2 chameleon, 1 cage, different times

[Kiwiflage]

I had a thought earlier today that aroused my curiosity. If I had several "normal" sized cages and I have a giant enclosure(primarily breeding purposes) and I switched different chameleons in these enclosures pretty frequently, would they detect another chameleon was recently there? Of course the last thing I want to do is stress them out, and my handling is really at a minimum, just was curious if anybody had some knowledge to shed on this matter

 

[xephyr17]

I think they might be able to, but I don't know that that's the major issue. It seems they'd be stressed by more or less constant change.

 

[Sanababit]

Also read that they can transfer diseases pretty easily, and it takes long for the chameleon to show his sickness, unless you know that all your chams are healty, but dont take my word for it, i am new,

Sana

 

[Carlton]

I had a thought earlier today that aroused my curiosity. If I had several "normal" sized cages and I have a giant enclosure(primarily breeding purposes) and I switched different chameleons in these enclosures pretty frequently, would they detect another chameleon was recently there? Of course the last thing I want to do is stress them out, and my handling is really at a minimum, just was curious if anybody had some knowledge to shed on this matter

Some species tend to mark their territory branches during defecation and others don't. The ones that do also tend to "taste" branches for evidence of other chams, but others don't seem to. I don't think veileds do this very often but I've read that panthers definitely do. Not sure about other species.

Chams don't like change in their territories, so I think rotating them into different cages very often would upset them unnecessarily. But, if the cages are not changed once they are set up, maybe giving each of your chams some time in the large cage would be appreciated as long as its familiar. But, putting them back in the smaller cages again would be frustrating for them. I think I'd give them larger "home territory" cages and introduce the mate to that instead. It might be somewhat closer to a wild situation...a female visits a territorial male's turf for example.

 

[melble68]

Some species tend to mark their territory branches during defecation and others don't. The ones that do also tend to "taste" branches for evidence of other chams, but others don't seem to. I don't think veileds do this very often but I've read that panthers definitely do. Not sure about other species.

Chams don't like change in their territories, so I think rotating them into different cages very often would upset them unnecessarily. But, if the cages are not changed once they are set up, maybe giving each of your chams some time in the large cage would be appreciated as long as its familiar. But, putting them back in the smaller cages again would be frustrating for them. I think I'd give them larger "home territory" cages and introduce the mate to that instead. It might be somewhat closer to a wild situation...a female visits a territorial male's turf for example.

Great reply Carlton. Panthers definitely do "taste" branches for sure. Both my male and female routinely "taste" as they move around there own enclosures. I would be paranoid about "rotating" different chams into my big outdoor enclosure that my male primarily is in during the spring, summer, and fall. I have enough material (pvc coated hardware cloth) to do another big enclosure next spring for my female when she's a lil bit bigger.