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Four things: 1) If you've already started breeding crickets, great. Already having started vs. starting in the near future doesn't change my advice one iota. 2) I didn't tell you either that you should or should not attempt breeding, I gave you a few bits of advice to help you if you...

Agreed, rubbermaid style plastic totes are about the cheapest option, and are very functional. If you're seriously intending to breed chameleons, perhaps the most important thing you must do is first get very good at breeding crickets. After at least 6 months or so of reliable production you...

If it's a Veiled (i.e., the male listed in your sig.) I wouldn't be at all concerned with those sorts of nighttime temps. This species lives in a huge variety of habitats in their native Yemen, including those near sea level where nighttime temperatures may be relatively warm, as you're...

Agreed, you want to moisten the substrate (as I said), not the eggs themselves.

My suspicion is that conditions are a bit too dry. The only time I've observed something that looked somewhat like this was several years ago, when I was breeding Veiled. I had a large container housing a clutch of eggs (~50 or so) that hatched over a period of a few weeks. Normally the...

For the very basics of what you'd need to adequately house a chameleon you'd need to budget thus: Cage: $60-80 to start for a young animal, plus $100-150 a few months later to upgrade to a larger cage as the animal grows. UV bulb: $20-50 UV bulb fixture: $20-50 Basking lamp and...

In general, there are two major reasons a chameleon displays dark colors: 1) it is too cool and is trying to warm up, or 2) it is stressed out/frightened of something. Given its hiding behavior, it sounds like something might be frightening it. Are there any other animals in view? I'd observe...

On the suggestion of no basking bulb at all, how is it that the opportunity to thermoregulate is important for older/adult chameleons, but not for young ones?

I'm an oceanographer by trade, and work primarily with coral reef organisms. I'm interested in herpetology as well (if I hadn't gone into oceanography, I would have gone into herpetology), but am certainly no expert. Floral communities of the Arabian peninsula is way, way outside of my area of...

One of the major ways that many organisms lose water to the environment, and in fact THE major mechanism that water is lost for many reptiles, is through breathing. Respiratory surfaces have to be moist in order to function properly, and the air that land vertebrates exhale has very high...

It depends on cricket size, for sure. For a healthy adult female (say 1+ yrs) on the order of 25 adult crickets over a week (e.g., 5 crickets/day x 5 days/week) sounds about right, but it really depends. This is one of those many areas where observation is critical: if the animal is thin...

Two things: 1) this is such a stretch of logic I'm not sure I can even follow it, and I'm Jewish; 2) seriously, has no one heard of Godwin's Law? ;)

The crosses you're talking about are all the same species (Furcifer pardalis), though at least some of these populations might be on their way toward speciation. As for desirability of crossing Panthers from different locales, and the feasibility of avoiding it, a lot has already been written...

I hand-mist my animals, so we're in slightly different situations. However, I mist my animals until I get a drinking response, or until it is clear they are not going to drink (usually 1-2 min of misting). If they are thirsty and actively drinking, I mist them until they stop drinking, then...

That animal is in very poor condition, no doubt about it, but the caging right now is not likely the source of the problem. Meller's and many chameleons often arrive in very poor condition when wild collected (especially relatively cheap ones). Chameleons in particular are usually severely...

No one has a clue why we see the geographic pattern of male F. pardalis colors that we see. They colors may be adaptive, or they may not be. If they are adaptive, there are huge number of possible mechanisms that might explain how, including sexual selection. If they are not adaptive they could...

Yes, there is most definitely such a thing as too much UV exposure. Would using two bulbs instead of one lead to excessive UV exposure? Based on measurments folks have gotten from these bulbs, these bulbs through screen, etc. I doubt it, but I don't think the animal would necessarily benefit...

Agreed with the above. Misting the cage and chameleon for 1+ minutes with a handsprayer usually elicits a drinking response (if the chameleon wants to drink, of course) and I'd mist daily. Also, maintaining moderate to high humidity (50%+) is a very important and often neglected aspect of...

Importation of Jackson's chameleons or most other reptiles has been illegal for decades. Exports of Jackson's from Hawaii has varied from essentially unobstructed to completely banned. Right now a person is allowed to take up to four animals out of the state (to the mainland) one time only...

Jackson's chameleons and some species of turtle/tortoise can be legally kept (I'm not sure if the law is clear on introduced anoles or certain nocturnal geckos), but everything else is exceedingly illegal. Panther and all other chameleon species cannot be imported, and if people are found with...