Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ive been housing my juvie veileds together since september. They were hatchlings at the time. i have been keeping an eye on them for any signs of aggression or sexual maturation, but until today I sawe none. All of a sudden, I saw my female chasing my male around the cage. I seperated them immediately, but it was too late. The male's foot is mangled, she got him pretty good. He has a vet appointment tomorrow, but I was curious- is this typical behavior? From what I understand, typically if the female is unreceptive to mating, she will chase the male off, but thois was ridiculous. Although I have seen no mating attempts, I know I probably wouldnt. The female was very aggressively chasing the male. He was simply trying to escape. Can anyone help me shed some light on this? thank you.

What do you mean is this typical? There is literature all over unequivocally saying that chameleons are aggressive to one another. Yes there are very few exceptions to the norm, but your veileds were not going to be the exception.

I really hope your male gets better. I am sorry he had to pay for his owner's negligence.

Hope you have at least learned from this experience and never house them together again.

I dont think you understand that you are not talking to an inexperienced keeper. I have a lot of experience and have done extensive research on the topic. I own three books by reputable authors and have read countless webpages. I am not an idiot who does not know who to believe, nor am I negligent in any way, shape, or form. From what I have read, juvies can be housed together until breeding age, or signs of aggression begin. They are aggressive, yes, I understand that, but until today, all was well. I am not the type that does not keep an eye on them. Also, the fact that immediately after the fact, I got online in order to learn from my mistakes should show you I am neither negligent nor inexperienced. I never said I believed I was the exception to the rule, I simply wanted help. Obviously, you have no desire to help anyone, and I have no idea why you would post on this forum if your only intent is to be rude, ignorant, and not helpful in any way. Luckily, I know these forums well enough not to be discouraged, because I know not everyone here is like you. Thank you for nothing at all.

Well if you are so experienced and have read so many books by reputable authors then your problem is reading comprehension.

In my original email I never said you were an idiot, I did say you were negligent and I still do. Negligence consists on a person breaching his/her duty, and I belive it was you duty to house the chameleons in separate cages because their nature requires you to do so (they are aggressive to one another).

A veiled chameleon is usually considered sexually mature at 5-6 months (not that you have to breed them at that age, but they usually mature at such age and aggressive behavior increases).

Again, I don’t think I offended you in any way, I never said you were an idiot, the fact of the matter remains: your chameleon has a vet. appointment because of a "mangled foot" which is your fault (negligence or call it what you want.)

My suggestion was learn from you mistakes and never house them again together, if you don’t find that a helpful comment that is fine, maybe there was a nicer way to say it (I apologize), maybe I was just thinking on the chameleon's injured foot when I wrote this (I still think it was not the chameleon's fault).

The facts beg to differ on my reading comprehension. And I never tried to sound like a know-it-all, because, unlike some people, I realize I dont. That is precisely why I got online to ask my question. I never blamed this on my cham, but it was not negligence. My duty is to care for them, yes. And according to the knowledge I have gained, they were alright being housed together at their age. I have done my duty by doing my research, taking care of the problem when it arose, and doing my best to further my knowledge for the next time. I obviously would not house them together again, but if you'll look at the next post, you will see an example of someone who does house theirs together, so as you can see-its not all that rare. I have talked to several people who have. I know this is not the norm, and I didn't expect mine would work out this way. I have also read about large cages set up with several females and a male and some juvies as a replica of a natural environment that may be observed in a tree in which a dominant male will occupy the upper branches, and as you descend, you will find dominant females, followed by younger, and then even juvie males. I realize this is not the norm either, but is possible. As far as you know, I have an entire barn for my pair of chameleons. Trust me, I know what it is like to deal with people who don't care-my life is based around my reptiles. (work, home, and college)Just don't be so presumptuous about the people you are talking to. Some of them do care, and some of them are not as ignorant as you give them credit for.

It is obviously not the cham's fault, that is my whole point. If you dont want to admit fault on it (because you dont like the word negligence or for whichever other reason reason), that is ok, let the facts do their job. Nobody likes pointing fingers, especially in a forum and especially amongst strangers.

Yeah, I have also seen them being housed together in big cages as the other post suggests, and it is great to hear that you have an entire barn for your chameleons, I am glad they will eventually have lots of space.

I dont think I suggested you did not care, on the contrary having a vet.'s appointment tomorrow shows you do care. I really hope he gets better from his injured foot.

good night.

As i have already pointed out, I dont think it is the chams fault. I never denied that it was under my care that this happened, I simply stated that I did everything correctly to the knowledge of me and everything I've learned. And I never said I had a barn for them, I said as far as you know I could. You have no idea of my cage size, and therefore I believe it was wrong to presume things about something you dont know anything about. I don't like arguing in forums, but apparantly some people do. I just will not tolerate rudeness from someone who doesn't have the insight into my husbandry to make tohe judgements he is making. All I did was ask a simple question, I did not need your holier-than-thou attitude.

That is fine, I already understood you did not like my attitute when I said it was your fault that the chameleon had been bitten for housing them together. I acknowledge the fact that there are better ways of saying that it is not intelligent to house two veiled chameleons in the same cage.

So I really hope the poor chameleon's foot gets better and I also hope it never happens again (I dont think it will, you have learned your lesson apparently.)

yeah it's pretty much typical behavior for the chams to be very aggresive to each other i have a trio of veilds that the females wont tolerate each other at all and sometimes attack the male if im not careful all i can tell you is what works for me i have a pretty big cage that allways has a male and female i think its alot of things thatmakes it so they dont fight first and foremost is space i also feed seperatly in different cups and alot of hiding places most of the time though they just perch next to each other oh and aslo i always seperate when a female gets gravid or to aggressive

p.s. im not saying this will work for everyone or claiming to be a professional chameleon mind reader (lol)just saying it works for me!

p.s.s. i hope his foot gets better