Longevity in Furcifer oustaleti

[Alexl]

Hi there,

I was recently asked what ages Furcifer oustaleti can reach in captivity. In fact, I found very little safe information about it. In reports from keepers and few scientific publications, the animals reach surprisingly short age ranges (however, most reports are either old or deal with zoo and wild animals from museum collections, not private people keeping and breeding them). Therefore, a direct question to anyone who has ever kept Furcifer oustaleti themselves: How old have your oldest Furcifer oustaleti become?

From the size, lifestyle/adaptability and concluding from other large Malagasy chameleon species, I'd actually suspect that Furcifer oustaleti should be able to get relatively old.

Looking forward to your answers!

Alex

 

[JacksJill]

You can start here. species/furcifer-oustaleti.134/experience/11/ I found this and one other account in the Species section.
@Motherlode Chameleon @Chris Anderson

 

[DonKeesh]

I had one in the early 2000s. I will admit my care back then was very beginner so there could be a ton of variables. The oustalets only lived for about 3 years and a panther in my care at the same time with the same general care lived to be 5.

 

[kinyonga]

All the oustalets I ever had were WC adults...so there was no way to know how old they were when they died....and many of them came in with issues.....so I have no comment on it from personal experience.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Furcifer oustaleti I have kept on two occasions. The last time I owned two mature wild caught males that had to be over 6 to 8 years old. They were Calumma parsonii parsonii size in mass and Furcifer oustaleti in length. Other than that my experience with them is to give them conditions similar to a hot weather Frucifer pardalis. However Frucifer oustaleti prefer the weather hotter, have much bigger appetites and live bigger. The species does not like excessively moist conditions that Frucfer pardalis can tolerate.

I am actively looking to buy a pair right now.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[Alexl]

You can start here. species/furcifer-oustaleti.134/experience/11/

Ah, thank you! Never seen that section over here.

I had one in the early 2000s. I will admit my care back then was very beginner so there could be a ton of variables. The oustalets only lived for about 3 years and a panther in my care at the same time with the same general care lived to be 5.

That seemed to have been a typical scenario at this time. I know lots of keepers who had them just a few years, primarily wild caught and no one knew where they exactly came from (their habitat in Madagascar differs remarkably from e.g. the east coast to the south and they occur almost everywhere). Unfortunately, people were (and are) not really interested in long-term-breeding. It's a really nice and adaptive species, though.

The last time I owned two mature wild caught males that had to be over 6 to 8 years old. They were Calumma parsonii parsonii size in mass and Furcifer oustaleti in length.

Thanks for your posting! How did you estimate the age? Size? I have observed dozens of Furcifer oustaleti on Madagascar, many also weighed and measured, and I'm not sure about age estimations. In my experience, size and snout-vent length are only very limitedly reliable for estimating age in Malagasy chameleons. Depending on the exact time of hatching, the location and the length of the rainy season, growth rate and size may vary enormously. That's why I'm asking for keepers' experiences. If you kept a chameleon for, let's say, 10 years, and it came in as a wild-caught adult, it had to be at least 10,5-11 years. So you got "proven" 10,5-11 years . That's what I'm looking for.

Thanks for everyone's input so far, that's a really interesting topic.

Best wishes,
Alex

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Thanks for your posting! How did you estimate the age? Size? I have observed dozens of Furcifer oustaleti on Madagascar, many also weighed and measured, and I'm not sure about age estimations. In my experience, size and snout-vent length are only very limitedly reliable for estimating age in Malagasy chameleons. Depending on the exact time of hatching, the location and the length of the rainy season, growth rate and size may vary enormously. That's why I'm asking for keepers' experiences. If you kept a chameleon for, let's say, 10 years, and it came in as a wild-caught adult, it had to be at least 10,5-11 years. So you got "proven" 10,5-11 years . That's what I'm looking for.

I am going mostly by size length and girth comparisions to other large adult Malagasy chameleons and growth rates of other large Malagasy chameleons species to make an estimate (Calumma parsonii parsonii, Furcifer pardalis, Frucifer oustaleti, and Furcifer verrucosus).

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[Alexl]

Thanks for your answer, Jeremy!

 

[Action Jackson]

They are such cool chameleons. Seems like they could live quite a while. I don’t know if they live as long as Calumma species especially the ones that brumate.