Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have any info on them?
I just got 2 and would love to read up on them.

Thank you,
K

Go to www.adcham.com . That website has good caresheets. But you are already behind the curve. that wasn't the best move buying a cham before you knew anything about it. Usually such chameleons as senegals and gracefuls have high parastie loads, and are associated with a high mortality rate. My advice to you is keep them nice and hydrated, and get them into a big screen enclosure with lots of cover and let them be. Just go in to feed and spray. I would recomemd to keep the handling to a very minimun. Chams are not good "pets" because they spress easily and usually most chams do not like to be handled. But good luck.

Thanks.
I guess you are right, but I have had veiled chameleons in the past. The guy had said these were easier to take care of.
I have 4 chameleon books at home and none of them have anything about this particular kind of lizard in them.
I can't find much on the web either.
I do have them in a huge screened cage.
I just wanted to find out about their personalities,etc.
I love reading up on all the different types of chameleons.

K

>> The guy had said these were easier to take care of.

The guy that sold them to you is a salesman. He would have told you anything to get you to buy them.

This next to senegalensis is probably one of the hardest species to keep. It is found throughout tropical Africa so matching habitat type is never easy.

I would collect fecals as soon as possible to get them tested. This species usually carries a high parasite load. The parasites combined with stress and improper enviorment will take a quick toll on them.

Petr Necas covers the tropical species(senegalensis, dilepis, and gracilis) well in Natures Hidden Jewels.

Carl

Gracefuls and Senegals are cheap for petshops to buy as they are still imported commonly. They aren't treated very well either, as the financial losses are not great for anyone. So sad. The seller doesn't know what he's talking about unless he has successfully kept and bred gracefuls himself. I doubt it! They can be very timid and secretive, but a large foliage filled cage is a good start. It will let you create a larger range of microclimates they can use. You should separate them if they are not already (or your cage is big enough for you to walk into), until you know their personalities very well. They may not get along and will stress each other most of the time and compete for the best basking and sleeping spots, compete for food and water and for general "security" parts of the cage. This stress will tend to add to the stress from parasites too. To keep your big cage humidified I'd suggest using an ultrasonic humidifier on a multiple setting timer. Get a good new ReptiSun 5.0, keep the cage very clean (to help get rid of any parasites that survive treatment), try offering flying insect prey like houseflies from Grubco. Weigh them on a schedule as often the females arrive gravid and can die from egg binding. If one starts gaining a lot more weight in a short time you'll need to prepare an egg laying bin for her. There are good keeper articles on this site too:

http://www.chameleonnews.com

Thank you.
I appreciate your help