Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just got a F. verrucosus yesterday and i love it! does anyone else keep these? its drinking well and even took some food right outta my hand. i've read everything i could and have kept some chameleons before, but any hands-on advice would be great too. thanks
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1.1 crested gecko
0.2 antherystic kenyan sand boa
0.2 madagascar ground boa
0.0.1 frilled dragon
1.1 cook's tree boa

What is the sex? Is it a wild caught animal or captive bred? This makes a big difference. I have never kept them personally, but I have oustaleti, which are very similar. But my advice would be do not cage it. Free range is the best method by far. Bigger chams really stress out when they do not have a large teritory to roam and protect. Also, even though they are considered "dessert" chams,they require ALOT of water. The bigger the cham is, they more water it needs. My melleri and oustaleti drink more that any chams i have ever seen. So my advice is lots of space, lots of water (I take my chams out of their free ranges and place them into a shower or sink and mist them for about 20 minutes a day, they really seem to enjoy it.) Though they need lots of water, do not soak the enclosure as this can result in bacterial infections (Such as in Melleri, when they develop soars on their feet. I do not know if this applies to spiny chams, but this is just a coutionary note. Again, this is just my opion, from my experience. Good look, I hoped this helps.

Anthony

I've kept wc verrucosus in the past. Beautiful species I think! Can be very shy and quick to hide or run. All but one of mine was a bit nippy too. Actually mine did not require a huge amount of water, nothing like a melleri IMHO. But, this doesn't mean you can skip the daily spraying and good humidity levels. Humidity over 60%, with at least one drier period every day (around noon would be the most natural). Slightly cooler basking temps than veiled, but not much. They WILL need a larger cage than a veiled too. Mine tended to prefer soft bodied worms over crickets possibly because in the wild they would select this type of prey because it is a good source of moisture. Green prey such as hornworms were favorites. Decorate the cage with lots of bark covered branches as well as foliage so they can "hide". Mine did not use drippers at all. If this is wc, get several fecal checks for parasites over 2-3 months.

Carlton has some very good info, probably (Most likely) more accurate than mine. Like I said before I have never kept Spiny chams, but I know a importer/breeder who keeps them and he told me he keeps them virtually the same as his melleri, but a little warmer and drier. Also, furcifer V. are rather similar to Oustaleti, and aIvirtually keep my melleri and ousti's the same (but my oustaleti are kept at igher temps, but they get the same moisture, they really drink alot.) Though they are similar, they are not the same. But experience is the trick to knowing, not hearing or reading things (to a certain extent), so I would go with Carlton on this one. sorry about the misleading info, thats my fault.

Anthony

not sure on sex, havent had it to the vet yet to check. i was told that it was captive born and it's in really good shape. its drinking water of the leaves in its cage and eats outta a feeding cup, which i always use with chams to kep the uneaten food from stressing the cham. its in a smaller cage now cuz its still small but im definately going to give it a bigger on soon. i cant free range in my apartment, but i have no problem with giving it a big cage. i figure 4x4x6 would be fine. cool end of the cage is about 76 and its 90 right under the light and it roams all over the place. if anyone else has any info at all, please chime in. i just love this little guy. it has to be the most personable cham i've ever had.
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0.1 frilled dragon
0.0.1 giant leaf-tailed gecko
D. auratus
0.0.1 F. verrucosus

I think, with less commonly kept species like this we still don't have their requirements down pat as we do for veileds or panthers. So, there's variation in how people have kept them and been successful. I also noticed mine would drink like fish for the first few months until they had better body condition and reserves, then their water requirements dropped off quite a bit. The real test will be successful breeding to several generations. Their wild range is fairly large, so there may well be variations based on where each keepers' individuals came from. I liked their beaded skin pattern and dorsal spines. My male would get a lot of metallic green/blue, a snow white gular area, bright turquoise dots with black borders when pissed. He could turn almost completely white if I had to medicate him for something. He lived for over 5 years and went from emotional ninny to mellow old gent near the end.

The following site has information on sexual
dimorphism (differences in the sexes). They are not particularly
difficult to sex. It also has quite a lot of information on
keeping them.
http://ADCHAM.com/html/taxonomy/species/fverrucosus.html
They are beautiful but shy chameleons. I hope it does well for
you!

well, according to the stuff on adcham, it's a boy. everyone says that these guys are shy, but this one doesn't seem to mind handling at all. it wont even change colors when its handled. i just love this little guy.
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0.1 frilled dragon
0.0.1 giant leaf-tailed gecko
D. auratus
0.0.1 F. verrucosus