why not to breed a small male veiled?

[thephotoprincess]

so ... I'm considering breeding veiled chameleons in the future. I have a couple babies, including a high-yellow male and an attractive light green female that I think would make cute babies. They are babies themselves so this is far in the future, IF I decide to make that commitment.

My question though is about a recently acquired male. He is supposed to be two years old but his size is about that of a 6-7 month old male. he looks mature though. He has no signs of MBD, he just looks like he wasn't well cared for as a baby and may be stunted. I've had some experts (breeders) look at him but he hasn't been vet-checked yet - I've only had him a week.)

Because of his size, I do NOT think we should breed him, even if he is in otherwise good health. my husband thinks it would be okay if his issue isn't genetic. We did not get him to breed, rather, he is adorable and we thought we could give him a better home than he had.

IF we decide to breed, I only want to breed good quality animals and make gorgeous healthy babies. Logan, my "teacup" veiled is sweet and mellow and a great pet and I am happy to have him be that, rather than breed for the sake of breeding.

I am mostly looking for some good information to pass on as to why breeding an undersized chameleon would not be a good idea. (it seems obvious to me but he comes from a different background with animals.)

 

[jr andrade]

Hey, i don't think it would matter if the male was small it would matter if the female was though so i don't think you'll have any problems his stunted growth may be genetic though and whats wrong with a small chameleon?
Anyone know more about this?

 

[CamoTheChameleon408]

Hey, people breed all these "teacup" dogs, why not teacup chams! LoL...they could be the next craze...hehe...But kidding aside, I think that as long as both chameleons were healthy and the female isn't big enough to hurt the male, it should be ok.

 

[thephotoprincess]

thanks for your thoughts. I know we could do it, I just think if we are going to breed and put all that work into it we should breed our best animals, not just any animals.

(though if I could get $100s of dollars for "teacup" chams like they do for dogs I might think about it!!)

 

[pssh]

Hey, i don't think it would matter if the male was small it would matter if the female was though so i don't think you'll have any problems his stunted growth may be genetic though and whats wrong with a small chameleon?
Anyone know more about this?

Small chameleons may have internal problems that will go undetected until something goes wrong. Just as with any abnormal animal. I am trying to breed my petite male sambava panther to an also petite female. I was told by one or two people that if she made larger normal sized eggs she may not be able to lay them which would result in her needing surgery or her death. Her hips dont seem any smaller than any other female though, so I'm still going to go through with it as soon as she finally gets receptive.

With a male there is less of a reason to not breed. You may end up with some messed up babies if it indeed is some sort of genetic problem, but if you don't mind possibly having to cull the babies then go ahead. Unless he has something wrong with him that is affecting his man-bits and other related man stuff then he should be able to breed just fine.

 

[facelesdoll]

ok its simply put like this.. none of us even the great wizard chris anderson, would be able to decypher a plausibilty in either direction without a geneticist and some blood work done. my alternative to this, is breed him! the problems you would be looking for in the offspring would be as follows, small babies/slow growing/lack of vigor. only this will tell you if he is good, the bad, or the ugly. honestly, i believe the only symptoms you would see are nice size babies that just barely grow a little slower than the average if at all. everything would most likely go fine as planned and normal.

 

[lisa h]

Hey, people breed all these "teacup" dogs, why not teacup chams! LoL...they could be the next craze...hehe...But kidding aside, I think that as long as both chameleons were healthy and the female isn't big enough to hurt the male, it should be ok.

Yes, people do breed teacup dogs, and they have MANY health problems due to their small size. If the chameleon was "stunted", then IMO it is not healthy, and therefore shouldn't be bred.

 

[pssh]

On a side note, if anyone wants to take on breeding down some bigger chameleons I'm sure it would be possible. Not to the degree of teacup doggies (Which I feel sooo bad for!) You probably wouldn't be able to do so with panthers while keeping the locales pure though.