BACK STORY:
Hey guys,
I've owned a male Jackson Chameleon for approx. 6 months, and we believe he was about 6-7 months when we purchased him. That puts him a little over a year old I believe.
Today we just purchased a female Jackson and -- quick question -- can anybody give me a ballpark estimate of how old she is? (You can see her in photo#1) Do you believe that she is ready for breeding? She was the biggest one available at our store, and the lady seemed to think she was old enough...
INTRODUCTION:
So today as soon as we got home we pulled the male out of his cage and put the female inside while he was out an about. We figured that if we pulled him out, moved a few things around inside, and put her inside when he WASN'T IN there...that it might prevent him from being as territorial. We put her near the top of the cage where she remained.
So what happened when we put him inside? We put him at the bottom in order to see how he would react....he IMMEDIATELY climbed up - and with a purpose - to the top of the cage right beneath her. He became bright, bright green. We figured he was staging to climb up on her.
However, the first thing he did was a little strange....he opened his mouth about halfway and just stared at her from right beneath her. Her first reaction upon him getting close was turning darker colors and rocking back an forth. (We were told to expect this upon first meeting as it is declaring territory)
But after these first maybe...20 seconds of this behavior they both completely chilled out??? Her color returned back to normal, and the male had closed up his mouth and just stared at her.
If you look at Photo #2, this was taken after they relaxed (about 1-2 min. later) They both ended up closing their eyes and going to sleep in these exact positions in this picture and haven't moved since. We thought it was cute...but I know this is abnormal and in general - putting more than one in a cage is not advised at all...but it would certainly be more convenient. Based on these first interactions...were not sure what to think?
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Now one thing to bear in mind - our male Jackson is no ordinary Chameleon. He enjoys being handled by humans, is very comfortable, and has never hissed, bitten, or otherwise done anything to give us the notion he is really pissed off. Of course on rare occasions he changes his color but other than that - nothing. The only thing we find him doing on occasion is this mouth-opening thing...but when he does it is completely RANDOM. We have never been able to directly associate the behavior with any one thing.
Also - the female seems to be JUST like him. Absolutely no anger out of her besides one occasion where she turned dark for approx. 1-2 min. the first time of handling. After that shes relaxed and seems to be completely chill...rests on you, relaxes, etc. - just like the male.
It appears that they're both just very relaxed and non-aggressive chams...could this be an advantage to actually having them live together?
QUESTIONS:
- With that all in mind, what do you think? Is this an experiment worth continuing? I've read contradictory information - and the employee at the pet store said that since their chams (our chams) are in a huge cage with like dozens of others since they're born all the way up till they're purchased (usually around 6 months old it looks like) and that they're used to it and it should be O.K.? Keep in mind - they are in very close quarters...within inches, or 1 ft apart at the most. They're used to this type of environment. I know of the trade offs though - stress, competition for food, basking spots, etc...but if their personalities are so chill, and I have a really good setup (could adjust it to accomodate them?, e.g. arranging vegetation in the middle and all the sticks/limbs on each side?) - if I have such a setup could I try this out?
- Our cage is a Medium Reptibreeze. Its been seemingly MORE than enough for our male...IF we chose to keep these two together and see how it goes, is this of sufficient size?? Please view Photo #3 for a visual.
- Is there enough vegetation inside to prevent them from seeing each other/allowing them to be more comfortable?
- I'd like to take this opportunity to ask for any other comments on the setup? - light fixtures, etc.? The UVB light is the one you see directly on top of the cage (its such low watts that its never been an issue being that close), and you can see the 100 watt heat lamp clamped up above the cage on the right. (Photo #4)
I would sincerely appreciate any advice you guys can give.
Aloha
Hey guys,
I've owned a male Jackson Chameleon for approx. 6 months, and we believe he was about 6-7 months when we purchased him. That puts him a little over a year old I believe.
Today we just purchased a female Jackson and -- quick question -- can anybody give me a ballpark estimate of how old she is? (You can see her in photo#1) Do you believe that she is ready for breeding? She was the biggest one available at our store, and the lady seemed to think she was old enough...
INTRODUCTION:
So today as soon as we got home we pulled the male out of his cage and put the female inside while he was out an about. We figured that if we pulled him out, moved a few things around inside, and put her inside when he WASN'T IN there...that it might prevent him from being as territorial. We put her near the top of the cage where she remained.
So what happened when we put him inside? We put him at the bottom in order to see how he would react....he IMMEDIATELY climbed up - and with a purpose - to the top of the cage right beneath her. He became bright, bright green. We figured he was staging to climb up on her.
However, the first thing he did was a little strange....he opened his mouth about halfway and just stared at her from right beneath her. Her first reaction upon him getting close was turning darker colors and rocking back an forth. (We were told to expect this upon first meeting as it is declaring territory)
But after these first maybe...20 seconds of this behavior they both completely chilled out??? Her color returned back to normal, and the male had closed up his mouth and just stared at her.
If you look at Photo #2, this was taken after they relaxed (about 1-2 min. later) They both ended up closing their eyes and going to sleep in these exact positions in this picture and haven't moved since. We thought it was cute...but I know this is abnormal and in general - putting more than one in a cage is not advised at all...but it would certainly be more convenient. Based on these first interactions...were not sure what to think?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now one thing to bear in mind - our male Jackson is no ordinary Chameleon. He enjoys being handled by humans, is very comfortable, and has never hissed, bitten, or otherwise done anything to give us the notion he is really pissed off. Of course on rare occasions he changes his color but other than that - nothing. The only thing we find him doing on occasion is this mouth-opening thing...but when he does it is completely RANDOM. We have never been able to directly associate the behavior with any one thing.
Also - the female seems to be JUST like him. Absolutely no anger out of her besides one occasion where she turned dark for approx. 1-2 min. the first time of handling. After that shes relaxed and seems to be completely chill...rests on you, relaxes, etc. - just like the male.
It appears that they're both just very relaxed and non-aggressive chams...could this be an advantage to actually having them live together?
QUESTIONS:
- With that all in mind, what do you think? Is this an experiment worth continuing? I've read contradictory information - and the employee at the pet store said that since their chams (our chams) are in a huge cage with like dozens of others since they're born all the way up till they're purchased (usually around 6 months old it looks like) and that they're used to it and it should be O.K.? Keep in mind - they are in very close quarters...within inches, or 1 ft apart at the most. They're used to this type of environment. I know of the trade offs though - stress, competition for food, basking spots, etc...but if their personalities are so chill, and I have a really good setup (could adjust it to accomodate them?, e.g. arranging vegetation in the middle and all the sticks/limbs on each side?) - if I have such a setup could I try this out?
- Our cage is a Medium Reptibreeze. Its been seemingly MORE than enough for our male...IF we chose to keep these two together and see how it goes, is this of sufficient size?? Please view Photo #3 for a visual.
- Is there enough vegetation inside to prevent them from seeing each other/allowing them to be more comfortable?
- I'd like to take this opportunity to ask for any other comments on the setup? - light fixtures, etc.? The UVB light is the one you see directly on top of the cage (its such low watts that its never been an issue being that close), and you can see the 100 watt heat lamp clamped up above the cage on the right. (Photo #4)
I would sincerely appreciate any advice you guys can give.
Aloha