What common issues can come up with breeding chameleons?

[Dionaeth]

Breeding is something I think about often - I have bred clutches of both gargoyle geckos and crested geckos, though no longer do so.

Recently, I have been offered a breeding pair of triceros hoehnelii for a very generous price, I species I already keep, and the offer is incredibly tempting. I am fully prepared to commit, as I already have two spare enclosures and breed my own dubia for my mantids and other exotics.

Obviously, I'm only a teenager (19) with enough spare cash for this to be something I can healthily consider, but the world is not black and white if I go ahead with 'let's do it, everything will be alright'

I'm aware of some of the common issues - they just aren't compatible, low fertility or infertility etc, but I'm not the most educated on chameleon breeding (though I'm here to change that)

I know this is not a venture where I will make profit, and maybe I will only just scrape the top of earning back what is spent on care, but I would like to be fully educated before I accept this offer.

 

[DeremensisBlue]

Breeding is something I think about often - I have bred clutches of both gargoyle geckos and crested geckos, though no longer do so.

Recently, I have been offered a breeding pair of triceros hoehnelii for a very generous price, I species I already keep, and the offer is incredibly tempting. I am fully prepared to commit, as I already have two spare enclosures and breed my own dubia for my mantids and other exotics.

Obviously, I'm only a teenager (19) with enough spare cash for this to be something I can healthily consider, but the world is not black and white if I go ahead with 'let's do it, everything will be alright'

I'm aware of some of the common issues - they just aren't compatible, low fertility or infertility etc, but I'm not the most educated on chameleon breeding (though I'm here to change that)

I know this is not a venture where I will make profit, and maybe I will only just scrape the top of earning back what is spent on care, but I would like to be fully educated before I accept this offer.

The biggest challenge new breeders run into is housing and feeding. Chameleons do not like to be kept in cages together and this is a compromise that people do because of space and cost. But this also puts you in a panic situation when the babies start fighting or “mysteriously” declining in health. Then you have to scramble to find new homes and are stuck with the ones that aren’t doing so well. So #1 is be ready with ample housing so you can enjoy growing them up and can keep them as long as necessary to find good and appropriate homes for them.

#2 is making sure you have enough food. I actually advise keepers of live bearing chameleons to keep dart frogs to make sure they have thriving colonies of fruit flies always on the ready. Babies eat a lot of food and that can get very expensive or even unobtainable on a short notice.

Planning ahead is the key to an enjoyable breeding experience. Have more housing set up than you think you need and get a system going to where food will be plentiful. And then you will spend you time with the babies enjoying every step of growth.

 

[jamest0o0]

Obviously bill^ is one of the best people to listen to about this. One other thing that comes to mind is the species of chameleon. Some(like veileds) breed like rabbits with large clutches taking little effort, others can require seasonal changes and tricky signals to initiate breeding. Some species eggs take much longer to hatch as well.

 

[Dionaeth]

The biggest challenge new breeders run into is housing and feeding. Chameleons do not like to be kept in cages together and this is a compromise that people do because of space and cost. But this also puts you in a panic situation when the babies start fighting or “mysteriously” declining in health. Then you have to scramble to find new homes and are stuck with the ones that aren’t doing so well. So #1 is be ready with ample housing so you can enjoy growing them up and can keep them as long as necessary to find good and appropriate homes for them.

#2 is making sure you have enough food. I actually advise keepers of live bearing chameleons to keep dart frogs to make sure they have thriving colonies of fruit flies always on the ready. Babies eat a lot of food and that can get very expensive or even unobtainable on a short notice.

Planning ahead is the key to an enjoyable breeding experience. Have more housing set up than you think you need and get a system going to where food will be plentiful. And then you will spend you time with the babies enjoying every step of growth.

Thank you so much for this advice. I do have four colonies of fruitflies running solely for my mantis nymphs, though no doubt with the expansion of both my chameleon collection and my mantis breeding, I will require PLENTY more. In addition to this, I breed stick insects to use as feeders.

I do have two free reptibreeze at the moment as well as a variety of hand-made mesh enclosures for both my larger mantis and stick insect colonies, so housing is not too much of a concern as I can easily place UVB above the smaller mesh enclosures for potential problematic babies.