housing a male and female

[greg nan]

i have a giant spiny madagascar chameleon (furcifer verrucosus) and i have a female on the way this week, i free range my chameleon in my living room with his main ficus tree with his lighting,(heat and uvb) water dripper, and food source, usually three different types of worms and crickets (crickets are kept in cricket cup) and from his main tree i have vines that connect to different hanging plants, all with uvb lighting above and to another ficus tree, i am wondering if a can keep a female together with my male and not worry about stevie attacking her, but i do want them to breed.
thanks ,

 

[Rush2112]

I don't know the answer but wanted to comment on free range set up. Cool and expansive! good job

 

[LitldevlblueBar]

Male Chameleons are very territorial. Female or not you shouldnt keep them together. A female can get aggressive as well. So if it was me I wouldnt keep them together. I hope this helps you out.

 

[LitldevlblueBar]

A special mention on pairs and females

Most often, people try to keep pairs of chameleons together. We humans like the idea of pairs and breeding. Pet stores and chameleon sellers may work on this deceptively or out of ignorance to make the extra sale. The only reason to have a pair of chameleons in the same cage is for breeding - and then it should only be temporarily (a couple days at most). A male and a female living together long term is a particularly bad combination. This is because they will mate and the female will get gravid. When the female gets gravid her body requires all the nutrients necessary to create eggs or babies. If she is sharing food/water/basking with the male then you will not be able to make sure she is getting everything in the amounts she needs. This is also the time in her life where her body is the most vulnerable to stress. You may suddenly find yourself with a female whose health plummets from the combined stress of pregnancy and competing with her cagemate. Or else you may find a male with a chewed up leg from a female that has had a personality change due to her pregnancy. A pair of chameleons may live in apparent serenity as they grow up from babies together, but once they reach sexual maturity their personality may take an unsociable turn. For the best health gravid females should always be in solitary confinement. If you keep a pair of chameleons together you WILL have a gravid female sooner or later. If cost is your reason for only having one cage then having a pair of chameleons is not a good idea. Babies are not cheap to raise up to the point where they can go to new homes!

Keeping a group of females together is less problematic than throwing a male into the mix. But you will still run into a dominance issue. For two females you must make sure that there are two basking sites, two feed dishes, two water drips, and plenty of prime perching areas that are not in view of each other. It is something which experienced breeders may do, but it should be left in the hands of experienced breeders that are able to put an experienced eye into making sure things do not go wrong - and, by the way, have spare cages just in case...

 

[greg nan]

thanks for the reply this really did help but i free range my cham, he has tons of climbing room, and so will the female, i was thinking about making a trap door out of plastic sheeting, that i can open now and then i was going to have another main tree for the female to do her thing in as well as the male, but im still wondering how i will keep them from seeing eachother.

 

[LitldevlblueBar]

the only help i can give is say if they will be breeding then get a cage for her. in that reply i wrote she needs all the attention. because she will produce eggs without even mating she will need all the light food and water she can get. and your boy cham might not leave her alone and because being so territorial he probably wont leave her much alone time. to do what she needs to do I would say free roam him and cage her. to be on the sage side you wont wanna wake up and find one of them on the ground dead from a little battle nor would you want either chewed up or hurt. its just not worth the risk.