melleri behavior...

[JAdrig]

This pic shows my female who had recently layed her first clutch of infertile eggs...Since I reintroduced her with her former cagemate about two weeks ago, she has become VERY shy...always hiding from me behind her branches...Neither her, nor the other one were shy/timid towards me when they were separate. They have both been VERY aggressive towards me when they are close together, where they have never opened their mouth/hissed at me. They seem to be protective towards eachother as well.
This pick was snapped in the early afternoon with some sunlight right before thier cage lights went on...

 

[summoner12]

you house them together all of the time?

I have one melleri who is shy and aggressive with me.. and another who is only shy when I am too close or might have to handle him... I guess most are that way... but Henry is very shy when your in his personal bubble space...

how big is the cage? what do you do that makes them gape or his? just being close? trying to handle? can you tell us more about your cage?

 

[JAdrig]

They are in a 200+ gallon reptarium that is inverted. It is open with a big ficus tree connected by vines. They were housed together for a long time. But, after she layed eggs, I separated them so that she can gain back some weight. They were both very cool/calm compared to any chameleon prior to the reintroduction...I think that it is kinda odd that they are being SOOO protective over eachother...
I was just approaching her and she reacted like that. I wasnt even reaching for her. Are females protective over eachother?

Oh, do you know who Henry's mother was?
Joe

 

[summoner12]

Henry is WC melleri I took in from someone who had to move out of state and couldn't take him with.

my melleri gape at me sometimes when I get close...... it is just a warning sometimes... like 'hey, back off' mostly I get it with my camera....

the 200 gallon reptarium is a bit small for two melleri.... I would seperate them but allow them to see one another... did they mate?

 

[JAdrig]

Well, the door is open on the cage and they have vines connecting it to a big ficus tree...I have three separate basking spots for them...The space isnt really an issue...I just thought it was kind of odd the way they became so defensive of eachother.

I dont think they mated...they have a room to themself, so I dont really bother them much. They practically sleep right ontop of eachother.

 

[summoner12]

My guys mostly spread out in the free range and when I have food they will sit side by side and eat the food I offer. Sometimes they try to take food from one another at first because they are so greedy. There are several basking spots in my free range yet they still seem to challenge eachother for 'the better' ones. the other day my smalelr guy and my female had a stand off and the little guy pushed the female out of the way and i poked at him like another melleri was attacking him and I think he was pretty confused because he ended up running off and finding another basking spot. He likes to beat up on the others so if i am there is sometimes put him in his place..... I think the female, Lenny should be able to roam wherever because she is loaded with eggs at the moment.... so I don't like to let him win when hes bothering her.

 

[summoner12]

oops he missed.

 

[Elizadolots]

Okay, that second picture is just amazing!

 

[JAdrig]

its a good picture, but disturbing...in a funny kinda way...

 

[JAdrig]

They are probably just feeling eachother out again...

I had two WC Phelsuma standingi that were housed together for a while, then separated, and then reintroduced to eachother...They used to get along fine, but they really hated eachother when I reintroduced them. I still have the one female after 16 years, not breeding her though.

 

[JAdrig]

Oh, also, part of the reason why I separated them to begin with was because the larger/NONshy melleri that did not lay the eggs was getting 'walked' on all over. There were always claw marks along its dorsal ridge. I would catch the more shy/female basking while resting on the larger ones back ... The one on the bottom did not seem to mind that much.

 

[summoner12]

Oh, also, part of the reason why I separated them to begin with was because the larger/NONshy melleri that did not lay the eggs was getting 'walked' on all over. There were always claw marks along its dorsal ridge. I would catch the more shy/female basking while resting on the larger ones back ... The one on the bottom did not seem to mind that much.

Females are rough with the boys...... they might have mated... melleri choose mates... they don't just jump into bed. So it could be a boy willing to take a bit of a beating...

is the female smaller than the other melleri?

Yeah... Lenny isn't too happy about this (they aren't mates... Chris is just small and walked around on Lenny a lot..)

 

[JAdrig]

Yeah, the female is about two inches shorter than the 'other' cham from nose to tail.

They seem to be calming down a bit though. The first week I put them back together...they were literally on edge. They would not eat in front of me or even drink infront of me...They are cooling down a bit now though. I think its kinda funny that they still wont eat in front of me given the fact that most of their feedings were hand feeding...