I am just curious

[ridgebax1]

I know that the recommendation is to keep chams as solitary residents each in their own enclosure. However, I follow a couple of cham related pages on facebook and they often post pictures of several chams hanging out together. Is it an OK practice to let multiple chams free range together or in a shower? Or are these just quick photo ops? Not wanting to start a heated discussion or criticizing anyone, just curious about this.

 

[SaintJimmy]

I think it is unwise to leave chams in the same cage OR free range if not EXTREMELY CLOSELY monitored. Anything can go wrong when you're not looking (or even when you are looking).

A lot of people on other reptile forums, and facebook as well.. well.. lets just say it literally HURTS when I look at the advice they give others on raising chams.. as well as the horrifying pics of "healthy" chams whose owners have been given advice by people who don't know squat about chams.

 

[NHenn]

Once in awhile I will let my two male panthers out of there cages at the same time but they are always kept in two separate trees and about 15 feet apart so there is no way for them to actually get close to each other.

 

[Beautiful4Ever]

I would advice against it as well. Have them farther apart if you want to free-range as NHenn stated. Chams are just too easily stressed to risk it.

 

[ridgebax1]

I only have one so no issues here; he does not have a free range right now but I would like to set something up at his cage door, where I could leave the door open and if he wants to come out and explore he could. Of course he would only be out if I was there to watch him as I also have cats and dogs. I would not want him to be someone's snack! I have to say that the two facebook pages I follow are people that are supposed to be experienced keepers. As I said I was just curious as to why they would do that since chams are solitary and not really looking for a friend to hang out with even outside their cages.
At some point I would like to get another cham but need to be able to get a him or her a nice house set up before purchasing one. I have really learned a lot from this forum and wish I had discovered it before Pete was so ill.

 

[Olimpia]

Some chameleons can and do get along with each other, it's just not the norm. So some people (people with lots of chameleon experience, who can spot the signs of stress or discontent a mile away) can and do successfully keep a number of chameleons together in a freerange setting, provided they have plenty of space and the option to separate themselves from the others if they want to.

I actually kept 4 male panthers together in a room free range for a year and they did beautifully. Most of them were young when I started so they essentially grew up in this setting and did really well. And it was facinating to see how they communicated with each other, negotiated things, and sorted out their own issues just by gesturing. I was lucky all four were not particularly dominant personalities.

And then species like Meller's, for example, can sometimes be fairly communal. Although again, with varying personlities not everyone is going to click with each other. But that's why you'll see groups of Meller's chameleons more often, for example.

And as a fun fact, I've found males to be generally much more tolerant of each other than females. The girls tend to have a lot more fury against anyone they don't care for!

But like I said, no one should try this without a lot of eperience and a lot of caution. There's more that goes into it than just putting two animals together on a free range.

 

[ridgebax1]

"And as a fun fact, I've found males to be generally much more tolerant of each other than females. The girls tend to have a lot more fury against anyone they don't care for!"

Sounds like when I worked in a hospital setting; nurses can be vicious with each other!

 

[pigglett79]

My boys do free range together, well they start out in their own areas across the room (they have 4 trees and many vines each), but George insists on being on Rex's side. I have spent countless hours monitoring them and watching their every move, before finally allowing them to just do their thing. They haven't puffed or fired up at each other and seem to avoid each other for the most part. They sleep in the same area many nights and haven't had any issues. But I wouldn't do this without knowing their personality and serious caution. My boys are both very easy going and friendly so they seem to have personalities suited for the situation.

They spend most of the day in separate cages and do not see each other, but I do let them out around 3pm each day and they stay out until I wake up and put them back in their cages in the morning.

 

[Olimpia]

"And as a fun fact, I've found males to be generally much more tolerant of each other than females. The girls tend to have a lot more fury against anyone they don't care for!"

Sounds like when I worked in a hospital setting; nurses can be vicious with each other!

It's the same in chameleons! lol

I've watched the males take turns at the feeding bin by gesturing to each other. Say one is already there and would like to eat alone but another guy was approaching. The first only puffs up a little, the other takes the hint to wait his turn, and then the first relaxes and keeps eating until he's done and the second guy moves in for his turn. It's a 2 second communication, with no real aggression, and everyone is on the same page peacefully.

However, I had a female veiled who was always separate but would try to sneak into the boys' feeding bin every so often. Once I found her on the lip of the bin puffed up, threatening and swaying, and all the boys running for cover as high as they could go! She wanted the feeding bin and she was NOT going to share! And all the boys definitely knew she meant business (even my biggest panther, who was twice as big and she was! He was as far away as he could get.)

So it's interesting, sometimes the little girls are much more fussy about company than the males. And definitely more food possessive!

 

[Carlton]

I suppose their ability to tolerate each other also hinges on how secure and settled each one is. If they KNOW they have the option to get away if they really want to and they also KNOW they have their own territory that does not need to be constantly defended. If they feel trapped or have no choice in the matter that's when they are more likely to react.

I've also kept melleri free ranged together...once they got to know each other they were fine, but only if free ranged. Caging wouldn't have worked for them. I had a male fischeri and male deremensis who shared a very very large densely planted cage pretty peacefully for years. They started out separated of course, but the fischeri kept squeezing through the cage barrier on his daily patrol, so I finally took it out entirely. The fischeri used a much different area of the cage than the deremensis so they really didn't bother each other. But, show either of them a third cham and the defenses went right up.