Want to create a habitat for veiled chameleon

Want to create a habitat for veiled chameleon

Postby Desai » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:14 pm

Howzit guys

Does anyone have any idea where I can find specific info for the natural habitat for veiled chameleons( Chamaeleo calyptratus ). Info such as what type of soil, percentage soil cover, species of plants found etc. would be great. Is it advisable to place our indigenous Acacia spp. in its terrarium? I know they posess thorns but just want to know cos I tink it would look cool
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Postby Iggy » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:40 am

I wouldn't recommend anything thorny...there is lots of info on the net, also a book "chameleons Care and Breeding is available. Veileds are very hardy, tolerate quite a wide temperature range,but need vegetation that they can eat as they are one of the few chameleons that includes vegetation (relatively high percentage) in their diet so make sure you don't use any toxic plants. Ficus Benjamina is usually recommended as well as pothos and hen and chickens...the more vegetation you can plant the better, with high humidity. If you search on this site you will find info on bio-active substrates which work well for these guys. They do not drink standing water, we have a waterfall which ours drink from readily, but some will only drink droplets. Ignore advice to use an ice-cube on top of the mesh, it seldom works!!! if you don't go for the waterfall (I would try it first, its easiest if you can get them drinking!) you will need to either manually mist or set up a regular misting system...a manual mist isnt just a quick squirt, it needs to be prolonged for a couple of minutes in many cases to get a drinking response. Very important is excellent ventilation, your cage should be mainly mesh as they are very prone to respiratory illnesses caused by lack of air circulation so the trick is to get humidity with ventilation! hope that helps...
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Postby Iggy » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:42 am

oh and they need quite a large enclosure...we keep two in one enclosure (breeding pair) but usually is advisable to keep even male and female separate of give them an enormous amount of space as they stress one another out...ours is big but still not ideal, best is to keep them separate when possible.
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Postby Desai » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:02 am

Thanks for the info Iggy. I am getting my brown basilisks a waterfall so I'l get one for my veiled. I mist twice a day and the tank contains both live and plastic plants. Unfortunately I did use the suggestion of ice :oops:

I am going to get it an exo-terra flexarium (I keep my basilisks in them and they feel safer. maintenance is also easier than other cages). Did yours eventually get used to you. Not about handling but just tolerating your presence. My one feeds in front of me but she is so scared that as soon as she eats to her full she runs away from me :(

I dont mind not holding her, just want to view her nicely
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Postby Iggy » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:53 am

don't stress about the ice thing, we tried it too, and couldn't figure out why they weren't drinking till we did a bit more investigation! Yes ours have got used to us nicely, they sit and stare at us while we stare at them mostly, and while they don't exactly come running to us they are quite relaxed about being picked up and moved to their outdoor enclosure regularly...the male nipped me once which was when I was trying to get him OUT of the outside one (which is a real jungle) to come back inside, so I guess he prefers being outside!
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Postby chamman » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:39 pm

where do i get a auto misting system i will set my own timer
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Re: Want to create a habitat for veiled chameleon

Postby damiensharjah » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:20 pm

Desai wrote:Howzit guys

Does anyone have any idea where I can find specific info for the natural habitat for veiled chameleons( Chamaeleo calyptratus ). Info such as what type of soil, percentage soil cover, species of plants found etc. would be great. Is it advisable to place our indigenous Acacia spp. in its terrarium? I know they posess thorns but just want to know cos I tink it would look cool


I'll post some pics later this evening from Northern Yemen.
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Postby damiensharjah » Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:22 pm

Image

Image

Image

Image

These are a few habitat shots of actual localities where I found veiled chameleons. I'm afraid they are not very graphic for your needs.

Image

This is a young male collected on the old fig tree above.

The habitat is very remeniscent of the Limpopo escarpment in places, with low growing Acacia and outcrops containing stands of Aloe and Uphorbia. There's lot's of grassland and Koppies with thick stands of Tamarisk, ficus, wild dates, nut trees and others. We saw the most on roadside verges in Acacia tortilis (same species that occurs in SA), and Ziziphus sp. The area tat we were working in has two rainy seasons - One throughout the winter(intermittent drizzle mostly), and a second peripheral monsoon in the spring. The UV factor is very high as it is above 2500m, and it's deadly cold in the winter.

They are also commonly found in gardens and coffee plantations, as well as Qat (Cather edulus) plantations. This is a particulary worthwhile tree to grow if you are a student and is the primary cashcrop in Yemen. Chew a bunch of leaves for a few hours and you'll be awake till the next day with no side-effects and will remember ANYTHING you read that night (and it's indigenous to SA) :) .

I had about 40 little obscure geckos that I had to key, and boy are these keys boring. I had to look at scale patterns on the geckos' feet and heads, some of which were the size of matchsticks. It ended up being great fun and I even just read the other keys because it suddenly became really interesting!!:-P
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chameleon habitats

Postby farhaad » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:46 pm

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Postby Desai » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:54 am

:shock: :shock: :shock:
I want to go there! Thanks so much for the pictures. They are tops! Are the ficus and tamarisk indigenous to the area or have they been introduced.

With the way my lab work is going I wish I could key out geckos. Btw I have a in my parents yard Catha edulis.
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Postby DmD » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:46 am

Hi everyone

Just thinking od doing a veiled setup. What should I accessories should I put in it.

Thanks David
JUST DO IT
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Re: Want to create a habitat for veiled chameleon

Postby storm.W » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:22 am

Hey damien I stay in durbs and i was wondering if you could orgnise me two ??? im willing to pay and trade ...
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Re: Want to create a habitat for veiled chameleon

Postby froot » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:40 am

Aargh! Off to to the restricted group you go.

Keep all personal requests to private messages and general requests for animals in our trading post.
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Re: Want to create a habitat for veiled chameleon

Postby Budda » Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:08 pm

Not bad at all a whole two posts and the rest is history....
Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
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