Run, do not walk, away from this place!! I wish that my family had seen some of the reviews on Great Lakes Reptiles!! One star is too good for them!!
They purchased a male panther chameleon for me, from Great Lakes Reptiles last week. The lady claimed that he was 1.5 years old & had been eating roaches and crickets just fine. But said that he would be a little stressed from the move. Well after a few sleepless nights with the chameleon & a trip to the vet, we found out that the chameleon had been starved for so long that he was lacking the muscles in his legs. In fact he only weighed 30 grams. I’m told that an adult male panther chameleon should weigh between 120-140 grams. Anyone that has owned a reptile (or any animal) knows that in the span of a few days, they do not lose 2/3+ of their body weight! I’m going to include a picture so everyone can see that he was clearly starved for a great deal of time. The vet also said that it appeared there was an infection in his mouth. We had to give him antibiotics & force feed him because he was too weak to eat on his own.
When I called to let them how sick & starved he was, I was told that there was no guarantee on “the animal.” That if we thought he looked sick, we shouldn’t have bought him. This being the first time my family had purchased a chameleon, they didn’t know he was sick. He was all puffed up due to stress, something I have since learned they will do. So his ribs were not visible. However the pictures that I took of him clear show that not only was he starved, but also dehydrated!!
Sadly he passed away in less than a week from when he was purchased.
This place needs to be shut down. There is no excuse for this level of neglect!
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