To couple or not?

[Buckeye238]

I know it is a bad idea to combine two males panthers in to the same cage. I would assume a male would like a female around to hang out with. I am not trying to breed chams but would it make the chams happier to have a member of the opposite sex around? I have never had a female before, is there anything different when it comes to caring for a female? Also, should i not get a female if i dont want them breeding?

 

[mbondy]

You can't put a male and female together, it would stress your female out. Secondly not a good idea.

 

[Buckeye238]

okay, thank you. So it is best to keep my cham alone. just want him to be as happy as can be

 

[VeiledChams]

Bad bad bad bad bad bad.........bad bad bad idea.

You put a male and a female together and you'll have:

1)unhappy chams
- Chameleons are SOLITARY beings. The do NOT associate with other chameleons unless it is for breeding purposes.
2)gravid female
- The male WILL get to her and you will have eggs. The may seem fine for the first day or two when house together because they are mating. After that, she'll hiss and gape at the male and it'll lead to my next point.
3)possibly very hurt chams after a while
-The female will gape at the male when gravid so she'll probably bite him.


All in all.. housing panthers (veileds and many other chameleons) together in an enclosure that is home appropriate (there are some exceptions) is a bad idea as you'll have more problems than what you want.

You can get just another cage which will make your life much easier. Just dont let them see each other.

Unless you have an enclosure that is huge (i mean waaay bigger than a 24x24x48"), dont house any 2 panthers together.

Also, if you have a female you're gonna have to be prepared for eggs.. even if not mated, females will produce eggs (infertile). You'll have to provide her a laying bin, privacy, lots of TLC.

 

[Buckeye238]

So its the bachelor life for my cham haha thank you for all of your help!

 

[splinter]

So it is the same for Jackson's. My wife wanted to buy him a female as Buckeye said. But if I have to build another cage, that won't happen. Not enough space.

 

[Olimpia]

With females in general, they will lay infertile eggs all their lives (a few times a year), which is very taxing on a young growing female. This is why they tend to live shorter lives than males generally. So to help give them a longer life you have to keep a really close eye on their food and water intake - if you keep the temps no higher than 80*F and feed them a strict diet you may be able to keep them from ever producing eggs, or at the very least, keeping them from producing lots of really big clutches.

And if they do get gravid, it's stressful to make sure the process of laying goes smoothly! Take it from me, my female veiled has laid only once and it was so nervewrecking. They are fun to own but it does require a bit more care and attention than a male. So I don't think putting two together in a small cage makes either of your lives easier! It would just be easier to monitor everyone separately.