Can we talk about Senegals?

LLLReptile

LLLReptile

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Who else has some? How old are yours, what do you keep them in, where'd you get em, tell me about them!

I just picked up a couple to replace the Veileds in the vivarium on my work desk, and I'm curious about other people's experience with them. Fairly certain mine are female, I'll be watching our shipments for a male to pick up later on!

Since mine are still settling in, there's no endearing habits yet and they've just been drinking. They live in a front opening, heavily planted vivarium with a Sun Ray bulb for the warm side and a Reptile Vision light on the cool. Drinking and thermoregulating like champs, gonna offer them some roaches and crickets tomorrow.

I'd love to hear from other keepers who have had theirs for a while. If I do end up producing babies, they'll be sold through LLL, so tell me any tips or tricks you have found result in a lot of success with yours.

I've read the caresheets, I'm interested in personal experiences :)

-Jen
 
The vivarium :)

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-Jen
 
Hi, your viv looks fantastic but i would not house senegals in it. Without doors these chameleons will escape.
 
viv looks cool but i dont see many vines or branches for them to climb on. chams except maybe pigmys are more suited to a more vertical space. Sorry have kept Jacksons and vields not senagals but i recall others saying they have more docile personalities than vields and panthers. Good luck with yours.
 
I can't tell you 100% because I've yet to be really successful with senegals.

I can tell you they love a lot of foliage. Take what is okay for a veiled and double I or triple it. They spend a lot of time weaving around foliage. It is awesome to watch, I've never seen another chameleon move with as much grace through thick shrubbery.

They love a lot of rain / misting. The humid savannah they come from in Benin gets a ton of rain. They will drink a lot as well.

Because of the amount of rain they like (I suspect they need) the glass Viv will be no good. With the level of standing water and never really getting dry I would be concerned about a RI not to mention mold. I experienced issues with no barrier recognition with glass as well, while funny, isn't good for a cham.

I've read almost everything I could find on senegals and have limited experience the above is partially my experience and partially things I saw from so many different sources and matched my experience.

Keep us posted!
They are also not a communal species as many seem to think. They aren't aggressive so its an easy mistake to make, right up until one gets too stressed and dies. I only mention this because it sounded like you're keeping a couple.
 
djfishygillz said:
Senegals stay smaller than veileds and what not. I think senegals would do great in a beautiful cage like that.
Click to expand...

Senegals aren't that much smaller... I wouldn't use anything smaller than 16 x 16 x 30 and even that is a little small for an adult.
 
I've kept a few Senegals over the years. Kept them essentially like veileds....but they seem to need more water. I kept them in glass cages....some had front ventilation and screen lids...some had screen doors and lids....some only had screen lids. It's important not to let water lay stagnant on the floor the cages but it wasn't an issue when I used a dripper and sprayed the cage down. Most of them lived for over five years with me. You will find the odd one that doesn't acclimate well and not make it that long.
 
kinyonga said:
I've kept a few Senegals over the years. Kept them essentially like veileds....but they seem to need more water. I kept them in glass cages....some had front ventilation and screen lids...some had screen doors and lids....some only had screen lids. It's important not to let water lay stagnant on the floor the cages but it wasn't an issue when I used a dripper and sprayed the cage down. Most of them lived for over five years with me. You will find the odd one that doesn't acclimate well and not make it that long.
Click to expand...

I am confused about how you were able to avoid standing water. I used a drainage system and felt like I wasn't using enough water. I misted by hand for several minutes 3 to 4 times a day plus used a dripper. It seemed like if I forgot to mist when the cage dried out there would be an off color urate.

Any additional insight would be awesome. I really hope to breed these guys someday.
 
Pretty much as others of said. They need a good amount of water with misting as a preferred method of delivery. Lots and lots of ventilation. I've only ever kept them in all screen. Incubation of eggs was roughly 9 month's at 72f-76f.

Carl
 
They're little for now, and the ease of keeping humidity higher in the front opening ExoTerra terrariums I feel will help get them solid before considering a different style enclosure. I raised Veileds in this enclosure, and have brought up clutches of Rudis and Jackson's in glass, front-opening terrariums.

Not saying I won't move to a more ventilated or larger cage later, but for now this is what I'm using. I noticed yesterday a lot of pacing with the foliage that was originally in there, and added more plants, and found the pacing almost entirely stopped. You may not be able to see it, but there are branches in there, and the chameleons are small enough that they walk easily on the foliage. It's not full of dinky little manzanitas like many keepers are used to seeing for chameleons, but believe me, there's plenty of branchy things for them to climb on. :)

I also don't have standing water in the cage despite regular mistings. The vivarium thing helps immensely - with the number of plants in the cage I actually have to work to keep a small amount of water in the drainage layer at the bottom.

And yes, the front doors were just open ;) It does close.

Thanks for the input, folks - Kinyongia, that was super helpful, thanks. Same DanSB - the foliage needs I had noticed but it's good to see it's not just mine.

I'll let you guys know how they do. It's been 24 hours at this point, we'll see how things progress. I'm fortunate in that if I notice the viv isn't working, that same hour I can set up a different cage. Thanks again!

-Jen
 
LLLReptile...You're welcome. They are neat chameleons and I'd like to see some success with keeping them and breeding them.

DanSB...i made sure they drank well at least once a day by dripping water slowly on the tip of their noses. Because the climate in the house here is quite dry the water would evaporate overnight and never lay stagnant.
 
chameleonowner32 said:
Not when they get 12-15 inches and longer than the cage is tall. Its just not for chams. Its not tall enough for any cham. Reguardless if it has branches.
Click to expand...

I have never seen a senegal that large. I have seen them about 8 inches in length. If they get that large commonly then I would recommend a large cage. The enclosure appears large enough for that senegal in there at the moment. Maybe some more branches in my opinion.
 
djfishygillz said:
I have never seen a senegal that large. I have seen them about 8 inches in length. If they get that large commonly then I would recommend a large cage. The enclosure appears large enough for that senegal in there at the moment. Maybe some more branches in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I've never really seen them quite that large either, but I'm not ruling it out with good lighting, food, and care. These two are some of the smallest from the group we got in, and are only about 5" total length.

Crickets are being eaten, water is being drank, and traveling from basking spot to basking spot (I added another one that's a little cooler and does not have UVB) is happening. They both still look kinda beaten up, which is often the case for imports, so once they shed I'll post pics. :)

Thanks again for the help!!

-Jen
 
LLLReptile said:
I've never really seen them quite that large either, but I'm not ruling it out with good lighting, food, and care. These two are some of the smallest from the group we got in, and are only about 5" total length.

Crickets are being eaten, water is being drank, and traveling from basking spot to basking spot (I added another one that's a little cooler and does not have UVB) is happening. They both still look kinda beaten up, which is often the case for imports, so once they shed I'll post pics. :)

Thanks again for the help!!

-Jen
Click to expand...

I like the enclosure and think it is good for one senegal! Good luck to the little one. I also ordered some heat packs from you guys yesterday so I can ship some of my chams out!
 
One of em has shed already, lookin good :) They're both mowing down crickets like no one's business, and movin all over the place.

Added a manzanita branch for basking under the cooler of the two basking spots, but it's not really used. Both prefer leaves and vines rather than wood branches

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You can see the (ignored) branch in the background
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-Jen
 
That guy looks awesome (looks like a boy at least from that angle). They are probably the "cutest" cham species like little unadorned dancers.

I had a full grown male (12 inches if you count the tail) who would hang out perching on nothing but the schfleurra leaves. It always amazed me how that was even possible.

Keep posting pictures of these and you will be sold out before you know it!
 
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