New Breeder

[VanCham]

hi everyone..so i've been really into raising and breeding herps all my life, and have recently bought a male veiled chameleon (after extensive research). I just found out one of my friends has a female veiled chameleon, and i'm interested in breeding, so i'm interested in getting some info...does anyone have any suggestions of good websites or good books that can show me how to do this properly?

Pat

 

[kinyonga]

I've been keeping/breeding/hatching/raising chameleons for many years....and here's how I mate veileds...I show the female to the male by holding her on a stick outside the male's cage so that they can both see each other. I watch their reactions to each other to decide if they are ready to mate. Sometimes the male will react with aggression at first until he realizes that it is a female...so by keeping the female outside of his cage but in his sight, gives him time to calm down while she is safe. If she is not receptive she will gape at him, sway back and forth from side to side likely hissing and lunging at him. Her background coloration will darken. If she is non-receptive, it could cause him to show aggression towards her. The preceding are good reasons for keeping them separated until you see that she is receptive and that he has calmed down.

If she is unreceptive or he doesn't calm down, just put her back in her cage and try again in a few days.

If she is receptive, she will remain passive/calm and will likely move slowly away from him waiting for him to follow. She may "hug" the branch too. If she is receptive, and he is calm then I place the female into his cage...but I continue to watch them to make sure that things are going well. Sometimes the male will head-butt the female before mounting her. I only interfere if one goes to bite the other.

The female may be left in the cage with the male until she starts to repel/reject him. The female will take on a coloration that will be almost black in the background with bright mustard and torquoise markings indicating that she is gravid...and then I remove her. This dark background coloration doesn't always stay when she is out of the male's sight but will recur if she sees the male again...or may happen even if she sees you or another female.

Its important to have a place in the female's cage at all times where she can dig to show that she is ready to lay eggs. Other indications are subtle and may be missed. If she has no place to lay the eggs at the appropriate time, she can become eggbound. Its important even for unmated females to have a place to dig because they don't have to be mated to lay eggs.

Hope this helps!

 

[cookiegirl]

hi everyone..so i've been really into raising and breeding herps all my life, and have recently bought a male veiled chameleon (after extensive research). I just found out one of my friends has a female veiled chameleon, and i'm interested in breeding, so i'm interested in getting some info...does anyone have any suggestions of good websites or good books that can show me how to do this properly?

Pat

I have succesfully hatched 4 clutches. I have a 5th clutch that just started hatching. The female will have little bluegreen little dots when they are ready to breed. I had one female that was 9 months old . One that was 11 months old and another that was 12 months old.All was 100% hatch rate. I only lost one egg out of all the clutches. Once they breed with the male they will hiss at him and take on a dark coloration. I always put the female in the males cage. You do not want to breed before 9 months . It is even better to wait until they are 12 months old. I feed the mammas one pinkie mice a week because they get the calcium from the bones. Adcham.com has a lot of information on breeding and taking care of the babies. You can also read Chameleons Natures Hidden Jewels. I put the Mammas in the egg laying chamber on day 20. I just use on of the large rubbermaid totes and fill with sand . I put some kind of vine and greenery in it. Make sure the sand is moist . It just needs to clump together so she can dig her tunnel to lay the eggs. I weigh the female before and after. I hope this helps. Their is so much to learn. I spent countless hours on the innernet researching before I decided to breed my veileds. Go to ebay and they have many chameleonbooks for sale.