New study: Furcifer antimena growth rates, interesting prelim results

javadi

Chameleon Enthusiast
I am writing up a few small studies right now. One of which is assessing the impact of keeping chameleons indoors vs. outdoors. The preliminary conclusion is that keeping outdoors seems to allow for a wider range of outcomes in growth rates, possibly due to more natural dominance behaviors when kept outdoors or other factors. It also suggests that in this species (Furcifer antimena), even in juveniles, lower nighttime temperatures and larger temperature swings do not underperform compared to milder temperatures/conditions indoors. Some of the preliminary findings are below.

For this study, I used some CH furcifer antimena (hatched in collaboration with Nick Unz :) ). I kept 4 indoors and 3 outdoors and measured their growth rates and the environmental conditions, while keeping food intake as controlled between the groups as possible. The indoor specimens were kept in pairs (two different enclosures, R1 and R2 are enclosure designations) and the outdoor was kept in a trio but in a substantially larger enclosure. This is interesting because the outdoor animals got as low as 58 some nights, despite being from a very warm environment (at least during the rainy season), compared to the low of ~72 in the indoor enclosures, yet the single largest animal was one kept outside, as was the third largest. However, the smallest animal by far was also kept outside, suggesting that something about being kept outside, or something about being kept as a trio but with far more space than a duo, limits growth. Overall this challenges the idea that juveniles must be kept at warmer nighttime temperatures to allow for adequate growth, and suggests that outdoor keeping is probably optimal compared to indoors even if the ambient conditions don't exactly match what is expected in the native range. Of note, I believe individually-raising chameleons is the optimal strategy, but given that group housing is still common practice, these results still hold value. Also of interest is that the outdoor individuals have yet to turn green, whereas the indoor-kept individuals are constantly green (see photos) and have been so for the duration of my time with them. Some graphs and photos below. I have yet to conduct statistical analysis given the n are small and the study isn't concluded yet.




1760399425712.png


outdoor antimena juvenile.jpg


indoor antimena juvenile.jpg

indoor antimena temps.jpg

Outdoor antimena temps.jpg
 
I have kept Furcifer antimena. Furcifer antimena is a great species and am looking forward to reading your results.

Furcifer antimena is a similar species to Furcifer labordi. Have you got any information about the lifespan and cycle (wild and captivity) for Furcifer antimena? Is the life cycle of Furcifer antimena similar to Furcifer labordi?

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
 
I have kept Furcifer antimena. Furcifer antimena is a great species and am looking forward to reading your results.

Furcifer antimena is a similar species to Furcifer labordi. Have you got any information about the lifespan and cycle (wild and captivity) for Furcifer antimena? Is the life cycle of Furcifer antimena similar to Furcifer labordi?

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
I think a lot die off each year but not all, probably a bit less extreme than labordi. Each year, they come in as pretty beaten up adults at the beginning of the rainy season, and then as vibrant young adults a couple of months later, which to me indicates that some survive each year through the dry season. Interestingly, the ones that come in at the beginning of the rainy season have a different color scheme (greyish with different patterns) than the ones that come in peak season (bright green), and it's hard to get them to reproduce. In captivity, after laying a clutch (or sometimes two) of eggs, they tend to lose the green coloration and go to the grey scheme. I've "reversed" the grey color scheme and gotten them green and able to reproduce again only one time, otherwise they have sort of just shut down slowly after reproduction. However, I've also raised juvenile/subadults through a clear cold dormancy period during winter lasting for months and it went fine, they just became more active once the temperatures went up. I think if their environmental conditions are tightly controlled and they are given a clear dormancy period, they can probably live at least a few years. I have hatched them with diapause and now without a diapause, and it tends to be about 7-9 months incubation. Babies are born relatively large IMO. I think if we figure out what is needed for dormancy they would be a great species to keep outside year around in Florida or California.
 
Life Histories and life cycles are something to watch in (I am calling) the Furcifer antimena complex. I think a great study would be to document in the field the life cycles of both Furcifer labordi and Furcifer antimena. When I read that Furcifer labordi only live six months, grow, reproduce and then die in that time frame I have got issues listening to that. I after keeping chameleons in captivity over 3 decades now have never seen a chameleon putting on 12 inches and size, mate and reproduce, lay their eggs and then die in six months as stated in literature with Furcifer labordi. Calumma parsonii parsonii grow the fastest I have seen and do not come close to the growth rates and reproduction life cycle. Calumma parsonii parsonii captivity reach at best 4-5 inches in six months.

I think further research in the field and captivity documenting this life cycle in Furcifer antemina and Furcifer labordi is required. This is something I am keen to hear about conclusively.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
 
Back
Top Bottom