CB Chameleon Life Expectancy... Whats your experience?

[RenVet]

Chameleon Life Expectancy:

This question is mainly directed at those long term chameleon keepers with sound husbandry practices (no stories of young animals with MBDz, URI, etc), that have been through a few generations with these guys. Mainly interested in hearing about CB, with good husbandry as opposed to WC animals and poor husbandry practices. But anyone feel free to chip in with an anecdote. I haven't researched any studies out there, I'm sure there are a few, but I respect the knowledge and experience of this forum highly, and would like to hear some of the 'non-published' data on the issue. Who knows, maybe I'll get enough data from here to be able to put together a small paper!?!

I'd like to hear about all different mainstream species, and others, if you have the experience.

Hopefully we get a good discussion going here. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Dr Ren (Vet)

 

[sdheli420]

well i can say that my mother had a quadricornis male, that she said she got as a baby (from one of her friends, he was a pretty good breeder)..but he lived to be just a lil over 6 years old..i have personally had a large male jacksons (the largest one ive ever seen, he was the size of a big veiled..very rare these days)..but i kept him in an outside cage year round (i had a double-wide trailer with a screened in porch, he and his five females, loved it)and he lived till he was 7( keep in mind this is with just me..he was originally wc..at least i was told..and he had alot of battle wounds)but figured he was maybe 6 months old when i got him....just food for thought

i also did hear of a female chameleo chameleon ( a common cham) living 9 years!!..almost a freaggin dog!! ( but imo, waaaaaaay better)

 

[RenVet]

Im a big fan of Jacksonii! Still some of the best natured chams I have met--Thanks for sharing!

 

[bighutch917]

I think environment plays a huge factor as well. Last year, I purchased a couple of INCREDIBLE quads and both perished within 4-5 months. I believe the dry/hot environment here in Texas led to their demise. Even when I moved them indoors, I saw little improvement. They both had a difficult time acclimating. I was very disappointed to say the least .

 

[pssh]

CB male veiled: about 7 years give or take a month.

 

[jaglon53]

Cb veiled male 6yrs cb female 5 years cb panther male ambanja 6yrs and going.

 

[Syn]

I'm unsure whether or not people will be posting the low numbers for fear of being asked, "Why?" You may want to consider that if you decide to input this information into anything.

I haven't been keeping (non-rehab) chameleons long enough to have any valuable information, unfortunately. Now if you wanted to know about rehabs... I'd have a list.

 

[laurie]

I have changed directions away form panthers to montanes. I do have one panther left who was 7 years old on 2/5. He came from LLL reptile, but I was told he was c/b. I have had a veiled live to about 5 years, but he is gone. My sister had a male veiled live 11 years. We have no idea if he was w/c or c/b.
She also had a pair on jackson live about 6 years. She c/b them herself. Sorry but I have not had montanes long enough to report anything, except I love them.

 

[chams1]

Same as Laurie, despite many people in the Chicagoland area wanting panthers (and thus I have no reason to stop working with them...), I have been drifting away from keeping/breeding panthers and focusing on other things, however my oldest panther just passed away this fall and he was 8. My oldest female panther that I had was 5. I've had a couple of my melleri for a few years, however, they were WC so there is no exact age on them and the CB ones aren't that old yet.

 

[kinyonga]

Most of my veiled females live to be at least 6 and some of them even 7+...the males live at least 8 years as a rule.

When I had C. chamaeleons, even the WC's I started off with lived here for about 5 years (and that was a long time ago when I didn't have much experience)...the hatchlings I raised from the eggs I hatched almost all lived to 6 years of age...both males and females.

Kinyongia multis and vosseleri, Ch. quadricorunus, Ch. Senegalensis, panthers...all WC's have often lived with me for over 5 years....both male and female.