Chameleon Care: 5 Important Points to Consider Before Purchasing a Chameleon

[zookeeperfrank]

Hi All,
Perhaps the most fantastically-bizarre of all lizards, chameleons have long been popular in private and public collections. However, the world’s 195 species, ranging in size from the 1.5 inch-long Pygmy Leaf Chameleons (Rhampholeon spp.) to the 30 inch Oustalet’s Chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti), often prove to be difficult captives. Although great strides have been made, chameleon husbandry remains challenging, if intriguing. The following points, drawn from notes taken during my years working at the Bronx Zoo, are useful to consider before embarking on a chameleon-keeping venture.

Chameleons Do Not Like Company – Human or Otherwise!

Wolverines and Tasmanian Devils are more sociable than the average chameleon! Highly territorial, both males and females will fight among themselves and with the opposite sex. Pairs may get along in large, heavily-planted enclosures, but they must be watched closely.
Chameleons abhor handling, and are best considered as animals to observe only. Don’t worry, for when properly kept, chameleons will reward you by exhibiting fascinating behaviors…but this will not be the case if you disturb them with unnecessary handling!
Read article here http://bitly.com/Z2u67t
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Thanks, Frank
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[rcarichter]

Great article, Frank!
I actually had a 10 year old girl at my table yesterday, and her mom was letting her decide between a panther chameleon and a crested gecko. (I was selling cresteds, but managed to talk her out of both).

Noelle

 

[zookeeperfrank]

Great article, Frank!
I actually had a 10 year old girl at my table yesterday, and her mom was letting her decide between a panther chameleon and a crested gecko. (I was selling cresteds, but managed to talk her out of both).

Noelle

Thanks for the note...admirable on your part; we need more of that!

Happy new year, Frank

 

[JColt]

Your a great asset to this site Frank, Thanks

 

[zookeeperfrank]

Much appreciated, Joe,

Best, Frank

 

[MedicRoby]

Thanks for the helpful information! I have always been intrigued with owning a chameleon, but I think my fallback (bearded dragon) may be a better choice since I plan to have a lot of other reptiles in the room and (hopefully) have a hand tame pet other than my cresties.

 

[zookeeperfrank]

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed, best, Frank

 

[j_dunlavy]

Chameleons Do Not Like Company – Human or Otherwise!

I just saw a link to this, interesting stuff:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/lizards-need-social-lives-too/

Lizards Need Social Lives, Too

By Mary Bates
01.10.14
10:34 AM

Social isolation, especially early in life, can be disastrous for birds and mammals. It can result in adults with increased anxiety and stress, worse performance on cognitive tests, and abnormal social behavior. Early social isolation can even have deleterious physiological effects, including a decreased lifespan.

But what about lizards? They were long-assumed to be asocial and behaviorally ‘simple.’ But more recent research has shown some lizards are devoted parents and mates that can distinguish their kin from strangers and recognize individuals. Many lizards spend the first few months of their lives in the company of their siblings or a family group, where they might learn important life lessons and skills.

To investigate the effects of early social isolation on lizards, Cissy Ballen, Richard Shine, and Mats Olsson of the University of Sydney hatched veiled chameleons in the lab and reared them either in isolation or in groups of four animals.

Not much research has been done on the social lives of wild chameleons, but hatchlings that are born around the same time are known to be briefly aggregate. It’s possible that social experiences during this period may be important for their development.

Ballen and her colleagues staged interactions between pairs of chameleons when the animals were two months old. The researchers found the two groups didn’t differ in aggression, but chameleons raised in isolation were more submissive than their siblings raised in groups. The isolation-reared chameleons tended to flee or curl into a ball during confrontations with other chameleons, and they adopted darker and less green colors than the group-reared chameleons. The researchers also tested the foraging ability of the animals, and found that group-reared chameleons seized their prey (crickets) faster than isolation-reared chameleons.

Photo: Billybizkit, via Wikimedia Commons. Distributed under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 license.

Studies like this add to an increasing appreciation of the flexibility and complexity of reptile behavior.

These chameleons are likely not unique among reptiles in their sensitivity to social conditions. In fact, chameleons have relatively simple social lives compared to reptiles like skinks, some of which give birth to live young and live in groups of close relatives. Young skinks grow up among parents, older siblings, and their litter mates. Early social isolation for these reptiles might severely impair their future social interactions.

Social isolation might also be deleterious for reptiles that use complex signals in social interactions. Many reptiles have elaborate visual or vibrational displays that they use in contests over mates and territories. A large body of research has demonstrated that songbirds raised in isolation are unable to produce or process the complex songs necessary for social success in their species. It’s currently unknown how early social experiences affect a lizard’s success in contests as an adult, or if isolation has the same socially crippling effect it has in songbirds.

These results also have implications for the fate of reptiles in captivity, which are often raised in social isolation under the assumption that social experience is not relevant for their development. If a ‘putatively asocial’ lizard (as the authors call the veiled chameleon) is affected by early social isolation, then this assumption may not hold for any reptile species. It seems that reptiles, like mammals and birds, can benefit from an early environment rich in social interaction.



Reference:

Ballen, C., Shine, R., and Olsson, M. (2014). Effects of early social isolation on the behaviour and performance of juvenile lizards, Chamaeleo calyptratus. Animal Behaviour 88: 1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.11.010.

 

[zookeeperfrank]

Thanks for the interesting info and link. We indeed have much to learn, and have uncovered many interesting and unexpected aspects of reptile behavior; particularly true in the area of social behavior...male Rosenberg's monitors assisting in nest building, communal behavior in great desert skinks (please see here: http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatr...k-families-build-communal-homes/#.UttPWLROmpo) etc. Unfortunately, little has been done re chameleons, and there are problems extrapolating from small lab studies, but hopefully the work mentioned will set the stage for future research. For pet-keeping purposes, and in zoo exhibits, we must stay with the tried and proven rules re sociability mentioned in the article. Young chameleons of several species have been raised together in both public and private collections...often works well for a time, but stress related problems, aggression etc invariably develop. best, frank