It's been a number of years since I've personally kept any chameleons. I used to keep and breed Veiled about 10 years ago. I kept a pair of Ch. deremensis for a while as well. In any event, I find it curious that much of the methodology for keeping chameleons which has become, at least as it appears to me, dogma does not necessarily have a great deal of support behind it. There are a couple of standard methods in particular that stand out to me as being unsupported in their rationale.



The first method is the "need" chameleons have for a temperature drop at night. Why do they prefer or "need," as is often stated explicitely, for there to be a 10 F drop in temperature at night? What benefit does this give? Why should the temperature drop down below 70 F at night for chameleons to be 'happy?' I've never seen such a recommendation made for any other group of animals, much less reptiles. Of course this happens in nature, but why would we assume this is a requirement? Typhoons happen too, and hit the areas where chameleons inhabit. Should we try to recreate that? It just seems to me that there is little if any support that allowing the temperature to drop significantly at night is in any way beneficial or necessary for chameleons to be quite content.



The second methodolgy I'd like to consider is the 'requirement' that chameleons be housed in screened cages. Why do chameleons, apart from any other group of animals I've ever encountered, have some special requirement for screening? Why would a more enclosed terrarium (perhaps avoiding glass as the reflection in glass can indeed be quite stressful) be less optimal? Often some of the smaller chameleons of the genera Rhampholeon and Brookesia are indeed housed in modified glass aquaria with excellent results. Why would their larger cousins in the genera Chameleo, Furcifer and Calumma be so drastically different in their requirements? When I maintained and bred Veiled I housed them in screened cages at first, as it was common knowledge that this was the "proper" way to maintain them. I lived in MI at the time. During the warmer months of the year the screened cages worked very well. Maintaining humidity and good conditions was easy. During the winter months, however, with indoor heating it was difficult at best to maintain adequate humidity and I lost many neonates due to dehydration while using screened cages. I eventually started to use mostly-enclosed glass aquariums for neonatees during the colder months (indoor heating) and found much better success. The chameleons didn't seem to care at all that they were enclosed and in fact did much better in the warm, humid conditions. It is not at all uncommon to house chameleons in Europe in mostly enclosed glass terraria. So, why then is it considered necessary or even perhaps beneficial to strive for a screened cage? Having said all that, of course sufficient air exchange and movement is necessary to maintain healthy conditions, but if this can be accomplished with relatively little ventilation for other animals (think about dart frog husbandry which also requires high humidity--those hobbyists all tend to use mostly enclosed terraria to help maintain humidity) why then do chameleons "need" to be kept in screen cages?



Your thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.



Best,



Chris

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