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Veiled ChameleonsIntroductionVeiled Chameloens, Chamaeleo calyptratus, is probably the most common chameleon on the pet market. They are among the easiest chameleon to keep and breed, are fairly large for chameleons(males can reach over 18 inches), are fairly inexpensive, and have wonderful colours(wich change like other chameleons). Theri natural range of veiled chameleons includes the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen, and Saudia Arabia. They live in the thickly vegetaded areas surrounding rivers and streams. They ussually only live a few years due to inproper keeping and stress but if cared for in uptimum conditions they can live up to ten years (males. Females live shorter life spans! Ussually only about 3 years but can live up to 5). Males can easily be distingused at a young age by the small spur on the ankel of the back legs. Males are also more colourful than females.
HousingHousing a veiled chameleon is probably the hardest thing to do because if you dont house them properly they can easily be stressed and thus shortening theor lives. It is best to house them in all screen cages to alow good ventilation but they can be housed in glass aquaria if a large screen top is used. Juveniles can be housed in a high 20 gallon up to they are about 8 inches long and then one adult can be housed in a 30 gallon aquarium but the bigger the better. They need verry thckly vegitated terariumsto insure their security and diminsh stress related problems. The average air temperature in the enclosure should be around 84-89 F in the daytime and 70-75 F at night. Its best to supply them with a hot basking spot up to about 105 F. A lot of herpetoculturists use fig trees for their herps. I do not recommend this because there have been cases of herps having eye infections from the sap and somtimes even going blind. There should be a large amount of climbing medium for the chameleon to feel secure and to proparly get around in its cage. A good size is just a bit larger than the grasp of the chameleons claws. It is also strongly recomended that you use a UV light specially made for rreptiles. The fixture should be no more than 12 inches from the basking spot.
FeedingThis is not too hard. The staple of their diet should be crickets. They will also eat meal worms, super worms, wax worms, cock roaches, and pinkie mice. The crickets should be gut loaded with a comercial gut load, fish flakes(what I use), dog food, rodent chow, or mash chicken. All food should be fed from a steep sided dish raised off the ground or can be hand fed if you take the time to train them. Veiled chameleons have the usual needs for vitamin D3 but in addition to this they(suposedly) need large amounts of vitamin A. I suply this with Herptivite(a commercial vitamin made especially for reptiles). I use this brand because it has no vitamin A but instead it contains Beta Carotein wich can be turned into vitamin A if needed and thus defeating the chances of hypervitaminosis A. Water can be suplyed in two ways. The first way to suply it is to mist the cage once or twice a day and the second way is to suply a drip system to the chameleons cage.
BreedingThis is not too difficult and probably one of the reasons they are so popular. Although both sexes can be sexually mature at the age of six months it is not reccomended because it can reduce the life span of the animal quite a bit. When the animals are ready to mate you first need to know a bit about their “language”. Allow the male and female to see aech other but not physically reach each other. The male will turn verry bright colours of ussually blue and the female will turn one of 2 colour patterns. If she turns a dark almost black colour and has small bluish os yellow spots she is not ready to mate but on the other hand, if she turns a bluish green with lighter blue dots then you can put them together to mate. The male will walk towards the famale in a swaying motion and then finnally mount and copulate. Like other lizards the male may bite the female on the nape to keep her in possition. After about 25-30 days the feamle will become restless and should be placed in a 5 gallon bucket half filled with damp sand. There they will dig a tunnel in wich to place the eggs in. Veiled chameleins lay verry large amounts of eggs (somtimes over 50). The eggs should be removed from the sand and placed in an incubater for about 170 days at about 86-88 F. Hatchlings can be fed small crickets or friut flies. They can be housed together untill they are about 4-6 inches long but the sooner they are apart the better.
Additional NotesFirst of all chameleons, including veiled, do not take well to handling. Not only do they not like it and its not verry enjoyable to the holder(they are small but still have a quite nasty bite) but you can cause stress and eventually kill the animal.© 1997, 1998 Dustin Hirschfeld |
Chameleons -Hirschfeld
