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Hi everyone! My pair are doing great, however I did have to separate them into different cages. I had them in a very large (3x3x4) cage together at first and after about a week saw that the female was more aggressive and assertive than the male and he had stopped eating and being active. I had 2 of everything set up (mister nozzles, humidity outlets, heat lamps, etc.) in different locations of the cage but the male was still being stressed out. I quickly put them in their own set up and now both are doing very well. The male eats 1 cricket or silky daily, but never more than one. The female eats 3-4 crickets or supers or silkies at the most a day and 1 at the least....she is such a piggy. I was just wondering what experiences that other werneri owners have had regarding food consumption and co-habitation. (Yes, you too Eve! Thanks!

Oh, and here are some pics! Enjoy!

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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

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And the female!

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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

I don't have werneri but i have a WC Mt meru male and behaves the same way as your male. He will only eat one cricket a day, and he will only eat that cricket from a tupperware. The cricket has to be trying to escape the tupperware also so I tilt it and as it tries to climb the sides he shoots his tongue at it. Kind of a hassle, but I think he is healthy. I have the right setup but his apetite has gone down considerably since I first got him but I hear that is a pattern in WC species. They eat like crazy at first and once they adjust their apetites decrease and it is at this point that highly stressed WC cham's perish. I don't think this will happen to our males! They are montane species and their apetites tends to be very tiny, a large cricket a day seems to be OK for my male for about 2 weeks now.

Zen - have you weighed your female? Just trying to get a good idea of an average weight on female Werneri.
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Frogs - D. leucomelas, D. tinctorius, D. azureus, D. auratus, P. vittatus, P. bicolor
Chams - Werner's, Panthers, Veiled
Geckos - Cresteds, Gargoyles
Rough Scaled Sand Boa

Thanks for the replies. They both have been eating every day so I'm not too worried...the female more than the male. I haven't weighed my female yet, I'll do it tomorrow after work and post. Their lights are off so I don't want to disturb her. How much is yours?

Yeah, I have to put the insects right in front of their face or on the screen on the side of the cage for them to strike at it. If it's far away they don't seem to "hunt" for it and just let it pass by without going after it. Now I know their idiosyncracies so it's easier to feed and know what to expect. Thanks again.

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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

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What kind of plant is he sitting on? I have one here but I assumed it was poisonous. Id love to put it in my chams cage if it is safe?
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1:0 Veiled (Gene)
1:0 Sambava Panther (Knoxville)
1:1 Albino Clawed Frogs (Phedre and Jos)
?? Fire belly toad (Harold)
Various cats and dogs

all of them
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0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

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And sometimes they eat about 4 to 5 crickets. They had slowed a bit after the first week I got them. But now we are back to everyday.

One problem I have is they will not eat out of the container, I have tried several different ones, they don't like them. I think they were not feed like that from where I got them.

They move around alot so I let some loose in there, and also, have let them both take crickets from my hand(which is very cool) Now I notice when they are hungry they hang around the front of the cage when they see me.

Also as far as having them together, I was afraid the first week that they may have problems, the females do seem to be more aggressive. Zambi my female would sway ANYTIME the male was in her site, let alone near her. LOL

But as time went on, they got closer to one another on the branches, maybe 6 to 8 inches apart all the time. And the swaying stopped.

Cutest thing, last 2 nights when the light was ready to go off I searched for them, and they are sleeping together, the female , and Zimba the male right behind her tail, now.

So I dont'now if this is the beginning of a love affair and they may mate or what ,(they are new to me also) but it's pretty cool, I feel like they are happy.

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PHEve/ Eve

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That's so great Eve! I wish my female wasn't as aggressive...their co-habitation did not work for me. I will probably introduce the female with the male after they've gotten to be really stable.

I also have to hand feed mine...they take it right away. I think it is really cute when the male eats...the cricket or silky is probably as big or bigger than his head or the silky is about half to 3/4ths the length he is and he takes them down! I was pretty impressed.
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

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How they prefer to eat, being wc's I do not think they ever got used to using a container, as they were not in captivity very long until sold.

Mine will hunt and prefer it. And take it from me as I said, they see it and its snatched up. And I also love to see them do this, Hhehehe .

I love watching them chew the big thing, it's comical, reminds me of watching people without teeth chewing. REAL OLD people.

They are very cute little chameleons.
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PHEve/ Eve

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Have you given any thought to the possibility that the reactions
between the male and female could be due to the female being
gravid (pregnant)?? If I remember correctly from my limited
experience with Werneri, the females have their babies in about
June. Your female looks gravid in the picture you posted after
this one. (I can't "swear" to it, but I think she is....I'm
mostly going by her belly size.) I assume that you are
aware that these are live-bearers?

Does her color/pattern darken/change when she gets near the male?
If she is swaying and gaping and perhaps even lunging at him when
he comes near its likely that she is non-receptive/gravid and
giving him that message by her color and body language...and from
the sounds of it he is taking heed of her message and because
he can't escape her is stressed out/not eating, etc.

If I were you, I would leave the female alone as much as possible
right now in case she is gravid. IMHO its not good to stress out
a gravid female by being around her more than necessary until she
has her babies. Just my two cents worth.

I know cham behaviors well (have kept and bred C. calyptratus and F. pardalis) I am not a novice by any means but this is my first pair of C.t werneri and with new territory just wanted to know if other werneri owners have had the same experiences or different experiences than me. I am not positive that she's gravid but I too, think that she is...that's why I separated them after a week together when I saw a change in the male's behavior. I am well aware of their reproduction and behaviors. But thanks for your 2 cents!

On a side note, the weights of mine are:

Male: 10 grams and Female: 30 grams!

Does anybody else have weights? Thanks!
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

Hey Zen - I hope that your female is gravid. But that is a pretty big size difference between the two - the female may just be exerting a little dominance. My female weighed 31g as of last week - I am weighing her regularly, as I suspect my female to be gravid as well. She spends a considerable amount of time basking (much more so than my male), and she has putting on about a gram a week for the last month and a half. Here is a pic of the female:

My male weighs 37g (he is a bit of a tank). Here is a pic of him that I shot last week - unfortunately he was in a shed. His sides are a neon green color. He eats everything that he can find.

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Frogs - D. leucomelas, D. tinctorius, D. azureus, D. auratus, P. vittatus, P. bicolor
Chams - Werner's, Panthers, Veiled
Geckos - Cresteds, Gargoyles
Rough Scaled Sand Boa

Hi Rozdaboff, I hope that she is too! Nice pics of your male and female. Yes, my male is on the small side. Hope he'll get bigger and flourish under my care...keep me posted on your guys' progress. It will be nice to get some of these guys bred in captivity.
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com