Breeding behavior?

critterguy

New Member
What sort of behavior is observed in this species in breeding?

I'm pretty sure I have 1.2 R. brevicaudatus. I have observed the following.

A couple times the male would change to like yellow and chase one of the females-sometimes managing to crawl ontop of female. Said female has been avoiding the male. Seems pretty aggressive not sure if this is normal. Another female he has mostly ignored.

A couple times I've observed him blown up like a balloon, or displaying his throat pouch.
 
I recently got a couple of brevi's too (my first couple of this species), my male is very colored and tried to chase the female too, the female reacted pretty aggressive and she used her foot to punch him away, I think myself that maybe the female is already pregnant (maybe from another male) and in that period of 30 days until she will lay eggs, she don't want another male.

Ofcourse I don't have much experience with them so I could be wrong what i'm saying, I hope an expert can give a better answer to both of us.
 
While I am new at chameleons and my brevs are my first, I have seen them mate on a few occasions. When I only had one of each, I would see the male do as you have seen. After the male stood on top of the female a couple times, they both retreated to separate sides of their habitat for a couple weeks. Then the male visited the female and sort of looked like he was stalking her. Then all of a sudden they both ran toward each other and did their thing. It lasted all of 10 minutes or less. Then they separated again for 9 days and then they did it again. Now I have 2.4 in the habitat and I have seen both the males put the moves on the females but no mating has occured with the newest females yet. The first one is appearing a little plump to me today which is almost a month after the first mating so maybe some eggs are due soon.
 
Nice to hear someone others experience too.
By the way how big is your viv? since I read that it is not recommended to keep 2 males in the same enclosure.
 
my vivarium

It's a 55 gallon long aquarium with cool mist humidifier and 2.0 uvb linear lamp.

I did see the smaller male try to start a fight this morning.....it was actually quite comical but I stopped it and moved the little guy to the other side of his habitat. He was gaping and jumping at him and swaying...actually tried to bite but the bigger one just started moving away before I separated them. If it continues, I will divide the tank.
 
Thats pretty big, I have a 50 gallon long viv with a couple in it but I will increase the females in the future.

You got real plants in it? maybe it is good to have a big plant on the left and one on the right so the males can make a territory, but ofcourse if they continue to fight then you should separate them.

My male was like stalking my female until he was around 1 inch close and then the female walked away :( a shame they won't do their thing but I still got them for a couple of days so no hurry.
 
plants

All I have are live plants and pretty much planted like you mentioned with a big one on each end. The smaller male still goes looking for the other one. Had to seperate them again this morning. They weren't fighting but looked like they were going to so I moved the little guy again. Looks like I will need to divide the tank.
 
Ah that sucks, I always have a 20 gallon viv free for situations like this, you will house him alone? or you put 1 female with him or something.

By the way your females already laid eggs? my terrarium is also pretty big so it is almost impossible to search for eggs, I also don't even know if the female is gravid or not.
 
I will keep at least one female with him. I haven't seen any females digging yet so pretty sure no eggs have been laid. And my females don't look very big yet although one of them looks a little plump. I just have to keep an eye on them. I also have one female that I think is dying from old age and stress. She is a bit bigger than the rest of them and hasn't eaten or drank any water for at least 8 days or so. She just picks a spot and stays there with her eyes closed all day. I have tried to get her drink and eat but she isn't interested. All the others will eat out of a small dish if I hold it in front of them so they are getting acclimated to my hands being around them....which isn't very often. I mostly just let them hunt on their own.

Well if you and/or I get any eggs out this, we should swap some babies to spread out the gene pool and try to get more CB out there.
 
digging

I think they dig test holes like their bigger cousins. I expect one of mine will be starting to dig in the next week to two weeks. I just hope I can find the spot so I can remove the eggs.
 
I saw a fresh shipment at lll which included sone large females...perhaps gravid. Unless their is a lot of size variation mine are still quite young.

I've noticed different personalities in mine...one female is more sedentary and careful than the other...unless food is involved she is always doing the funny feinting steps chams are famous for. Other female does not show this. They also vary a ton in head shape, ornamentation, and pattern
 
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