Furcifer Verrucosus Simple Caresheet

Chase

Chameleon Enthusiast
Hello all!
I've finally gotten to finish this caresheet. I've used my notes to construct it, so for those of you who keep them, or did once keep them and would like to give suggestions, please do so. Like I said in the care sheet, this species is very underrated and I personally love this species. So here it is; I will also have it in my blog.




Verrucosus Chameleon (Furcifer Verrucosus)​

Introduction: The Verrucosus Chameleon is a very underrated species. Most on the market today are WC, with the exception of the occaisional CH/CB juviniles that are available due to the captive breeding attempts made to create a captive collection in the US. The species is quite beautiful, with males showing a light blue and green color, with females showing brownish red colors, with rusty red coloration while gravid.
Acclimation Process: Depending on the condition of your specimen, you may need to take different courses of action, to acclimate them to captive life. When you first receive your specimen, it is best to make sure they are hydrated. The best thing to do is give it a nice long shower, to make sure it has its fill of water. After this, you need to make sure it has the appropriate enclosure setup, and once you have it in its enclosure, offer some food. Most will most likely eat as soon as you offer the food, as they are eating machines. I suggest maybe 5-7 appropriate sized food items for this feeding. During the acclimation process, it is essential to make sure your specimen is well hydrated; many times this can cause issues down the road. Once it is starting to acclimate, you should treat for parasites. Being WC, it is likely they have some in their system. It is better to treat once they have started acclimating, just because it isn’t as hard on their system to try and get rid of the parasites, and the stress from being shipped to another country, and then to your house.
Enclosure: In my observations, Verrucosus do well in either screen or glass terrariums. They both have their pros and cons. I suggest a 16X16X30 or 18X18X30 for a female, with a male in an 18X18X36 or 24X24X36. This species is very skiddish and does love to hide in the cover of their plants. Escpecially in the glass enclosures, you are able to create a very natural enclosure that your specimen will love.
General Care: I keep this species the same way I keep my Veiled. I keep it right around 87-90 at the basking spot, with the ambient temperature being right around 80-83 in the rest of the enclosure. They generally like to bask, but when they get watered, generally will go into hide mode, and will stay there until they drink their fill and go back to the basking spot after getting hydrated and needing to warm up. One thing I have noticed about this species is they LOVE to drink. I generally spray with a hand mister, for about two minutes, soaking the plants, and making sure to spray the chameleon a little to trigger a response to a “rain”. They usually will drink for about five minutes after, then go around and slowly make their way to their perch again. Depending on where the perch is, I’d recommend different size bulbs. I use two sizes, 60W and 75W; both sizes keep the temperature perfect for them at the lengths from perch to lamp distance. I also keep a Reptisun 10.0 on my Verrucosus, they are a little older, and so it is more like a 5.0.
Feeding: Boy does this species love to eat. It seems like they never stop. I feed mine 10-15 appropriate sized food items every other day, except during the acclimation process. I lightly dust them with Calcium without Vitamin D3 once or twice every week, with the Calcium with Vitamin D3 once every two weeks, as well as the multivitamin once a month.
Breeding: I had a tough time getting this species to breed. But, doing some research, I have found a method that triggered breeding processes. If your guys aren’t breeding for you, I have found that changing the “season” is a good way to trigger their lost love. Meaning, if you are giving them ample water, you slowly increase temps a little, and slightly decreasing water. After about a week of the “drier season”, I brought it back to normal. The whole process took about one month. The next day, I introduced the pair, and in about five minutes, they began copulation. Gestation is about 1-2 months, while going into 3 months is ok. Incubation is the same temperature as Veileds, room temperature is just fine (70-76 degrees). The length of time is anywhere between 6-9 months, most of the time between 6-7 ½ months.
Other Info: The worse characteristic of this species is their timidness. They are very difficult to take pictures of, because they like to hide. They also turn defensive when you are near their enclosure to feed/water/clean, which results in hissing and puffing up. But, this is the only bad characteristic.
Conclusion: This species is very rewarding, as well as underrated. Captive breeding attempts are coming together right now, to produce Captive Hatched specimens to have Captive animals on the market. By doing so, more people are most likely willing to try them, resulting more people breeding them.
 
That’s a good article… Some one line things I would add…

They love to hide behind sticks, all chameleons love sticks but Verros are the most darn stick loving chameleons I have ever kept. I always keep several in their cages of different sizes and thicknesses throughout the cage.

When a male is hesitant to breed another male can be used; they typically don’t like to share the cage with another one.

Females when gravid are extremely beautiful, one of the few times that I think a female can look better than the male of the species, the cream / red /rust combo is awesome.

Mine all seem to like large prey items, its not uncommon for them to ignore a small item; I suppose they don’t think its worth their time?

Also they really enjoy a nice long drip along with a misting to get some good water intake.
 
I have experience with CBs only, but:
I never had prolems with breeding (but I use the winter cooling period).
I believe that the winter cooling period is necessary for their non-short lives.
The incubation works well with the system 24-15-24 (Celsius, see my other posts for more details).
This species drinks very rarely.
More than 50% of adult or almost adult CB males are not shy at all, even females after few weeks start to eat from your hand.
I use cages of the size 1m*1m*1.9m. Your cages seem to me to be too small for such a big lizard.
There is also a very different-looking red morph of verrucosus.
 
Nice write up, LPR!! Ive always thought this species looked really cool. Maybe one day when I am able to keep tons of multiple species:D
 
LinkinParkRulez08 said..."One thing I have noticed about this species is they LOVE to drink"....and robertc said..."This species drinks very rarely"...I wonder why the difference? Any ideas?
 
Mine will drink but not when I am around… If I am getting shipping items ready away from the cages during rain time they will drink, however if I am near the cages they do all they can to blend in. Maybe Linkin has some un-shy Verrrus?
 
i've only recently been introduced to this species, but let's just say, it's on my "wish list".... i kinda have my hands full with the 9 chams we have already...lol...especially with the hubby deployed, but once he gets his next set of orders and we figure out if we're staying or going, that will be the next addition to our brood! thanks for all the good info!!! :)
 
LinkinParkRulez08 said..."One thing I have noticed about this species is they LOVE to drink"....and robertc said..."This species drinks very rarely"...I wonder why the difference? Any ideas?
i think one was referring to primarily WC and one CB....so i don't know if that makes a difference or not....seems there were some personality differences mentioned between the two as well...
 
LinkinParkRulez08 said..."One thing I have noticed about this species is they LOVE to drink"....and robertc said..."This species drinks very rarely"...I wonder why the difference? Any ideas?

I'm not sure. I only have experience with WC. You would think that the WC would be show less trust in their owner. I spray heavily twice a day for them, and see them drink at least for one of those times, mostly in the morning, when it stimulates the dew.

Mine will drink but not when I am around… If I am getting shipping items ready away from the cages during rain time they will drink, however if I am near the cages they do all they can to blend in. Maybe Linkin has some un-shy Verrrus?

I don't know about that :rolleyes:. My female is mean, all the time. She allows me to pick her up, but if I try to touch her with my other hand, she tries to bite me. She's got me once, and it scared the heck out of me.
 
Mines don't drink much. The female is easier and my girlfriend and I can see her drink when we are misting sometimes. However, our male never drank in front of us, except on the FIRST day we got him! Past that, we never saw him, and he always had white fecals!! *shrugs*

If i recall correctly, FLchams had verrucosus as well (see our sponsors).
 
Hi guys (and girls)!

I have a question. As some of you may have noticed, I included a third member to our chameleonfamily. Almost two weeks ago I bought a WC male F. verrucosus, Fred. He's about 8 months old and I placed him in a relatively large screen enclosure. It is heavily planted and I have placed an Exo Terra Solar Glo UV and heat (the heaviest) above his enclosure. The basking temperature is 90F. Half way it is about 77F and at night it is room temperature.

I know that a new animal always has to get used to a new environment and doesn't eat or drink much. But it has been almost two weeks and he only ate one grasshopper out of my hand, on the first day I brought him home. The store owner used to feed him out of his hands. From then on he isn't interested in food. I offered him large crickets, superworms, dubia roaches, fruitbeetle larvae, waxworms and large grasshoppers. No interest at all. He does drink from the little dripper. A fellow member of the Dutch Chameleon society told me that it is a possibility that the offered enclosure temperature is to low. That verrucosus needs more heat than a pardalis. 100F would be perfect he said. When he is to cold, that is a possibility that he doesn't eat, because the temperature is not optimal for his metabolism.

What do you guys think? Here's a picture of his enclosure.

SNV10906.JPG


005.jpg


Thanx in advance!
 
It seems to me that there might be three reasons for not eating.

1) The cham is having his winter rest. In such a case he almost would not be interested in eating and basking. (If not, then warming him up, by my opinion, would be good for nothing. Verrucosus do not care about low temperatures much, my male has no problems eating in winter when he is kept at 17 degrees Celsius. Of course, he eats very rarely).

2) Chams tend not to eat during dark days, check that you have sufficient light sources.

3) He may not "like" the enclosure. I had several times to return young animals from big cages back to their small former enclosures with the possibility of the prey walking on the bottom of the enclosure. Some verrucosus become very shy in large cages.
 
Back
Top Bottom