile section are you or your kid the ones that are tapping on the glass wanting the lizard to move? This shows an incompatibility between expectation and what a chameleon is.

A chameleon is a low energy pet. You make your chameleon happy by giving them a leafy hiding place and pretending you don’t see them. How do you feel about that? How do you think your child will feel about that? Now, it isn’t that bad. Once a chameleon gets comfortable with you, and he will recognize you and whomever cares for him, then he won’t spend his time hiding during the day and chameleons like a Panther or Veiled Chameleon will eventually get to the point where he is excited that his food bringer is approaching. But that transition to accepting you needs to be on his schedule and his schedule is almost always much slower than your schedule. Remember that story of my father and his stray cats? Someone who would happily spend months slowly building trust is the perfect type of patience in a person that would do great with chameleons. Requiring nothing from them and accepting only that which is given whenever it may or may not be given.

And this is a segue into the types of children that are perfect for having a chameleon in their home. There are children that value interactions that are much less frenzied than what a dog might bring. There are children that have tapped into fascination for the world and feel that incredible wonder. And I mean more than a passing “wow, that is neat”, but a deep tug to learn more about these modern day dragons.

Transcript of host speak (More or Less):

The major steps to creating a supplement routine that does not include vitamin D3 or vitamin A are to understand what a chameleon needs. And this is not an easy task. We hardly know what humans need, much less chameleons. So we will have to run tests and share with each other. As a refresher, vitamins D3 and A are on my hit list for removing from the supplementation because, as far as we know, they are not naturally ingested in the wild and by giving those vitamins orally we bypass the internal mechanisms that the chameleon’s body has to limit how much of those vitamins are stored. You see, D3 and A are fat soluble and if there is too much there becomes a toxic situation. We will first focus on vitamin D3 as it is quite clear how chameleons get D3 and we have the means to provide it through their natural path. Vitamin A is a mess and we will tackle that can of worms later.

Chameleons, like us, manufacture vitamin D3 by using the energy they get from a narrow band of ultraviolet wavelengths. This is started in the skin and travels through the liver and kidneys to be changed around and end up in a form that allows the body to absorb calcium from the digestive tract. It is worth understanding this internal process, but to do so would means a lot of detail that I would rather not dive into right now. The important thing for us hobbyists to understand is that by providing the correct amount of UVB, we can remove vitamin D3 from our supplementation.

Now, let me be clear about this D3 mission. Vitamin D3 has been used as a supplement safely for decades. And, as we heard on the last episode, we have established baseline amounts that we can be comfortable as being both effective and safe. So if you currently have a routine that includes D3 you do not need to panic. The purpose of removing D3 is to move our husbandry art closer to perfection. For those of you that get bored easily, do not worry, perfection in the art of chameleon husbandry is far off into the future and I am sure it will not be achieved in my lifetime. So I, at least, will not be out of a podcasting job any time soon. But moving our husbandry closer to nature will provide to us answers to questions we didn’t know to ask and it is what the chameleon developed to need. We can either spend our efforts figuring out what a safe and effective diet of D3 is for each species or else we can figure out a safe and effective level of UVB and let the chameleon do what they naturally do. At least as close as is possible with our attempts to mimic nature.

So, this episode is about figuring out UVB levels. Once we get our UVB levels in the effective range we can do away with D3 in our supplement. To start this exploration we need to understand a couple of concepts about UVB.

The first is that safe and effective levels are two different things. The minimum effective level is the minimum levels that will energize the skin to carry out the D3 conversion process. The maximum safe level is the level you can provide without bringing on the detrimental effects of UVB. Let’s be clear. UVB will kill your chameleon. You know this as sunburns. UVB is that strange thing where there is a certain window in which it is lifegiving for the D3 process and then it becomes death-bringing as it produces burns and cancers. And so finding a balance in UVB is critical. It seems all of life is like this. You can actually kill yourself by drinking too much water. Luckily, the amount of water you have to drink to harm yourself is beyond what most of us could ever force ourselves into. UVB, though, is silent and does its damage before you are aware of it. So we have to be careful.

This is the way we will approach UVB. At UV Index 0 there is no UVB. No danger and no D3 conversion. As we increase our UV Index, this is the method by which we measure UVB, we get closer to conversion and closer to danger. The UV Index in the mornings, when chameleons tend to bask to raise their body temperature, is between 1 to 3. To put this in perspective, this is the level where the World Health Organization says it is safe for us humans to be outside with minimal sun protection. In the early afternoon to later afternoon the UV Index in the typical chameleon habitat climbs between 3-6. This is where the WHO says to start protecting yourself. Late afternoon is when you start seeing those UV Index readings that hit as high as 10 and above. This is where your skin will start burning. But somewhere in the progression, our skin started the D3 conversion and when it had enough it stopped D3 conversion. There was a stage where the UVB was unnecessary, because we had the D3 we needed, but our skin was able to defend against the UVB. And then there was the point where the defenses were breached and burning began. Chameleons are the same way. Each chameleon has a different level of defense to UVB. They will also have different requirements for UVB. This is why we need people dedicated to observing a species over many generations and testing different methods out to learn about that one species. We chameleon people have the situation where chameleons come from all elevations, a wide range of environments, and different places within those environments. We must be cautious when we give chameleon husbandry advice. We need to be giving species husbandry advice with only those that we know.

In an upcoming episode I am going to go deeply into execution of UVB on chameleon cages. In today’s episode I wanted to explore the needs of montane chameleons for UVB. Montane chameleons are much more sensitive to our supplements and develop edema and other nutritionally related health issues with a supplementation routine that a panther chameleon would be fine in. So the montanes, of which Jackson’s Chameleons are members of, are a great group of chameleons to work with to unlock these secrets.