Some general questions that need answered

[jasimmons86]

I never really understood why people are concerned about bright colors being in a cage with a chameleon, especially since nature would be unforgiving with all sorts of colors.

and i was thinking, people told me not to put my chameleon in my new cage till he is bigger, since it would be harder for him to find his food.
That got me thinking, when a chameleon hatches in the wild, he/she is hatched into this great big world, how do they find food then. There mother isnt around to help them get food, the mother just lays the eggs and leaves them for good.
how is it that the baby chameleon in the wild can survive, but people say a captive 2 month old cant find food in a 2x2x5 foot cage?

I'm really curious

 

[dagy24]

My non-expert opinion would be that the vast VAST majority of baby chameleons in the while die, I would assume trouble finding food/becoming someone elses food is a big part of that.

 

[jasimmons86]

but for the ones that do survive, how do they manage, there doesnt seem to be anyone that really knows. If they can survive I'm sure a teenage cham can survive in a 20sqft cage

 

[Jakama]

I think what dagy is saying is that, as pet owners, we are not trying to create natural circumstances. You would not see me putting a snake in the cage with my veiled chameleon. We are giving them the best possible circumstances to ensure that they survive. If chameleons in the wild had the survival rate they have in captivity, then females would only lay two or three eggs instead of 20-80.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Regarding bright colors: while it's true that there are bright colors naturally in the same habitats as chameleons, the difference is that they are able to get away from them in the wild. It doesn't mean that just because they exist that chams won't be concerned by them, they can still avoid or be scared of certain colors in the wild too. The difference is they can just go away from what scares them. When you restrict them to a cage it is like locking someone who's afraid of spiders in a room with a big spider. The fear doesn't always incapacitate them because they don't always see spiders, and when they do they run away squealing! But trapping them with one is just mean and they will be stressed at the very least until they can get away from it. Putting bright colors in a cham's cage (or even just the same room) makes them constantly stressed by something they can't escape. And it's not all chams, or all colors. My veiled hates orange - he hid in his plant for a week because there was an orange nerf gun across the room. As soon as I moved it out, he was back to normal! But he doesn't seem to mind any other colors that I've noticed.

Regarding baby feeding: It's true that many baby chams die in the wild, from a variety of causes. But you have to remember that there are more sources of food in the wild. There are ants that crawl on the trees where they are, flowers in trees to attract fruit flies and other small insects, termites, etc. We give them a limited variety and amount of food that isn't always inhabiting the same areas as your little cham is. Flightless fruit flies may go to one area and sit there, and it may not be branches, and pinhead crickets will seek places to hide. We don't offer them the same food or conditions as in the wild so we have to change some things to suit captivity even though it may not be as natural because they're no longer in nature.

Good thoughts to have though, it's always best to try to recreate natural conditions if possible!

 

[jasimmons86]

Thanks for the thorough answer ferretinmyshoes... I really never thought if that way, I'm going to leave the colors in the cage and see if he is scared of them, and if he is i can just remove them.
and i understand what you're saying regarding the food source.

thanks for the answers

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

No problem! It's great to see people thinking outside the box about these kinds of things. It's how we learn to improve our husbandry by considering how we do things and how it differs from nature, even if there may not be an obvious better solution.