How to tell the age.....

[Bernie]

Hi guys,

I've had my Chameleon for about a month now. When I bought him I was told he was about 3 months old. However, he doesnt look as big as the Cham's I have seen which are 4 months old.

Is there a way of telling, any kind of guide? Or can anyone post some pictures of their male Yemen's at around this age so I can try and work out his age?

Thanks.

 

[beeze]

Post some pictures and we might be able to give you an estimate.

 

[Bernie]

Here are a few pictures attached. These have been taken over the past few weeks. The shop told me he was 14 weeks old when he took him home.

I think he was younger. Hopefully you more experienced folk can give a better estimate.

Thanks guys.

 

[carol5208]

He could be around 3+ months old. They all grow and weigh differently so it is hard to say. The second pic he looks smaller than the last one. One thing I wanted to comment on, that stringy looking brown thing to the right in the one picture, I would remove that from your chameleons cage or free range area. That could pose a potential choking hazard for him if he injests it.

 

[Bernie]

He could be around 3+ months old. They all grow and weigh differently so it is hard to say. The second pic he looks smaller than the last one. One thing I wanted to comment on, that stringy looking brown thing to the right in the one picture, I would remove that from your chameleons cage or free range area. That could pose a potential choking hazard for him if he injests it.

Thanks Carol. Is the brown stump OK? Obviously that is for the plant to climb. I can see the stringy bit you are referring to. I will snip/pull that off.

 

[carol5208]

Yeah, the stump would be ok, I would just worry about him eating that stringy stuff or if crickets or anything ever climb on that and he shoots his tongue and gets some of that in his mouth or something. I just feel it is better to be safe than sorry!! I know Veilds tend to munch on plants.

 

[Bernie]

The second pic he looks smaller than the last one.

The last one was from when we first got him, the 2nd one was last night! Funny how pictures can be deceiving. He does look small on the second one though.

 

[VeiledKarma]

My chameleon is about the same age and is similar sized.

 

[Olimpia]

He looks about right for that age. Don't worry, no two grow at the exact same rate. I've had chameleons stay really tiny until about 8 months old and grow tremendously afterwards. And others grow at a much more steady pace.

It might just be the photos, but he looks a little thin - especially his limbs and his tail. How much are you feeding him every day?

 

[Tigergrr]

We got 3 babies, 2 female 1 male, from a breeder and they were all the same age. After 2wks we took one back as it turned out to be 2 males, 1 female. The babies that he still had were half the size of the one we took back - and that was after just 2wks of being housed in a much smaller enclosure than he had, and having less competition for food. The one we exchanged was tiny in size compared to it's siblings, so I started taking her out daily to let her feed alone in a seperate enclosure. She has tripled in size in the last 2mths and is almost exactly the same size as her siblings now

I think my point is that even though they have the same conditions, they've all grown at different rates, and I don't think they got a good start in life and are probably going to always be smaller than they could have been.

 

[allencg101]

The last one was from when we first got him, the 2nd one was last night! Funny how pictures can be deceiving. He does look small on the second one though.

your gonna love it when he hits his growth spurt. mine went from that and got huge in like over 2 weeks pan he went from 1 1/2" to 3" thats when his appitite blew up he eats more then my two baby panthers do.