Thanks. I have read they get obese. I have tried not to over feed them. The females do tend to stay in one place. If I continue to have success I'll be sure to post more info.
I had way too much experience with fat deremensis... Most of my females never dug a hole. They often became eggbound. It was only towards the end of my time with the species that I figured out how to prevent it. By then, I was not in a position to keep them.
All my animals did well for about a year. After that, the males lost interest in breeding/fighting. The females got massive. I barely fed these things!
I lost a lot of animals before I got it right.
I cooled them down for the winter months. They stayed really cool at night - it was a basement, so the temps got down in the 50's - sometimes the 40's - at night. I removed their basking lights during the winter months. They didn't eat much at all for weeks. Over a month, if I recall. They lost only a little plumpness. But they NEVER got fat anymore. Before, they were upstairs, and could not get a cool winter period. They would be huge and lethargic. Now, they were lean and active.
Come spring, my males were nuts - red lips, agressive, mating like crazy. Night and day.
I posted some years ago, pics of a necroscopy I did on a female - the liver was swollen and fatty. Animals that died as fresh WC had dark and smaller livers. It seemed that without this cool down period, the deremensis just kept packing on fat until they died.
I'm sure there is more to it, but a winter fast worked.
I'm going to be moving into a house with a huge basement early April. I am going to be getting back into the hobby soon - possibly this summer.
The only chameleons I want now are deremensis, melleri and jacksoni. If you get any babies, let me know - I'd probably try to buy a few of them!
good luck!
You might try to pre-dig a tunnel for her. Mine never dug unless I had one started. picky things...
