Coexisting

[kekulpac]

I know panther chameleons are solitary reptiles, but I was considering adding a female to the enclosure where my male is currently. Because it is a 6ft X 8ft X 8.5 foot enclosure, I figure they would have enough room to coexist and not stress each other out. My male is currently 6 months old and the female would be around 4.5-5 months old.



Problems?

 

[carol5208]

not a good idea. The male will want to mate and will stress the female out. If you want them in the same cage then divide the cage into two sections.

 

[tenchijin]

The problem isn't the space so much, it's that they're visually oriented. So just *seeing* the female will cause him to chase her down and try to mate. That puts way too much stress on the female. She needs a physical and visual barrier.
Aric

 

[ChamMan7]

Like everyone else says.. not a good idea at all. Your male is getting close to "that age" so putting him with a female that young is quite risky and would probably lead to serious injury or death, if not from attempted mating then from the stress.

Also, how long has your male been in that size cage? Is he able to find food?

 

[kekulpac]

Thanks all. I will trash that idea then.

To answer the one question, he has been in there since he was 3 months old. At first I would find him and hand feed him. But now he has an established feeding area that he goes to when hungry. He explores every inch, believe me.

 

[pssh]

It might be possible when they are older, but it might not work out or be the best idea. Seeing stress in chameleons can be very difficult and might not be noticed early enough if they were housed together. We have seen some threads of animals that have become terribly ill after being housed with another chameleon, so many people advise against it. I do too unless the keeper is very experienced, knows the animals well, and has a lot of time to watch them in the beginning. Your enclosure is probably big enough, but definitely dont try it until the female is at least 1 year old/big enough to breed and you are completely confident in your husbandry and skills as a keeper/breeder.

Some people recommend against keeping them together because they think that the female might lay eggs too often. This can be true (and it is certainly a bad idea to allow a young/small female to breed) but keepers have also reported that many females actually breed less often when housed together with a male and the males are less likely to breed very aggressively or badger them to breed constantly.

If you decide to try it later on, come back and ask for tips on how to do it successfully (from people who have done it themselves preferably.)

 

[sdheli420]

I free range and have numurous basking sites plus mass amounts of foliage. It can never be big enough to be totally honest.I have alot of time to spend with them and if i see them "pestering" eachother ( im very used to thier actions, body language and coloring that i can "hear" what they are saying) and i will move them apart at times..since they have lived together for over 2 years now (since young baby age, separate free rabges at first, still within view of eachother, acrossed a room).I think that is the only reason they can technically live together (the free range is a whole dedicated corner of a room, near a window in witch they can bask at multiple points as well). and overall i would still not really reccomend it unless you can spend most of your time observing them.