Chamaeleo Hoehnelii info please

suzanne

New Member
does anyone know of any info on keeping of this species there does not seem to be hardly anything written about them just the odd pic here and there

wanted to know if can be kept in a group? temps? cage requirements and size and breeding

thanks for your help

suzanne
 
There isn't much information out there on them. I haven't kept them so I'm of no help to you.

There is some information on caging and temps here as well...
"some authorities have kept them in pairs or 1.2 groups but only within very large enclosures; pregnant females should be kept alone."
http://adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chhoehnelii.html

Hope someone else can give you more info.
 
There are several forms of this widespread species. If you are considering buying, do you know where they are from? I bought my first pair of Ho's a couple months ago and they are from the Nairobi area. Doing some quick research I found that Nairobi is a little above 5000 feet in elevation. Nearby Mt. Kenya, where these also occur, rises well above this. The average nightime temps in Nairobi are in the low 50's every month of the year. It is believed that the species really requires a huge temp drop at night to do well. Since they come from much higher elevations than Nairobi, this species can handle very low nightime temps and I have kept them outside here into the mid-40's with no problems so long as they can warm up and bask the next day. I've heard of reports of this chameleon being seen out walking and hunting in the wild on snow covered branches. The lowland forms such as what come out of Uganda would probably not need such an extreme temp drop at night.
For caging, they don't seem very agressive but I still wouldn't keep a male of any species with a female. I would think a group of females together in a large cage would be fine, though. My male is in a 3 foot tall and 2 X 2 cage. The female is in a 30" X 18" X 18" cage. Both cages are very well planted. Like most chameleons, they have a high water requirement so I rain on the cages every day and run a drip a couple times too. They are live bearers and are probably very similar to jackson's in breeding and neo care, although I haven't personally gotten that far with them yet.

male ho.jpg
 
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Petr Necas has an excellent discussion of this species. Every serious cham person should have a ciopy of his book:

Necas, P. 2004. Chameleons: Nature's Hidden Jewels. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, FL.

It's not cheap but it's well worth the price.

Day time temps should be in the 70s or 80s althougfh I've had them outdoors when it was in the 90s. But they must be meavily misted with an automatic system at those temps. In the wild they can tolerate night time temps down to freezing but I bring them inside when it gets below 50 F.

They are very sensitive to hypervitaminosis and dehydration and develop a massive gular edema with some frequency although I have one male who has lived quite happily with such edema for a couple of years. There are very few sources of CB hoes and the imports almost always have heavy parasite loads. they are not a beginner's cham.

They should NOT be kept in anything except single cages with the usual visual isolation unless you can offer a heavily planted room-size cage.

Breeding is not difficult. they ar, of course, ovoviviparous. The hard part is raising the babies. In general the requirements are similar to those for C. jj. xantholophus babies. See the baby care article at
http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/babycare.html

So basically, they are kept like xants but with somewhat cooler temps and more misting. The night time drop is VERY important as is the visual isolation from both humans & conspecifics.

as luck would have it, I'm awaiting a a new pair of hoes at this very moment. They're rescues from a friend who is over-burdened at the moment.

Ed

Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/epollak/home.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist...... in approximate order of importance.



does anyone know of any info on keeping of this species there does not seem to be hardly anything written about them just the odd pic here and there

wanted to know if can be kept in a group? temps? cage requirements and size and breeding

thanks for your help

suzanne
 
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I have a question on this species. I know all the requirements and such and have housing set up with misting system, lighting etc. But, it is summer here and there is not always such a drastic drop in temperature at night. Are there any ways of attaining this, other than simply turning up my A.C.? A small fan maybe? Or as long as there is some sort of drop will they not be as bothered? Thanks
 
Any Info out There?

Came across this old thread in doing my own search about hoehnelii and thought I would add something. No there is not really anything out there in print or on the net about these guys in this country. If you read German there are alot of articles and an excellent book available from Amazon.de on them too. The Germans have done so much more serious and intense research and husbandry work than most and I find that for many unusual species of whatever they are the best source. Of course the problem is if you cannot read German, I am glad I can to be sure.
 
First Hi to you Edward! Nice to see you here!

Can you please ask what you like to know? I breeded this species for several years.

To give some answers:
When you re not experienced with a species I never advise to keep them in groups.
First learn more about how they act when stressed which colloration means what etc.
When you learn more about the species keeping in groups is very good possible.
I kept them in several size cages depending on group size and age. From 40x40x60 (CM.) to 50x60x100

Depening on the area they come from they like average day temperatures between 20 and 26 degrees celcius but under the spots they like it up to the 40's celsius.
At night I always try to go below 16 degrees celcius. In some article there is written they start feeding from 9 degrees celsius.

Steven
 
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