Deremensis breeding this morning.

[rshewfel]

I have been free ranging my deremensis the last couple day because I have been slowly modifying my drainage system. This morning before work I walked in on them mating. I have only had them a little over a month and was not planning on breeding them this early but I obviously did not prevent it. I have a question for you all. She is a wild caught female and therefor has more than likely already mated before. She would have became gravid anyway. How long does everyone wait to breed newly aquired chameleons? Is it wrong to breed them this early? Or should they be bred when receptive?

 

[CarlC]

I give them a few months to get totally acclimated. This means to me they should be eating and drinking regularly, have gained back the weight lost during importation, passed clean and parasite free fecals and most important that they have adjusted to cage life.

Carl

 

[rshewfel]

I give them a few months to get totally acclimated. This means to me they should be eating and drinking regularly, have gained back the weight lost during importation, passed clean and parasite free fecals and most important that they have adjusted to cage life.

Carl

It is hard to say mine are completely acclimated after less than 5 weeks but they have done better than I expected. They have gained weight nicely, they drink and will now eat whatever I offer them from my hand. They have been to the vet. I only brought in 2 stools from the 4 chameleons, but the fecals came up clean. My only health concern was this female has been on antibiotics for a wound on her tail. I will have to ask the vet if this will affect her.

I guess what I am unsure of is if I could have prevented her from becoming gravid. I have almost no experience with infertile egg and sperm retention that I know of. It is one of those things I have read about but I have never experimented with not mating a chameleon to see what happens.

These are my first chameleons in 10 years and I have plans to set up long term breeding projects this time. So can you control how often a chameleon lays eggs?

 

[CarlC]

Breeding for most species can be prevented by not providing optimal conditions. A little less food, dryer conditions, warmer or cooler temps are all contributing factors. The "weedy" species in my experience are the hardest to control. Species like pardalis and especially lateralis will breed most of the year in the wild.

In my care as an example cristatus was easily controlled. For a majority of the year they were kept similar to how I keep lateralis. Once a day hand misting and a dripper. 80ish during the day and 55-60 at night. Humidity dropped to the mid 50's during the day and up to around 70% at night. No breeding from the cristatus.

What finally lead females to become receptive was night temps were raised into the upper 60's to low 70's. Heavy mistings multiple times a day to keep the cage always very wet. Night time humidity maxed out the gauge. After about two weeks the *****iest female was sweet as pie and instead of trying to chew my hands off would walk onto them. Put the male with her and they were breeding.

A couple of weeks after laying I returned the conditions back and the girls were no longer receptive. No retained sperm clutch's were produced. I waited a few month's and returned to the wetter conditions and again the girls became receptive.

While changing up the conditions for the cristatus the lateralis were still going at it like rabbits.

Carl

 

[rshewfel]

Very interesting. Thanks for the info. I have been reading a couple past treads on deremensis. They are very interesting. What I found was they typically become receptive when the temperatures drop. The treads say the male will quit eating and mate with the female every morning for up to a month. The they female will eventually turn black and become unreceptive. I wonder if this is the reason they have such a long gestation. My chameleon room is in the seventies in the day and drops at least to the mid 60's at night. Years ago when I bred them I kept them a little hotter. I am very excited to work with them again.

I found my female this morning black and curled up in a corner. I place her in her individual cage. She is still very dark but ate several crickets. I am pretty sure this means she is indeed gravid.

Thanks again for your response.

 

[CarlC]

Good luck with them. They are a great species. Is Bill Strand still working with them?

Carl

 

[rshewfel]

Thanks. I read several treads on adcham by him but I don't think any were recent, 10+ years. So I don't know the answer.

 

[Action Jackson]

I believe Bill is still working with them. His CF name is DeremensisBlue

 

[rshewfel]

I believe Bill is still working with them. His CF name is DeremensisBlue

Oh, ok. I have also read several recent treads by DeremensisBlue, I did not know who this was. Thanks