Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,

I was wondering if you can house a jackson and veil chameleon in the same enclosure. Also I was wondering if you can handle the veil or jackson chameleons. My local pet store said if you handle the veil, it will die. Is this true?

Thanks,
Chris

sorry but it's not advisable. Chameleons are extremely territorial and they stress real easy, which leads to their immune system going haywire and that leads to real bad news. That's why it's not advisable to handle them much either, only when necessary. Baby veileds seem not to bother much with being handled but once they reach- what do you think everyone? 8 months or so?- they usually become very aggressive and want nothing to do with humans, or any other creature except insects for that matter. You also have to consider that their husbandry issues (their habitat needs, like temp. and humidity) are different and chameleons are very sensitive to their correct needs. Keeping them together would lead to trouble for sure. I hope this helps, L~

The other thing is that they have very different husbandry requirements so keeping them together would be a death sentance to at least one of them and with the stress to the other, possible both.
Chris
-----
Chris Anderson
parsonii_hoehnelii@hotmail.com
Chameleon Care and Information Center (CCIC) - http://www.geocities.com/ccicenter/
Chameleons Online E-zine - http://www.chameleonnews.com/
Captive Chameleon Bloodline Tacking Database - http://www.chameleondatabase.com/

Tell this to the pet smart by my house, I went in thier store to see 4 juvi veilds in the same cage as a sub adult jackson. When I told them they couldnt do this they told me I knew not what I was talking about. I then got up front with them and found myself being thrown out of the store. The sad thing is they knew they couldnt be kept together because of different husbandry requirments hence the care tags attached to the cage the veilds care was scratched out so you could only read the jackson care.

As the others have said, ther answer is an unequivocal "NO." As for the pet shop's statement about handling. I applaud this pet shop. Most will tell you anything to make a sale. While handling might not kill it outright, constant handling will most certainly shorten its life.
Ed