Hello,
I have a female Jackson's chameleon who gave birth to 18 baby chameleons out of the blue last Thursday. She was from Petco (where I work) and was cohabited with a male for a long time and had a round of babies about 5 or so months ago. I was not at all expecting to come home from college to find 19 chameleons! They were promptly separated into a spare screen cage within half an hour of me finding them.
All of them are still alive and seem to be doing well, everyone is eating their fruit flies and drinking plenty of water (I offer more flies 3-5 times daily and mist them with distilled water every time I feed them). I currently have all 18 living together in a zilla fresh air screen habitat wrapped with Saran Wrap on three sides with a few fake plants, sticks, and a live money tree inside. They have a linear UVB light and I am heating them with a 40 watt bulb during the day.
Now, I also have a spare cage (an exoterra 18x18x24 all glass enclosure) and a spare heat lamp and 40 watt bulb. I know that adult chameleons need a screen enclosure, but I've heard some people use glass cages with success for neonates. So, my question is, should I split them into the two cages so they can have more space or leave them in the screened cage? The two cages would have to share a UVB lamp (half on one cage, half on the other) since I only have one reptile at a time and do not want to spend a good $70 on another UBV lamp. I've already purchased a third heat lamp and bulb, dumb cane plant, vines, and fake plants for the glass cage in case I end up putting eight or so in there since they keep flaring and walking on top of each other. These babies were not planned or expected, so I am doing the best I can for them with what I have and buying as little as possible. My boss is also not offering any help even though this is entirely her fault, but to be honest I wasn't expecting anything else from her.
Thank you!
I have a female Jackson's chameleon who gave birth to 18 baby chameleons out of the blue last Thursday. She was from Petco (where I work) and was cohabited with a male for a long time and had a round of babies about 5 or so months ago. I was not at all expecting to come home from college to find 19 chameleons! They were promptly separated into a spare screen cage within half an hour of me finding them.
All of them are still alive and seem to be doing well, everyone is eating their fruit flies and drinking plenty of water (I offer more flies 3-5 times daily and mist them with distilled water every time I feed them). I currently have all 18 living together in a zilla fresh air screen habitat wrapped with Saran Wrap on three sides with a few fake plants, sticks, and a live money tree inside. They have a linear UVB light and I am heating them with a 40 watt bulb during the day.
Now, I also have a spare cage (an exoterra 18x18x24 all glass enclosure) and a spare heat lamp and 40 watt bulb. I know that adult chameleons need a screen enclosure, but I've heard some people use glass cages with success for neonates. So, my question is, should I split them into the two cages so they can have more space or leave them in the screened cage? The two cages would have to share a UVB lamp (half on one cage, half on the other) since I only have one reptile at a time and do not want to spend a good $70 on another UBV lamp. I've already purchased a third heat lamp and bulb, dumb cane plant, vines, and fake plants for the glass cage in case I end up putting eight or so in there since they keep flaring and walking on top of each other. These babies were not planned or expected, so I am doing the best I can for them with what I have and buying as little as possible. My boss is also not offering any help even though this is entirely her fault, but to be honest I wasn't expecting anything else from her.
Thank you!
