AFRICAN WOMAN AND CHILD FEATURE SERVICE (Nairobi, Kenya) 07 April 05 Making Money From Chameleons (Arthur Okwemba

Nairobi: Chameleon, that reptile which makes most people's skin crawl, is emerging a respectable money earner in European, American and Asian markets.

Recently, a deputy director at the Kenya Wildlife Services, said Kenya would soon start exporting chameleons to these markets in what he called a multi-million dollar trade.

But some adventurous Kenyans are already making money from the reptile. For the last three years, 50-year-old William Karanja has exported more than 300 chameleons to Holland, Belgium, Britain, Japan and Germany, where they are kept as pets.

Mr William Karanja with one of his chameleons at his farm in Karen. He is rearing more than 500 chameleons and has exported some 300 others to Europe and Asia. Photo by Arthur Okwemba.

In most of these countries, it is estimated that rich people spend as much as Sh50,000 on one chameleon as a birthday present for their wives, fiances, and children.

Because chameleons are extinct in most parts of the world except in Africa, where an estimated 100 species can still be found, they are a treasure in other continents where most people have never seen the animal.

It has also been rumoured that besides being kept as pets, chameleons are used in preparing cuisines or for medicinal purposes in some countries. Even Karanja, does not know much about that. "When someone makes an order, I do not ask what they are going to do with the chameleons. I just supply."

Just like any other businessman, Karanja is not keen on disclosing how much he makes from the reptiles but says: "I cannot say things are bad. The exports are helping me get by."

According to chameleon breeders, one animal goes for about Sh3700 at wholesale prices. These means if a person exports 100 chameleons, they make about Sh 370,000. But if the purchase is for less than 10 chameleons then each can fetch as much as Sh7400

Another farmer, Don Goossens who is in flower business in Naivasha, has been looking for an export license to sell part of his estimated 1,000 chameleons abroad.

KWS is also planning to grant a licence to Hussein Teizan, a tortoise breeder and one of the owners of Is-hal Reptile Village in Namanga on the Kenya-Tanzania border, to start breeding chameleons.

Although Karanja, the director of the Old World Kinyonga Reptile Farm that was formerly known as Cameleo of Chamelot Farm, has over 500 chameleons currently on his farm, he says it has been tough to come this far. When in 1995, Karanja with a masters degree in biochemistry and a plum job at Kenya Breweries applied for a licence to breed chameleons even KWS did not know how to handle the request.

However, in the same year, KWS allowed Karanja to get 60 chameleons from the wild to start off his farming. The chameleons were of two species: The three-horned Chamaeleo jacksonii or the Kikuyu chameleon - because it is restricted to the Central highlands of Kenya - and Chamaeleo hoennelli, the bearded chameleon.

Getting an export licence is not an easy task as the breeder has to fulfil many conditions. Both Karanja and Goossens, who are veterans in the breeding of chameleons, warn people not to think it is a quick money minting business.

For one to be allowed to sell chameleons, they have to go through a long process. First is to get permission from KWS to capture the animals from the wild and breed them on the farm, and then later sell their offspring.

Once on the farm, chameleons collected from the wild remain the property of KWS. Even after delivering, the original collection and the second generations still belong to KWS.

The breeder is only allowed to sell the third generation. KWS grants an export license at a fee of Sh 2,000 for every consignment exported, once a person with the third generation chameleons has found a market for them.

These generations however do not come that easy. It took Karanja seven years to get the third generation of chameleons while it has taken Goossens over four years to get to the second generation.

A chameleon's gestation period is 10 months, and is capable of delivering between 15 to 35 neonates or young ones at a go. Karanja says with the experience he has, he can ensure a 95 per cent survival rate, meaning the neonates attain the age of three months.

Most of these chameleons are then exported when they are between four to 20 months old, because customers would like to monitor them as they grow, especially when they attain the age of six months, a time when they acquire the ability to mimic the coloration of the environment.

To ensure all the conditions are followed, KWS together with the National Museums of Kenya make impromptu visits to the breeders' farms to determine whether the animals are being treated well. Any lapse on laid down procedures and conditions could lead to the suspension of the license of its withdrawal altogether.

Fulfilling KWS conditions is just one of the many difficult handles chameleon breeders say one should be prepared to face. Feeding the animals is another one. Every morning, the breeders have to send out people to hunt for all types of insects - grasshoppers, praying mantis, aphids, locusts and crickets.

These insects have to be kept alive because chameleons do not feed on dead things. The number of insects and their sizes depend on the size and age of a chameleon. Elderly chameleons will feed on huge and more than one insect compared to the young ones. If one chameleon eats two insects everyday, and you have 500 as in Karanja's case, then 1,000 insects are required daily.

"This is not an easy task, you have to go out of your way because you want to give the animals a balanced diet by providing a variety of insects," says Karanja.

He has employed one person on a monthly salary of Sh8,000 who ensures the availability of a meal for the reptiles and their general upkeep. In Goossens's case, more than three insect hunters are employed because he needs a minimum of 2000 insects everyday.

The tricky part is feeding young chameleons that are less than three months old. Because they feed on minute flies that cannot be easily captured by insect hunters, other strategies have to be found.

What the breeders do in this case is to collect fruits peelings and place them inside the chameleons cages. The peelings will attract small flies on which the young chameleons will feed. Karanja is planning to start breeding insects on his farm.

Besides the flies, the chameleons have to be provided with water, vitamin A supplements, and protected from excessive sun rays. In addition, the neonates have to be protected from the older ones, which feed on them.

The breeder has to monitor their health and mating needs. The breeder has to study and know when the chameleons are ready to mate, placing those of the same species together for that purpose. Changing of appearance to certain colours by females is one of the indications they are ready to mate.

In case there are no appropriate males to mate with the females, for instance, the breeder has to seek permission from KWS to get some from the wild.
Making Money From Chameleons

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