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Keeping a chameleon at home
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Home "Lizards" Chameleon content at home
Chameleon at home
Keeping exotic pets at home has become a rule of good taste and a very popular hobby for modern society.
However, often the lack of information and experience of keeping such lizards, spiders, snakes and other rare animals in their owners leads to the fact that these fragile creatures begin to get sick, and may even die.
Since reptiles have long been contenders for the role of a favorite in the category of "pet", and it is they who can often be found as pets – we suggest that today we talk about the features of keeping chameleons at home, find out how and what it is necessary to feed these creatures, what comfortable living conditions need to be created for them so that they live in our house happily ever after…
Content of the publication:
Is it worth getting a chameleon in the house What does a chameleon look like Features of chameleon behavior Keeping a chameleon at home What to feed a chameleon at home Chameleon diseases Breeding chameleons at home Comments
Is it worth having a chameleon in the house
Today, in home exoterariums, you can find various types of lizards - iguanas, agamas, geckos, real lizards (more about which lizard to choose).
And, some fans of extreme sports even get large monitor lizards or snakes.
It is quite obvious that depending on what kind of pet lives in your terrarium, the features of its content also depend, starting from the temperature regime and ending with the feeding diet.
Therefore, just reading the general recommendations for keeping reptiles in the house, if you want to get exactly one of these lizards, will not be enough.
It is necessary to study in detail the information about the type that interests you specifically.
Since, all these snakes, iguanas and other creatures, despite their repulsive (subjective opinion) the species is actually very fragile and vulnerable creatures.
Especially chameleons.
They are generally considered the strangest and most mysterious inhabitants of our planet.
For those who do not know,
chameleons are medium sized insectivorous lizards that live mainly on tree branches.
The unique ability of these creatures is their ability to disguise – yes, yes, the chameleon's skin is really able to change its hue in the range from gray to light green.
Therefore, it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish them against the background of a gray green mass of leaves.
This feature of changing its color has become a fashionable "chip" for chameleons, which attracts the attention of fans of exotic and everything unusual to them.
It is thanks to her that chameleons are so often chosen for the role of pets, and they are kept in the house in a special terrarium.
But, here there is one "but" – to have a chameleon in the house, and to provide it with a comfortable living environment these are completely different things.
And, given the fact that these creatures have a weak immune system by nature and they are very vulnerable to various diseases – these animals need especially careful and painstaking care.
Therefore, think again, will you be able to create conditions for this creature that replace the usual habitat, will you be able to take care of it as well as other, less exotic, and not so painful pets…
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What does a chameleon look like
The chameleon's ability to change color is admirable
Representatives of the chameleon family are very different in their appearance from other lizards, because they actually have very little in common with them, this even allows them to be allocated to a special suborder of worm speaking creatures.
Their fused fingers, as well as independent rotating eyes all this makes an unforgettable impression on the potential owner of the chameleon.
However, these are not the only features of the appearance and structure of these lizards.
They also, as we wrote above, are able to change their color and merge with their environment (this complicates the search for an escaped chameleon).
By the way, the anatomical and morphological structure of these creatures suggests that once their ancestors were ancient lizards – their structure is very similar to the structure of ancient reptiles and even dinosaurs.
They, like the huge extinct monsters, lack a bone marrow box – instead there is a cartilaginous "cap", and the presence of a large number of additional blind processes in the chameleon's lungs allows it to inflate and make a frightening impression on its enemies and rivals during mating games.
By the way, the chameleon family itself unites about 80 species of these creatures and 2-3 genera, these animals live mainly in Africa, on the adjacent islands of Madagascar and in Madagascar itself, while the common chameleon is less demanding to such a hot climate, and can even live in mountain forests, semi deserts and steppes.
Domestic fans of reptiles are most often offered chameleons from Yemen( Yemeni chameleon), panther chameleons and Jackson's chameleons.
Outwardly, they are slightly different from each other, and since people often get Yemeni chameleons, we will focus on their appearance features.
These reptiles can reach a length of up to 50 centimeters, while females have smaller body sizes – their dina is a maximum of 40 centimeters.
The body of the lizards is compressed from the sides, the neck is short, the tail is long and prehensile, can fold repeatedly, the paws are five fingered.
The surface of the chameleon's body is rough, the eyes are round, mobile, surrounded by their skin with variegated colored scales, as on the rest of the body surface.
At the same time, the central small hole for the pupil is never covered by the skin.
The chameleon's tongue is long, there is a recess at the end, making it look like a sucker.
The chameleon is able to quickly throw it out at a distance of up to 31 centimeters and stick to its prey.
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Features of the behavior of chameleons
Chameleons prefer to lead a sedentary lifestyle, sitting in one place most of the time.
However, if necessary, they run quickly and deftly jump on the branches.
Periods of activity occur during daylight hours, while chameleons prefer to sleep at night.
Despite the fact that they are easily and quickly tamed – it is not recommended to let them out of the terrarium and abuse tactile contacts.
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Keeping a chameleon at home
Exoterrarium for chameleon
In order for the chameleon to be comfortable in your home, you will need to purchase a special exoterrarium, with a volume of 100-120 liters, of a vertical type of structure.
In such a terrarium, there will necessarily be 2 lamps – one of the lamps of UFO radiation, and the second lamp for incandescent air.
It will be necessary to additionally take care of heating the bottom of the terrarium, which will be turned on at night.
In the terrarium itself, there will necessarily be a mini pond that would occupy a quarter of the area.
It should not be deep, as the chameleon can drown in it.
As necessary decorative elements, you will need a tree (a branch or a whole snag it depends on the size of your chameleon and its dwelling), take care of good ventilation inside the lizard house.
There must be landscaping inside the terrarium – live or artificial, it is at your discretion, it is important that it be, because without it the chameleon will experience discomfort.
Such a terrarium will need to be cleaned 1 time in 2 days, at least, because otherwise a pathogenic microflora can develop inside it, which is harmful to any species of reptiles.
The total temperature in the terrarium should be 22-24 degrees above zero Celsius, under the heating source – 30-32 degrees above zero Celsius.
The UFO lamp will need to be turned on for 6-8 hours a day.
The humidity inside the terrarium should be 30-50%.
Regarding the possibility of keeping a pair of chameleons in one terrarium, experts do not recommend doing this, since these creatures behave very aggressively towards their relatives (the only exception is the mating period), therefore, the male may initially perceive his female as an enemy – which means that bloodshed cannot be avoided, therefore, it is better to keep chameleons in separate exoterrariums.
Learn more about the equipment of the terrarium for lizards.
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How to feed a chameleon at home
The basis of the chameleon's diet is made up of cockroaches and crickets.
Think in advance about where you will get them in the necessary quantities, since without them the normal existence of lizards is impossible.
It is not necessary to overfeed the reptile, so
an adult chameleon should eat no more than 4-5 insects per day, and young animals no more than 3.
Regarding drinking water, here you should know that in the natural habitat chameleons drink water, licking it from branches and leaves, therefore, just installing a drinking bowl with water will not be enough.
Regularly spray the inner surfaces of the exoterrarium from the spray gun so that the reptile has the opportunity to lick the water, otherwise it will die from lack of fluid and dehydration of the body.
You can diversify the chameleon's diet with crickets, locusts, zofobas, mealworms, and once a week you can treat them with naked mice (live food must be removed from the terrarium at night so that it does not injure the lizard).
I would like to draw attention to the need for a varied diet for chameleons, since if the owner feeds the lizard only one type of insect, the latter may develop diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, there may be disorders of the digestive system…
Regarding plant food, it should also be present in the chameleon's diet.
For these purposes, you can give them bananas, juicy leaves of non poisonous plants.
As for vitamins, chameleons need vitamin and mineral supplements specially developed for reptiles.
They need to be added to their feed.
A well proven additive from the company Tetra fauna Rept Cal+Repto Live, mixed in a ratio of 3 to 1 and added daily to the reptile feed.
Learn more about what lizards eat.
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Diseases of chameleons
The very specificity of the body structure of such lizards as chameleons causes diseases that are often found in their environment.
These creatures really often have problems with the eyes and vision, with the musculoskeletal apparatus of the eyes, burns, disorders of the digestive system, a lack of vitamins and minerals in the body, which can lead to rickets and failures in the mineral balance in the reptile's body.
At the same time, diseases in domestic chameleons are characterized by rapid and high flow rate, therefore, in the case of untimely veterinary qualified assistance, the reptile can die even from a not too serious ailment.
Very often, lizards suffer from food intoxication - the disease, as a rule, occurs against the background of their regular over feeding.
It is accompanied by lethargy of the lizard, loss of appetite in it, constipation.
But reptiles with weakened immunity can develop viral diseases.
If you notice that your chameleon has a cough (you should immediately exclude the possibility of pneumonia – reptiles painfully tolerate temperature changes and are afraid of drafts and low temperatures), bloating and lethargy, then it is very likely that your pet has a worm infestation.
This is often found in animals that were caught in the wild and from there got into a pet store, and then into the hands of their new owner.
The slightest violation in the behavior of the pet should alert you and serve as a reason for contacting the veterinarian.
However, given the specifics of these creatures, we would recommend that you immediately contact a herpetologist, and not an ordinary veterinarian.
Since only a reptile specialist will be able to provide adequate and professional assistance to your sick pet.
Learn more about lizard diseases.
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Breeding chameleons at home
Baby chameleons
Chameleons from Yemen breed easily in captivity.
And, if you have mastered the maintenance of one reptile, and plan to have offspring from it – you can safely get a male or female to make your plans a reality.
Mating in lizards occurs on the first day after the female is placed in a terrarium with the male.
The fact that fertilization has taken place will be indicated not only by a change in the behavior of a pregnant reptile – it begins to behave aggressively, but also by a change in its color – it darkens, and large bright yellow spots appear on it, scattered throughout the body.
Pregnancy of lizards lasts a little more than 30 days.
It is very important to make sure that at this time the female receives a sufficient amount of liquid – for this you can even give her a drink from a pipette.
A week before laying eggs, the behavior of the expectant mother will become more restless, and she will begin to explore the bottom of the terrarium in search of a place where she can make a clutch.
To make this task easier for her, place a special small container with wet vermiculite at least 15 centimeters deep in the terrarium.
The dimensions of such a container should not be less than 40 by 20 centimeters.
The female will dig a tunnel in it, at the end of which she will lay eggs.
After the end of egg laying, the container is placed in an incubator, the eggs are taken out from there, and they are carefully laid out at a distance of 1 centimeter from each other.
Make sure that during the laying of the eggs you do not accidentally turn them over, but put them on the same side with which they were laid by the female.
The temperature in the incubator should be 28-29 degrees during the day, and 20-22 degrees at night - thereby you will increase the percentage of output from the laid eggs of live chameleons.
The offspring will have to hatch in 4-9 months, after that they are placed 5-6 pieces in small terrariums, and by the 3rd month they are separated from each other, remembering the aggressive behavior towards each other.
The diet of babies should consist of the same feed as that of adult chameleons, the only thing that you definitely need to add calcium top dressing to them to avoid rickets in small chameleons.
Learn more about breeding lizards.
Video about chameleons
Today we discussed all the main nuances of keeping chameleons at home, learned about what and how to feed these lizards, how to take care of their health…
We hope that our tips and recommendations will help you in caring for your exotic pet.
If a chameleon already lives in your house, be sure to share with us your story and photos of your reptile.
Read also about how to tame a lizard.
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Category: Lizards
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How to tame a lizard
Breeding of lizards
Diseases of lizards
How to feed domestic lizards
Terrarium for lizards arrangement from scratch
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