Adding another cham

[chamnub]

My first chameleon, Xerxes, has been an absolute joy. He has always had a great personality especially for a veiled: he always tolerated handling far more than I expected. He's never bitten, rarely gapes and has NEVER gone on a hunger strike. He was a rescue so I don't know his age exactly but its between 7-8 years old, I know now that I got lucky with a very personable cham. I'm confident that I've provided him with a good life. Sadly, I can tell he's slowing down. I rearranged his enclosure in case of a fall as I detect a slight loosening of his grip. He is patrolling his cage much less than he did as a younger cham and his appetite is not as robust as it once was. I think these are all normal signs of aging.

I was planning on waiting until Xerxes passed on to get another cham, but now I realize he may live longer than I expect - he's done so thus far. Plus, as fall is approaching with cooler temperatures and the funny business going on with USPS and the general unreliability of Fedex/UPS I'm thinking sooner might be better than later. So that finally brings me to the question: how much do I have to worry about chams stressing if they see each other? I'd be more concerned for the new guy as opposed to Xerxes, who seems hard to agitate, but another cham could change that. I've read visual barriers are recommended but in pictures of different herp rooms here and other sources there are a lot of keepers with multiple chams/herps who don't have visual obvious visual barriers between enclosures. Besides extra feeders and additional equipment, are there any other variables I should be thinking about? I figure parasites or communicable disease shouldn't be a problem unless they come into close contact with each other, right? I know they have different care requirements, and must act accordingly. I already have a mistking as I anticipate getting an ambilobe with higher humidity requirements and I know to adjust temps lower for a younger chams.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[MissSkittles]

Parasites and disease can be transmitted if you don’t wash your hands between handling and if using the same equipment for both without sanitizing in between. Usually you want to give the new animal a quarantine period until you can have a vet check that it’s healthy and doesn’t have something like coccidia.
As for stress if they see each other...you will need a visual barrier between them. Yes, they most likely will see each other at times but you want to avoid it being a constant. Honestly, sounds like you’ve done great caring for Xerxes and know all that is needed to keep a happy healthy cham so I can’t think of anything I would need to tell you.

 

[NashansCamos]

Parasites and disease can be transmitted if you don’t wash your hands between handling and if using the same equipment for both without sanitizing in between. Usually you want to give the new animal a quarantine period until you can have a vet check that it’s healthy and doesn’t have something like coccidia.
As for stress if they see each other...you will need a visual barrier between them. Yes, they most likely will see each other at times but you want to avoid it being a constant. Honestly, sounds like you’ve done great caring for Xerxes and know all that is needed to keep a happy healthy cham so I can’t think of anything I would need to tell you.

I have 3 chams, they do sometimes see eachother but you don't have to worry if its not constant stress.

 

[chamnub]

Honestly, sounds like you’ve done great caring for Xerxes and know all that is needed to keep a happy healthy cham so I can’t think of anything I would need to tell you.

Thank you! It hasn't been perfect, my biggest mistake was having the heat lamp directly on top like I saw so many others doing and he lost some spikes but I intervened quickly enough that it didn't turn to a full on burn with the skin literally peeling off. I attached a couple shots of my old guy for the forum! Thankfully he long outlived the fedora trend

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Parasites and disease can be transmitted if you don’t wash your hands between handling and if using the same equipment for both without sanitizing in between. Usually you want to give the new animal a quarantine period until you can have a vet check that it’s healthy and doesn’t have something like coccidia.

As for stress if they see each other...you will need a visual barrier between them. Yes, they most likely will see each other at times but you want to avoid it being a constant. Honestly, sounds like you’ve done great caring for Xerxes and know all that is needed to keep a happy healthy cham so I can’t think of anything I would need to tell you.

+1 ^^^ What she said. ^^^