Breeding Archives - Chameleon Academy

21AugAugust 21, 2020

Ep 157: Trioceros ellioti with Michael Nash

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Trioceros ellioti is a small chameleon from Eastern Africa that is a livebearing species with the typical care requirements of montane chameleons. It is a charming species where the males and females are equally desirable as far as color and shape. Ease of husbandry and hardiness of this species make it a prime candidate for establishing in captivity. Today, Michael Nash comes on and shares his insight into breeding this species. It is hoped that this will help increase the number of breeders working with T. ellioti and raise awareness for this species.

If you would like to contact Michael about obtaining some of the babies he produces you may contact him at nashchams@gmail.com .

To learn more about Trioceros ellioti and its husbandry please visit the Chameleon Academy Husbandry guide which was based upon the experience of Michael Nash. You can find it here: Trioceros ellioti Husbandry Guide

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By adminBreeders, Breeding, Husbandry, Personalities, Podcast Episode, species0 Comments

April 6: Female Veiled Chameleon Feeding

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We are making progress in our drive to determine the feeding schedule and husbandry to maintain healthy female veiled chameleons through their lives - especially including egg laying. By controlling their diet and conditions we can reign in their body's enthusiasm for making eggs. By providing greater than ideal conditions their body creates more eggs than are healthy. Today I share progress made by Mari Joki from Finland.

Mari's Recipe

The following are the care conditions that Mari Joki used to produce a reasonable size clutch of Veiled Chameleon eggs. This is still at the point where we need more people to use this information to replicate the results. Please contact me at bill@chameleonacademy.com if you try this recipe out or if you have one of your own that has been successful.

Mari Joki Husbandry Recipe

Ambient Daytime Temperatures: 22-24 C

Basking Temperatures: 28-30 C

Nighttime Temperatures: 15-16 C

Hydration: Night time fogging

UV Index at Basking: UVI 3

Supplementation: Arcadia Earth Pro A and pollen with every feeding

Feeding Schedule:

0-3 Months: Ad Libitum

3 Months* forward: 2 feeders every other day

Females 4 weeks before mating until egg laying: 4 feeders every other day

*Note that babies graduate to the reduced diet when they are well started as per breeder's judgement. This is, on average, three months. But babies are evaluated individually.

This schedule is the baseline. Each individual is monitored to ensure they are slowly gaining weight as is appropriate. If they are too skinny or losing weight then their intake is increased.

Laying Bin: 10cm deep; 4 inches deep

Diet: BSFs, silkworms and moths, crickets and banana roaches, a superworm every now and then.

It is important that we continue this work for the sakes of our female veiled chameleons. MBD is, arguably, the biggest killer of veiled chameleons. Next in line would be egg laying complications. And these complications are, overwhelmingly, due to inadequate husbandry. If you would like to join in figuring this out please share how you got a clutch in the 20s or 30s.

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By adminBiology, Breeding, Chamaeleo calyptratus, Husbandry, Podcast Episode, Veiled Chameleon0 Comments

Ep 53: Keeping Chameleons in Glass Cages

Summary: Welcome back to season 2 of the Chameleon Academy Podcast! We are going to kick off the new season with an episode about keeping chameleons in glass terrariums. Glass has gotten an undeserving black mark in the chameleon community. Dr. Chris Anderson keeps chameleons in glass terrariums exclusively in both his lab and personal collection. He comes on and tells us how to determine if a glass terrarium is right for your conditions and, if so, how to go about setting up a chameleon enclosure which retains both heat and humidity.

You can listen here:

To start off, here are some reference articles about keeping chameleons in glass terrariums.

Dr. Chris Anderson:

For everyone who knows you can't keep chameleons in glass

Frank Payne:

Keeping Chameleons in Glass Enclosures

Chameleonnews.com:

Up North Caging

Dragon Strand:

Screen vs. Solid Side Cages

If you are interested in the glass cages themselves, here are a couple of the larger ones that can accommodate a standard sized chameleon.

Zoo-Med 36″ tall Skyscraper Terrarium