General thingys

[RUNNERBOY]

Two questions.

First one. I have a baby veiled right now, he's about 2.5 inches long and i was wondering if it would be bad to throw another chameleon in there with him right now? I was thinking a baby panther. Would they fight? I kind of want another chameleon now that I got my first one XD but I don't know if I could support two separate housings. ????

AND

At petco the people told me that I need to centralize my crickets in a cup so my chameleon can "focus" on his food and eat it. The other day a cricket got out and he hunted it like an episode of national geographic. Super epic. Do i really need to keep them in the cup? Can I let a few roam or should I just let them all romp around?

SHANKS!!!

 

[jojackson]

Chameleons are best housed 1 per cage. cup feeding is not necessary unless its a very small lizard in a large cage.

 

[Olimpia]

I'm just going to elaborate on what Jo just said for the sake of keeping me busy It's a slow night for me.

Two questions.

First one. I have a baby veiled right now, he's about 2.5 inches long and i was wondering if it would be bad to throw another chameleon in there with him right now? I was thinking a baby panther. Would they fight? I kind of want another chameleon now that I got my first one XD but I don't know if I could support two separate housings. ????

Chameleons are not social creatures as a general rule, they aren't like dogs or horses that need the company to feel complete. So as a general rule you should keep a single chameleon to a cage mainly because they do not need the company. I've seen people do it (with babies) at shows, keeping them together in a single cage, but I think it's cruel to force two animals to cohabitate in a small space. They might tolerate each other for a little bit but they will eventually start having issues, and you don't want that for your pets.

You're going to save yourself SOO much trouble (and possibly vet bills) if you invest in a second cage right off the bat.

AND

At petco the people told me that I need to centralize my crickets in a cup so my chameleon can "focus" on his food and eat it. The other day a cricket got out and he hunted it like an episode of national geographic. Super epic. Do i really need to keep them in the cup? Can I let a few roam or should I just let them all romp around?

SHANKS!!!

Nope, you certainly don't need to. In fact, I'm of the mindset that letting them hunt stimulates them physically and mentally, since you can imagine they don't have many hobbies during the day! You can cup feed worms or roaches, insects you don't want hiding under plant pots or something, but it's more than fine to set the crickets free.

 

[Elizadolots]

Yeah, what they said.

I will add that if you want to use one cage for two animals you can construct a vertical barrier that divides the cage in half. Vertical climbing is more important than horizontal ranging with chameleons.

However, the barrier needs to be complete and that is really harder than just putting them in separate cages.

 

[jandie]

isn't it also true that veileds and panthers, especially males, are definite no-no's... regardless of the aspect of not being social, (definitely a "ditto" on what's already been said)...

and generally, even at shows, you don't typically see older males together....but even a male and female in the same cage there seems to cause a lot of undue stress...

 

[jpm995]

When their very young they MAY get along but as they reach maturity they like their own territory and only tend to socialize when mating.