South African Chameleon Keeping/Breeding

[SageZA]

Hey everyone, my name is Jenni and I live in Crestholme, KZN. We own a male veiled cham and he is about to turn 1 year old. Got him from a local pet shop, rescued is more accurate. We feed him crickets, dubia roaches, superworms, meal worms and silkworms. He loves silkworms and will eat them off your finger. His staple diet consists of superworms, they are meaty and dont have too much chitinous shell to digest. Looking forward to summer cos then we will be able to offer him flying ants.

I would like to know where I can get a panther cham from in SA cos obviously I am addicted to chams in a big way and really want another. Preferably a baby cos I would like to raise it myself and watch it grow.

Great to know that there are other South Africans that belong to this forum!

PM's you a contact that has baby panthers.

 

[ainslie]

Good Day all

I know this thread is old but i would like to introduce myself.
I'm from Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng. I currently breed Veiled Chameleons as well as feeder insects for them.

I'm glad to see so many SA people here .... Add me if your from SA

Well I'm relatively new to this forum but i hope to learn from the senior and more experienced members

 

[Andre Anthony]

Hey guys I'm Andre from Cape Town I currently have 3 female veiled chameleons,maybe we can get a whatsapp group going for cape Town?message me if anybody is keen,will be nice to chat and ask questions,my number is 0729051600

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I am originally from South Africa. There are quite a few bugs you can harvest from nature and cultivate! Garden snales, a couple of kinds of cockroaches, mopanie wurms, flies, black soldier flies etc! Suid Afrikaaners weet mos hoe om te oorleef en dinge te laat werk man! I mis the wild verkleurmannetjies and would love to have a couple of those varieties! Best of luck!

 

[JGuinan007]

Wow I'm shocked there aren't more SA breeders your right there where Chameleons come from and there are so many native species literally right in your back yards! I would think you could try to feed them a variety of local insects.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Are there still so many laws about keeping wild animals as pets? I grew up in Rustenburg (Transvaal) and Heidelberg (Transvaal) and went to college in Summers West. So I have enjoyed quite a variety of chameleons growing up! My favorite has been the Cape Dwarf! I so wish I could have a couple of breeding pares!

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Awesome reply



Thanx that is really informative ! I wish I knew all the guys or at least some guys here in S.A who are cham keepers or breeders I really feel alone in this.

Don't you have trouble in providing a variety of food for your chams? I can only find crickets and i don't want to feed mealworms so I Have gotten some Silkworm eggs and started to breed them myself, although the first 50 I hatched all died because they weren't eating(think the leaves were too hard) so I have now ordered something that you mix for them to eat, haven't yet figured out how to mix it but I'm going to...maybe they will eat that.

But I see people feeding their chams green worms like I think their called horn worms, and wax worms even, but cant find those anywhere...

Horn worms are the typical tobacco/tomato worm. The problem with them is that if they were raised on tamatoes, tobacco or potatoe plants they are poisonous to chameleons! The best solution to this problem is to have a couple of tomatoe plants in pots inside a mesh greenhouse. Then, when you find hornworms on plants that are in the rest of the garden you move them to your potted plants. Once the worms get glossy and start wondering around you can remove them and put them in a Tupperware container with 3 inches of damp sand. They do not need to eat anymore. Leave the container in your mesh greenhouse. Also leave a live, healthy tomato plant in there. Depending on the climate, the pupated worms might only emerge in the next summer. If you want to hurry them up you can put a light on a timer to extend daylight time to 16 hours. This will let them come out as moths in a couple of weeks. Once the moths come out of the ground they need something to climb on to out of the container like some twigs will do. If they can not do this their wings may not develop. The moths will need sugar water to drink just like hummingbirds do (suikerbekkies, sun birds). Once they mate, the females will lay eggs on the leaves on the tomato plants. These eggs will hatch within days. Do not leave them on the tomato plants. They need to be raised on save food so that your chameleon can eat them. How to make the food: I take equal parts of wheat germ and brewers yeast (nutritional yeast). I also add one multivitamin tablet and one calcium tablet per 4 cups of dry ingredients. I put the wheat germ, brewers yeast, calcium tablet and multivitamin tablets in a food blender and blend it all in to a powder. Next I put it all in a stainless steel pot. I add a teaspoon full of methylparaben (do not inhale - health hazzard) to the mix and add 4 table spoons full of agar powder to the mix. Add enough water to make it in to a oatmeal thick consistency. Bring it to a slow boil while stirring constantly. Let boil for 5 minutes. Pour in to a big plastic container to a thickness of one inch. Let cool down well to a solid gell. Cut these in to pieces big enough for the worms to eat in 24 hours. Keep the rest in the refrigerator (don't freeze) when giving the worms new food let it warm to room temperature first. These worms will grow to maturity within a couple of weeks! (Feed them off to your chameleon when they get to the size your chameleon likes). Always keep about 15 - 20 worms as breeders. Once they become glossy they will stop eating and start wondering around. Time to get them in the sand again and repeat the whole process! Best of luck!

 

[WilcoxAE]

This is an interesting thread. Interesting to see another local's perspective. Sounds like one of ya'll just stumbled upon a business opportunity!!

 

[T.NY]

Horn worms are the typical tobacco/tomato worm. The problem with them is that if they were raised on tamatoes, tobacco or potatoe plants they are poisonous to chameleons! The best solution to this problem is to have a couple of tomatoe plants in pots inside a mesh greenhouse. Then, when you find hornworms on plants that are in the rest of the garden you move them to your potted plants. Once the worms get glossy and start wondering around you can remove them and put them in a Tupperware container with 3 inches of damp sand. They do not need to eat anymore. Leave the container in your mesh greenhouse. Also leave a live, healthy tomato plant in there. Depending on the climate, the pupated worms might only emerge in the next summer. If you want to hurry them up you can put a light on a timer to extend daylight time to 16 hours. This will let them come out as moths in a couple of weeks. Once the moths come out of the ground they need something to climb on to out of the container like some twigs will do. If they can not do this their wings may not develop. The moths will need sugar water to drink just like hummingbirds do (suikerbekkies, sun birds). Once they mate, the females will lay eggs on the leaves on the tomato plants. These eggs will hatch within days. Do not leave them on the tomato plants. They need to be raised on save food so that your chameleon can eat them. How to make the food: I take equal parts of wheat germ and brewers yeast (nutritional yeast). I also add one multivitamin tablet and one calcium tablet per 4 cups of dry ingredients. I put the wheat germ, brewers yeast, calcium tablet and multivitamin tablets in a food blender and blend it all in to a powder. Next I put it all in a stainless steel pot. I add a teaspoon full of methylparaben (do not inhale - health hazzard) to the mix and add 4 table spoons full of agar powder to the mix. Add enough water to make it in to a oatmeal thick consistency. Bring it to a slow boil while stirring constantly. Let boil for 5 minutes. Pour in to a big plastic container to a thickness of one inch. Let cool down well to a solid gell. Cut these in to pieces big enough for the worms to eat in 24 hours. Keep the rest in the refrigerator (don't freeze) when giving the worms new food let it warm to room temperature first. These worms will grow to maturity within a couple of weeks! (Feed them off to your chameleon when they get to the size your chameleon likes). Always keep about 15 - 20 worms as breeders. Once they become glossy they will stop eating and start wondering around. Time to get them in the sand again and repeat the whole process! Best of luck!

Hi Matt

Is there an easier way of feeding the hornworms like other kinds of plants to feed them that are safe for chameleons.

By the way I'm also South African actually kinda weird born in Taiwan moved to SA at 3 was there until 22 then came back to Taiwan. But always go back for holidays can't live without biltong, borewors and simba chips and the mayo

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I have not found anything else hornworms can live off (it is either tobacco, tomatoes, potatoe leaves or other nightshade plants - all leaving the worms toxic to chameleons!) The mix I mentioned (nutritional yeast, wheat germ and agar powder) is realy all that seem to work! Nice to chat with another fella from RSA!

 

[T.NY]

I have not found anything else hornworms can live off (it is either tobacco, tomatoes, potatoe leaves or other nightshade plants - all leaving the worms toxic to chameleons!) The mix I mentioned (nutritional yeast, wheat germ and agar powder) is realy all that seem to work! Nice to chat with another fella from RSA!

Dam cause the process see complicated

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

And it is! But worth it! That is why they are so expensive!

 

[Titan791]

Hey guys, im also from SA . I had a beautiful nosy be panther but sadly he has passed on. Does anyone have any panther's for sale perhaps or can point me in the direction for a breeder?

 

[Navymancdf]

I saw my first chmeleon ever in Morocco while I was there in Tan-tan. It was wild and that sucker hissed like no tomorrow. That was when I first got interested in them.