Hi all.... wanted to conduct an informal poll and ask about the lifespan of chameleons as you've experienced it. How long did your oldest male live, what would you say is average?
I had a Male Panther (Sambava) that I had for 7+ years. He was still living on strong when I last seen him. Unfortunatly that was the one my X-Wife got from our Divorce.
I had Simon, male panther, for 7 and a half years. All the others males I've owned are still living and I hope will have similar life expectancies.
My female panthers have lived around 4 and 5 years.
I'm told Veileds live longer than panthers.
I suspect the "average" life expectancy is considerably shorter than what it should be, due to poor husbandry and lack of knowledge.
Had a female veiled that lived 8 years, and I have a friend who had his female veiled for 12 years.
My male was 6 years old, but a spider bite was the end of him, so it wasn't old age or health problems. My friend with the 12 year old female, his male lived 14 years!!
I think 8 for females and 12 for males is average as far as veileds go. I have a few more friends in the hobby who have had similar lifespans of their veileds, laying 50-70 egg clutches til the day they died.
I've had quite a few different chams, although it's hard to say how old some of them actually were when they died.
Male Jackson's (adult when I got him): I had him for 7 years, and he just slowed down in the last month or so and I found him dead one morning.
Male Jackson's: 13 years, died of an infection that spread to the bone.
Female Jackson's: 6 years old when she died of kidney disease (from too much supplementation - I was young and stupid)
Male panther (adult when rescued, and in bad shape): 4 years, died suddenly of unknown causes
multiple R. brevicaudatus: about two years each - I assume that's just about their natural lifespan
Male C. quadricornis (adult when I got him): 5 years, sudden death from unknown causes
Female C. quadricornis (adult when I got her): 4 years, was euthanized after getting an infection in the jaw (her mate stopped eating after she left, and he died just a week later)
It's great to hear all these stories of longer living chams. Unfortunately, Leon won't be one of them. The vet told me today that he has kidney failure which is so advanced it is not treatable and the best choice is to put him to sleep. Very sad...