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When resting, theMalagasyGiant Chameleonusually curlsup its“fifth leg”, theprehensile tail.
elegant method is the installation of an
artificial waterfall using a small aquarium
pump.However,suchsystemsaresomewhat
prone todisturbanceand thepumpmay fail
– and, followingMurphy’s Law, invariably at
the leastconvenient time,forexamplewhen
youareonholiday.Averyneatwayofsetting
thewater in thedrinkingdish inmotion,and
thusmaking it recognizable aswater to the
chameleons,is toaerate thedishwithoneof
the standard aquarium air-pumps available
inthetrade.Yousimplysuspendtheairline in
the dish and set the air supply to produce
around two bubbles per second from the
airline. A nice side-effect of this method is
that it simultaneously raises thehumidity in
the terrarium; in the case of the Malagasy
Giant Chameleon this should be a relative
humidity of around 70% during the day,
rising toup to100%atnight.
Because of its natural habits, the Malagasy
GiantChameleoncanbeclassifiedasoneof
theeasierchameleonspecies tomaintain,as
it doesn’t immediately react adversely,
followedby theonsetof illness, if thingsget
abit toowarm in the terrarium.Thedaytime
temperature shouldbebetween 22 and 28
°C, rising toup to45 °Cunder the spotlamp.
It is, however, essential always to provide
these reptiles with a relatively cool, well-
ventilatedarea intheterrarium,tovisitwhen
theysochoose.
Breeding
Furcifer oustaleti
is an egg-laying species.
Afteragravidperiodofaroundsixweeksthe
females layup to61 eggs.At an incubation
temperature of around 28 °C it takes
between 210 and 280days until the young
hatch.
Many breeders use vermiculite as a brood
substrate.The younggrow very rapidly and
attainsexualmaturity inas littleasayear.All
inall,maintenanceandbreedingare similar
to those of the well-known Panther
Chameleon,
Furciferpardalis
.
If youarenow filledwith thedesire tokeep
these largechameleonsthenyourpetdealer
canundoubtedlyorder them for you froma
wholesaler of his acquaintance, for example
fromTropenparadies inOberhausen,Fax+49
208-665997.
