Chameleons are little reptiles, what could go wrong if we place a few of them to live together, right? When we have a pet chameleon, sometimes we tend to think that they feel lonely and maybe we should get them a companion.
I’m sure you would have had the thought of adding a friend for your chameleon pet at home. Is it wise to do so?
Chameleons living together are a big no-no. Placing two chameleons in the same enclose is looking for trouble. Most chameleons are very territorial and are not keen on sharing, regardless of their sex.
That being said, there are a couple of species of chameleons that can live together under certain circumstances. We will get into that later on in the article. Otherwise, placing two or more chameleons in the same cage could end up bad for them for several reasons.
Reasons It’s Bad For Chameleons To Live Together
As previously mentioned, housing two or more chameleons together will lead to complications. They will start to assert their ground within the terrarium. Below are some reasons why you should never, ever place more than one chameleon in the same enclosure.
Chameleons Like to Be Alone
A rather common trait of chameleons that is not widely known is that they are solitary animals. Chameleons enjoy their loneliness and privacy like that of an introverted human, but with a more aggressive nature.
If it had ever crossed your mind that your pet chameleon is lonely and you should get another chameleon to accompany it to keep it healthy, then you need to think through that again.
You will be startled to know that chameleons do not get lonely. Instead, they very much fancy living privately. It’s been proven that domesticated chameleons tend to survive and live on much longer when they are kept separated.
A Fight Might Happen
Chameleons are not your usual tame and friendly pet. They can get defensive and their aggressiveness could be shocking, to say the least.
If a chameleon is placed with another chameleon in a confined space without an escape route, it’s a ticking time bomb. These chameleons will fight over the supremacy of space or food is inevitable.
When two humans get into a heated argument or fight, comes a point when reality strikes and the situation calms. However, the same can’t be said of chameleons.
When it comes to claiming their territory, chameleons wouldn’t care about the other chameleon be it male or female. The fight between these lizards could escalate so badly that either one or both the chameleons may get seriously injured.
There have even been cases that one chameleon killed the other in a fight over space. If you think that this fight would just be a one-time thing as the dominant chameleon has won the fight and now has authority over the space, you are incorrect.
In the wild, when a chameleon loses the fight, it leaves the area. However, in a confined space, that’s not possible. So fights are going to keep happening.
This is simply because the winning chameleon has to keep exerting its dominance since the losing chameleon has nowhere else to go. They need to keep challenging for the territory.
Territorial Behavior of Chameleons
It is also important to acknowledge that chameleons are territorial animals. This is one of the main reasons for chameleons to fight in the first place.
They don’t like sharing their space with any living thing, even another chameleon. It’s best to avoid putting them in a situation whereby they would need to share.
This would end up confrontational. Chameleons enjoy their relaxation time. There would always be a specific spot in a particular place that provides the perfect moisture and temperature for them to chill.
However, if there’s more than one chameleon, this spot becomes a want for all in the space. What follows would be a fight.
Unfortunately for the losing chameleon, it would need to find a different spot, further from the dominant chameleon.
This tends to cause the castaway chameleon to not be able to receive the heat and moisture required, causing damage to its health.
Chameleons Getting Stressed Out
As revealed above, the dominance behavior that exists in the confined space would cause both chameleons to be stressed. The dominant chameleon is going to constantly stress about guarding its territory.
On the other hand, the weaker chameleon would always be waiting for the right time to pounce. Chameleons are very sensitive to having other chameleons around.
This really stresses them out, even if the chameleons are in separate cages. As long as the chameleon can see another chameleon, even through a mirror’s reflection, can cause them to be stressed.
Stress generally isn’t healthy, either for us or chameleons. When chameleons are stress-induced for a prolonged period of time, it can lead to serious complications to their health.
You may have seen two or more chameleons in the same confinement yet they don’t show any signs of hostility towards each other.
What you may not know is that chameleons are capable of intimidating each other subtly. This will cause one or both reptiles to became ill due to stress.
Competition for Food & Water
Food is a necessity for chameleons and with more than one chameleon sharing the food. There’s always going to be one chameleon eating more than its fair share and another not receiving enough food.
Yet again, this causes a lack of nutrition and it’ll cause harm to the weaker chameleon. As we all know, water is very important to chameleons, and with dominance by one chameleon over the water source, just like food, one reptile isn’t going to get its fair share.
Usually, water is more abundant, it’s less likely for chameleons to fight over water as compared to food. However, one chameleon could be dominating the area with the majority of the water.
In that case, the weaker chameleon won’t be able to get much water. With control over food, water, and space, one specific chameleon is going to thrive while the other would suffer.
The only thing guaranteed is that more fights would follow until just one, or in the worst case, no more chameleons are left.
Cannibalism
Chameleons are opportunistic eaters, they will eat anything when they can hungry. This might sound shocking, but chameleons will not hesitate to eat another chameleon if needed.
For this reason alone, I would never put two chameleons in the same cage, no matter how big the cage is. If you want to learn more about chameleon cannibalism, check out this article.
Can Opposite Sex Chameleons Live Together?
If you haven’t caught the theme of this article, then all you got to know is that chameleons when placed together, will fight. Regardless of their sex, chameleons just simply do not like living together and will fight to exert their dominance.
There are certain times when you could or need to place chameleons of different sex together, specifically during mating season. However, I would advise you to keep an eye out during these times.
Most of the time, females start to display very dark or high contrast colors once they are no longer interested in mating. At this point, it’s best to isolate the male and female to keep their stress levels low.
During pregnancy, the females could get stress and defensive towards any other chameleon around them, even their breeding partner.
For instance, I have read about a pregnant female who bit off the legs of the smaller male chameleon out of stress. Hence, always be careful and vigilant when placing chameleons of different sex together.
Situations When You Can Place Chameleons Together
The only advisable time to place one or more chameleons together is when they need to interact. This is mainly during the mating period for reproductive purposes.
In some situations, chameleons can also be placed together to defend a territory or their breeding partner.
As much as housing more than one chameleon in a contained space is dangerous and not wise, there are certain exceptions to chameleons living together.
The Exception Species
There are many species of chameleons as we already know. While most species of chameleons share the same traits of never living together, there is an exception to 2 species:
The tiny stump-tailed chameleons of the group Brookesia and dwarf chameleons of the group Rhampholeon.
These 2 species of chameleons habitually cohabitate together provided they have sufficient cage space. That being said, in the habitat there can only be 1 male, and up to 2 to 3 females.
Even with this exception species of chameleons, no two male chameleons could live stress-free in the same space.
On the other hand, the females are more susceptible to living together provided there are only 2 to 3 of them.
Juvenile Chameleons
Many chameleon breeders and keepers have successfully placed several hatchlings or juvenile chameleons in the same confined space.
This is usually carried on until the chameleons reach about 3 to 4 months old. Even then, there are some restrictions to adhere to. For instance, the cage must have many visual barriers in place. Plants are the perfect solution for this, be it real or artificial plants.
Several breeders have even kept juvenile chameleons together for longer than the suggested period. Nevertheless, before the chameleons reach their sexual maturity around the age of 8 months, they can be kept together.
That being said, you need to pay close attention to them to ensure nothing goes wrong.
What To Do If You Already Have More Than One Chameleon?
If unknowingly you have invested in more than one chameleon and now that you realize how dangerous and unhealthy it is for the chameleons to live together, there are only 2 ways around it.
Extremely Large Space
One way to overcome the problems of having more than one chameleon is by creating a space large enough for them. This will allow them to freely and safely wander around in the same enclosed area.
For example, how the zoos or exhibitions place their chameleons in a huge space to prevent one chameleon’s dominance over the other.
By providing a large space, you would eventually create a different territory for each of the chameleons. Now that that is done, don’t forget to place a separate water and heat source for each territory.
They would also need lounging spots and climbing branches away from each other. Realistically, this would mean dedicating an entire room to your chameleons.
With all that said, the risk of clashes for territory, wounds from fights, and stress due to living together are still going to be there.
Separate Enclosure
The other way in handling this issue would be to have separate enclosures for each chameleon. Even with separate enclosures, the chameleons need to be kept far from each other with no way of seeing each other.
Even a mirror that could reflect their existence to the other chameleon is not wise. As mentioned previously, even the mere sight of another chameleon can get them very agitated. So, make sure to prevent this so your chameleon doesn’t get stressed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, chameleons can’t live together as it will cause a lot of complications. Chameleons are lone rangers, they like having their own space, food, water, and basking spot.
Even chameleons of the same species are not meant to live together, bar the exception of the above mentioned two species. The harm chameleons could do to each other in the enclosure by living together is not worth taking the chance.
The best option is to let your chameleon be the sole dominant reptile in its territory. Next time you think your chameleon is feeling lonely or in need of a companion, do get back to this article and have another read.
