iloveoveralls
New Member
Can you have, lets say 2 female Jacksonii with 1 male Jacksonii in the same enclosure as long as the cage fits a certain requirement?
More than one female in a cage?
- Thread starter iloveoveralls
- Start date
Silverdusk
New Member
IMO it's just a bad idea to keep them together at all, unless we're talking some of the smaller Chams. I'd advise against it, it's not worth the chance of putting them into any unneeded stress.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
As long as the cage fits certain requirements, yes. In that its really really big, has more than one basking area, and feeding/watering is such that its equally available to all three.
Generally speaking, I think most would recommend against it.
xanthoman
Avid Member
co-habitation of jacksons ?
jacksons ( i assume you mean xanths ?), can some times be housed communally, however its still a hard question to give a viable answer to. primarily it depends on three things; 1. the individual chemistry & personality of the animals themselves 2. the size of the cage and how well it is set up (2 xanths that get along horribly in a normal size cage, might get along fine in a greenhouse or unusually large and well set up cage) 3. the knowledge and experience of the keeper. one would think that the worst situation would be to have them clearly not getting along, but an even worse situation, would be one where they appear to be getting along, but in reality are unduly stressing each other, which may not be easily recognized by a newer keeper, until there is a problem. females generally co-habitate better than male/females (if you keep a male in with them they will just get pregnant, and you will have to seperate them anyway). i have successfully co-habitated f/f and even successfully co-habitated a m/f/f trio, but i have also had problems in my attempts, some that werent recognized until it began to cause heath issues, so i guess like sandra chameleon says, yes it is possible, but that doesnt necessarily make it a good idea to try. often, even with compatible animals, it requires each to have their own dialed in basking/uv/feeding territories and if you have to do all of that then what really is the point ? often times, newer keepers will interperate a desire by one cham to visit or view another chams cage, as an indicator it would be a good idea to house them together. chams are still curious, even if its not a good idea to house them together. i might check a pretty girl out walking down the street, but that doesnt mean it would work, or be a good idea, to move in with her (or that she would have anything to do with me). i hate to sound clich'e, but i guess my answer is, if your experience level is such that you need to ask, then its probably not a good idea. on the other hand, one way to gain experience is simply to try, and see where it leads (possibly at the expense of your animals). i guess if you wanted a more straight forward answer, i would recomend (exp wise) keeping jacksons without major issue for a year before attempting to co habitate. imo, it should be noted that younger jacksons, or ones that were raised to adulthood from the same clutch or in close proximity to each other, are more likely candidates for co-habitation, than fully grown adults recently received from different sources. plus there are some disadvantages, if one gets a parasitic, fungal, or bacterial infection, then chances are increased that the others will get it as well, and if you need to do fecals then it might not be clear what came from where, or their might be other cross-contamination issues . i can tell you from experience, that if you have 2 or 3 chams in a single cage, then that cage is going to get dirty 2or3x as fast (even if it is 2or3x as large, it just seems to get dirty so much faster). when i co-habitated, it was in a cage 5'L x18"deep x3'h, it was just so much work. when i sold one (and got another) i took the opportunity to put them into solo cages. i tried free ranging one, but i eventually put him in a solo cage as well. personally i like the control and the ability to precisely dial in a solo cage, and if there are problems (and eventually there usually are) then a single cage makes it all so much easier to recognize, isolate and deal with. now if you are talking about free ranging, then fr makes it so much easier to co habitate, but that still doesnt make it a shoe in. the guy i get some of my animals from, houses a fairly large group (i think about 4-10) in a homebuilt shed/greenhouse, every year, he weeds out the trouble makers, and replaces them with new animals, but he has kept a lot of chameleons, so he has a really good feel for what is going on.
jmo
jacksons ( i assume you mean xanths ?), can some times be housed communally, however its still a hard question to give a viable answer to. primarily it depends on three things; 1. the individual chemistry & personality of the animals themselves 2. the size of the cage and how well it is set up (2 xanths that get along horribly in a normal size cage, might get along fine in a greenhouse or unusually large and well set up cage) 3. the knowledge and experience of the keeper. one would think that the worst situation would be to have them clearly not getting along, but an even worse situation, would be one where they appear to be getting along, but in reality are unduly stressing each other, which may not be easily recognized by a newer keeper, until there is a problem. females generally co-habitate better than male/females (if you keep a male in with them they will just get pregnant, and you will have to seperate them anyway). i have successfully co-habitated f/f and even successfully co-habitated a m/f/f trio, but i have also had problems in my attempts, some that werent recognized until it began to cause heath issues, so i guess like sandra chameleon says, yes it is possible, but that doesnt necessarily make it a good idea to try. often, even with compatible animals, it requires each to have their own dialed in basking/uv/feeding territories and if you have to do all of that then what really is the point ? often times, newer keepers will interperate a desire by one cham to visit or view another chams cage, as an indicator it would be a good idea to house them together. chams are still curious, even if its not a good idea to house them together. i might check a pretty girl out walking down the street, but that doesnt mean it would work, or be a good idea, to move in with her (or that she would have anything to do with me). i hate to sound clich'e, but i guess my answer is, if your experience level is such that you need to ask, then its probably not a good idea. on the other hand, one way to gain experience is simply to try, and see where it leads (possibly at the expense of your animals). i guess if you wanted a more straight forward answer, i would recomend (exp wise) keeping jacksons without major issue for a year before attempting to co habitate. imo, it should be noted that younger jacksons, or ones that were raised to adulthood from the same clutch or in close proximity to each other, are more likely candidates for co-habitation, than fully grown adults recently received from different sources. plus there are some disadvantages, if one gets a parasitic, fungal, or bacterial infection, then chances are increased that the others will get it as well, and if you need to do fecals then it might not be clear what came from where, or their might be other cross-contamination issues . i can tell you from experience, that if you have 2 or 3 chams in a single cage, then that cage is going to get dirty 2or3x as fast (even if it is 2or3x as large, it just seems to get dirty so much faster). when i co-habitated, it was in a cage 5'L x18"deep x3'h, it was just so much work. when i sold one (and got another) i took the opportunity to put them into solo cages. i tried free ranging one, but i eventually put him in a solo cage as well. personally i like the control and the ability to precisely dial in a solo cage, and if there are problems (and eventually there usually are) then a single cage makes it all so much easier to recognize, isolate and deal with. now if you are talking about free ranging, then fr makes it so much easier to co habitate, but that still doesnt make it a shoe in. the guy i get some of my animals from, houses a fairly large group (i think about 4-10) in a homebuilt shed/greenhouse, every year, he weeds out the trouble makers, and replaces them with new animals, but he has kept a lot of chameleons, so he has a really good feel for what is going on.
jmo
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