Enclosure size for 1.2 jacksonii xantholophus

[Dürja]

HI everyone!

In the next month or so I will be receiving a 1.2 shipment of WC jacksonii xantholophus from Kenya. My current plan is to keep each animal in a large breeder series cage from Dragon Strand. However, I wanted to look into the idea of housing the trio together. If this is possible, what size enclosure would be needed to ensure comfort for all? Would a 4' x 4' work? A 6' x 6'? Is there a size at which this could be done without concern? If keeping the male with the females would be too big of a risk, what about just the pair of females?

Any an all input is welcome. Money is not an issue here, and if there simply is no good way to do this that's also fine. I just want to see what information you all might have to contribute.

Edit: Should probably mention that all three animals will be quarantined separately, this is more looking towards the future.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm sorry but I'm wouldn't keep a trio together.... IMHO is a recipe for trouble.

 

[JacksJill]

They will be better off housed separately. They will subtly intimidate each other and the constant stress will impact their health.
Also your females are likely to arrive gravid and will need privacy to give birth when you least expect it. The female giving birth will not eat the young immediately after but the other female won't be in the same postpartum hormonal state. The gravid female may not feel comfortable birthing in the presence of another animal for the instinctive reasons mentioned. Even the young do their best to scatter asap to avoid predation and establish their own territories. I wouldn't house neonates in more than pairs for best results.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

You'll have enough on your plate making sure each individual animal acclimates smoothly to captive life and gets the medical treatment it potentially needs. I wouldn't even be thinking about cohabitation at this point (if ever).

You'd need a bare minimum of a small room sized enclosure to even approach successfully keeping them together. These Tjx's promise to be very large robust versions of what everyone is used to seeing from Hawaii and males are genuinely sex crazed once they adapt to their new homes. It's tough on already gravid females to constantly have to fend off a male and be scared to drop their babies near other adults.

 

[Dürja]

Thanks for the input everyone. I figured this would be the case, but I still wanted to get opinions. I'll just stick with the Breeder Series as I originally planned. Thankfully I have been assured that I will not relieve any gravid females. That said, hopefully the male will eventually be "sex crazed" as Joe mentions.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

Thanks for the input everyone. I figured this would be the case, but I still wanted to get opinions. I'll just stick with the Breeder Series as I originally planned. Thankfully I have been assured that I will not relieve any gravid females. That said, hopefully the male will eventually be "sex crazed" as Joe mentions.

Steve assured you that you would NOT get gravid females? Might want to recheck that. Just about any wild adult female will havealready been mated prior to capture.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Steve assured you that you would NOT get gravid females? Might want to recheck that. Just about any wild adult female will havealready been mated prior to capture.

They are farm bred. Their parents were caught from the area.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

They are farm bred. Their parents were caught from the area.

Whose parents?

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Whose parents?

The imports are farm bred. The parents of the imports were wild caught in the Embu area on Mount Kenya.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

The imports are farm bred. The parents of the imports were wild caught in the Embu area on Mount Kenya.

The term farm bred just means wild caught from populations introduced on private property. Don't imagine rows of cages or anything like that.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

The term farm bred just means wild caught from populations introduced on private property. Don't imagine rows of cages or anything like that.

Why would I imagine that? I am aware of what farm bred means.

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

Why would I imagine that? I am aware of what farm bred means.

I think I'm just confused by your initial response to my post questioning the idea of not getting gravid females. I still don't see how or why anyone would be assured they would not get gravid females. There isn't really such thing as a farmed chameleon that can be sold as virgin.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

I think I'm just confused by your initial response to my post questioning the idea of not getting gravid females. I still don't see how or why anyone would be assured they would not get gravid females. There isn't really such thing as a farmed chameleon that can be sold as virgin.

True, I should have specified more, I apologize for getting irritated.

 

[JacksJill]

Just to illustrate this is what a chameleon farm can look like.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/chameleon-farming-in-kenya.151347/

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Nice, thanks for sharing. That is pretty much what I pictured, and now do others understand what I mean by they would probably be in better shape, knowing humans, and not as subject to predators?