Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today I received my trio of Quadrucornis. They are absolutley beautiful. LLL reptiles did a fantastic job at picking out beautiful specimens. They are a little stresses out, but are acclimating very nicely. They are in their 4x2x2(hxwxd)all 1/4inch hardware screen cages with a a large ficus tree. The temperature in the room is about 70 degrees and they have a 40w basking bulb (Even though I heard they rarely ever bask). I have sprayed then several times to try to get the humindity up in the cages and hydrate them. For any one who has kept quadricornis before, is there anything I am doing wrong? How long should it be until they eat? And does anyone know how many clutches a female can have, I have read only 3 before they die. Is this true?

Quads can be very shy, (esp. the females),
The more plant cover you can give them the better.
If you leave them alone/or cover the fronts of the cages
so they can't see you, they should come around in a few days and start eating. Then you can slowly remove the cover over time
once they get used to you. I've had 2 females that both died after about the 2nd or 3rd clutch.. but they were older imports, so it's hard to say.
The males are more outgoing, I had one for years who would hand feed while holding him, I really like their personalites.
You might want to try a cool mist humidifier on intermitently, they seem to like hanging out in the spray for long periods.
garrett

I have not kept quads myself, but know many who have. Lots of dense foliage in the cage and lots of humidity...get an ultrasonic room humidifier if you don't have it already...it will pay for itself over and over. The 3 clutch thing sounds bogus (or the experience of a one time breeder who lost some wc females with health problems) to me. I've never heard of any herp that automatically dies after a specific number of clutches. I do know that controlling the food intake and a seasoonal cooling period can extend the life and health of females. Petr Necas excellent cham book "Chameleons, Nature's Hidden Jewels" discusses quad husbandry. I think Kammerflage Kreations offers the book on their website. If you don't have it you should consider getting a copy.

Yea the 3 clutch thing doesn't sound right to me either,
just passing along my experience and perpetuating the myth

Here's a profile you might want to read. These people have
been keeping and breeding quads successfully for quite a few
years.
http://ADCHAM.com/html/taxonomy/species/chquadricornis.html

In their profile it says that quads can produce 3 clutches
per year...and I know that they have had at least one of their
females for a lot longer than that.

Good luck with them! They are awesome chameleons!

Thank you for all of the information, it has been helpful. Right after I put up my post one of my females ate. And the food in the other two cages dissappeared also, so I am assuming they ate too. The strange thing is that everywhere I have read that the females are much more shy that the males, but with mine, they females are not frightened of my and do not try to hide when I walk in the room as the male does. Every time I am in the room to spray and feed hey immediately goes to the opposite side of the cage to hide from me. I'm sure after he has acclimated a little,he will not be so nervous. Also, what I ment by the 3 clutches is that I ahve read that on average females do not survive after laying many clutch (3 or 4 being about the average) but from what I have been told, females are capable of laying more that that in a lie time. Thanks again. Hopefuly I can figure out how to post pictures soon. If any one can help explain this to me, i would be extremely thankful.