Can you believe????

Hey Lindsey, did you read about the veiled chameleon that people found walking across the road in Florida on chameleonforums.com? Wow, what a find! Not that everybody would want to find something like that but I would!



And they have named him Rango, just like your guy. I guess the movie has made them somewhat of a hit but I think its great.

Yeah i saw that! I was like "wow i want to move to florida!!" haha. He was a gorgous veiled too. Everyone is nameing their chams Rango > oh well. I probabley shoulda thought of that before i let my dad name him way back in January....way before the movie came out. Haha

That is unusual about finding a veiled wild walking around Fla. but pretty cool at the same time. It just goes to show how non-native species can thrive out of their natural element IF the area is proper to their needs. That's a LOT of the problem Fla. is having with a LOT of herps being relased into the wild. It's forcing them to envoke a lot of new TIGHT regulations of importing herps into FLa. Banning a lot of the larger snake species and exotics altogether because of it.

Also as cute as it is to see a lot of herps named (or animals in general) after movies, it is an unfortunate fact that along with the movie popularity that a LOT of unexperienced people rush out and get these herps thinking it is easy to care for, and they're usually unprepared for the total commitment that is required for them to thrive. Like when 101 Dalmatians came out with the live version, the uptake of dalmatian puppies and dogs ending up in shelters and rescues nearly TRIPLED! People thinking "oh what a cute dog" then after purchasing a pup, they realised for one reason or another that Dalmatians take a special owner that has a LOT of time and energy to expend on their dog or they can literally become aggressive terrors, not to mention all the deaf dogs... 1 in 4 dalmatians is born deaf, which can't be determined until a pup is considerable older (around 4 months old) after the nerve endings in the ears all finally die off from lack of pigment. Same thing happened with St. Bernards when the Beethoven movies came out. It's never good for the animal population when someone decides to immortalize them on film. Herps are no different with the specifications of their needs to thrive but unfortunately herp abuse is often an overlooked crime as it is a crime of ignorence moreso than a crime of neglect not to mention that your neighbor isn't likey getting attacked by your improperly cared for veiled as it could be the case with a Dal or St Bernard.

So as much as I love seing movies about all these great animals, unfortunately, being in the industry, I know the side effects these fad popularity phases bring with them.

Yeah i know. Its sad. And majority of the people who do that buy the herps from places like petsmart or petco. And those places generally have the wrong setup for their animals. I bought my cham at petsmart and they tried to sell me a glass exo terra cage with it and dint even mention supplements. Alot of people think that if you work at a pet store then you automatically know all about every animal the store sells and it's specific needs. And many of them know nothing.

Kermit wrote:Like when 101 Dalmatians came out with the live version, the uptake of dalmatian puppies and dogs ending up in shelters and rescues nearly TRIPLED!... 1 in 4 dalmatians is born deaf

Really? The owners of those 101 dalmations got REALLY lucky then.

But in all serious-ness thats frightening statistic for such a sought after dog, and much loved dog breed.

The 101-Dalmatians is one of my favourites & those pups are sooooo cute! We have a 5 year old female dalmatian and she is an absolute nut. Going off the topic a little I know, so will post some pics of her in other pets section rather than here.