Chameleon is beautiful reptile which popularly being pet at home like iguana. On heat period, chameleon will change their body color for make the female feel interest. The female chameleon which usually has brown color will transforms into light orange which means that they said ‘yes’ over the male which trying to catch their attention. After that couple marriage, the female chameleon will re-transform again into ‘halloween’ which inform another male chameleon that they already taken. So romantic!
Different with iguana which only breeding by lays egg, the way chameleon breeds is using two ways. We do know that chameleon breeding with laying eggs but some kind of chameleon breeds by both of laying eggs and giving birth. For chameleon which breeds by laying eggs, they will produce it after three or six months after marriage and the chameleon which giving birth will let the egg inside their tummy for five until seven months.
The Steps to incubate
- Dig a nest or hole as their natural incubator. Same as iguana, the female chameleon will go on a cave which already excavated before. They will use their muzzle to excavate the cave and after that, they will get inside it and starting to lays her eggs. The eggs will be cracked perfectly after four until twelve months. That’s the naturally way how chameleon incubate their egg. The size of chameleon eggs is medium, smaller than chicken eggs but bigger than quail eggs.
- Imitation Incubator. Talk about incubate business if you are trying to raise chameleon in dozen population, you can use reptile incubate. You can bought it or make it by yourself. Usually people in the livestock sell incubator but it isn’t specifically used for reptile. Mostly the incubator which is available in livestock or pet shop is used by cracked duck or chicken eggs. So if you want make it specifically for your chameleon, you better make it by yourself. Beside the price is cheaper, the point advantage will you got is you can design the incubator as you want and as you needed. Also, make your own incubator will safe your money a lot. Don’t need to worry because the incubator for chameleon is similarly which used to cracked the iguana eggs.
Different with laying eggs, the chameleon which breed by both laying egg and after that they give birth, they will be pregnant during five until seven months. Every chameleon baby which produced by this way will be born with sticky membrane which is yolk pocket. The chameleon mama will paste it in a branch until the membrane is cracked perfectly and giving a way for their babies.
The baby chameleon usually has blue color when they were born. But this color is change slowly during their growth and it depends to their pigment which gave by their parent. Also, this color can cause by temperature changing. As we know that inside the membrane, they will feel safe and warm so when the membrane cracked, their skin will directly feel the nature temperature which surely not warm as inside the membrane. Interestingly, the baby chameleon in wild life didn’t get care from their mom. They have to fight and survive by their own to hunt, looking their own food and moving as they want.
That’s why the chameleon lifespan is so short moreover in their natural life, chameleon just living for nine years old. The point that we got is actually chameleon were born to be free animal and you better didn’t pet at home. That’s because when you put them into the cage, it makes they feel locked, their free live is taking by you. But in the fact, if chameleon live freely, they can’t protect themself well because since they were a baby which generally baby is still weak and need protection by their parent or minimum their mom, they didn’t got it. That’s so ironic and dilemma.
Fun fact
Talk about breeding, every chameleon has different habit on it. The one species of Madagascar chameleon has strange lifestyle. Their lifespan is really short which is their live mostly spend inside egg. After the egg is cracked perfectly, the baby Madagascar chameleon directly looking for the female and do sex brutally. They will die at all even their baby born in the world. This observation is found by Kris Karsten from Oklahoma State University, USA in 2008. He feels so shock when observe Furcifer labordi species at the first time moreover when the chameleon which as their object suddenly dies at all. He and his team decided to looking for the fact by this case and spend four years to following the life journey of 400 Madagascar chameleons and seven of them is tracked by radio which installed on their body.
The result said that young Madagascar chameleon mostly born in November and dies in April. Before they are died, the female chameleons will save their eggs in sand hole like a cave. The incubate periods will takes eight months and they are all will born in November. That cycle would never stop, so the chameleon’s population will always stay.
Karsten guests that their brutally sex activity also contribute why this chameleon has short lifespan, around four until five months because during their observation, this chameleon did long sex activity which hard and hurt at same time.
He also guests that this chameleon has sex hormone called androgen in high level, that’s why when the summer come which is so hot and dry, they can’t hibernate, not like another Madagascar animal which mostly hibernate to safe the energy. This chameleon is always in heat because their hormone controlled them. By the high androgen which uncontrollable, their energy also drained and pressed their immune system. So that’s why their lifespan is so short.
Another observation which did by Heinz Grilitsch from National Museum of Vienna, Austria said that the wild environment forced the chameleon to do once breed. That proves by their experience which commonly saw the female chameleons will lose their weight when they are pregnant and will be die soon.