Are chameleons prone to eat their own babies? You might think that parents of all kinds are usually loving towards their children and would never think of harming them.
It is widely known that hamsters eat their own offspring when they feel threatened or if they are too hungry. Do chameleons exhibit the same behavior?
Sadly, chameleons do eat their own babies. Unlike mammals who love and care for their offspring, reptiles don’t have the capacity to do so. To them, baby chameleons are just other smaller chameleons that they eat or attack.
Rarely do reptiles form bonds with their own kind. Chameleons are no exception and this is just nature running its course. With that said, is there a reason why chameleons eat their babies?
Why Do Chameleons Eat Their Babies?
There are several reasons why a chameleon would eat its babies. It all boils down to their nature and basic instincts. Don’t feel too sad if your chameleons ate their own babies. They don’t really see them as their children anyway.
The Chameleon Is Hungry
If a chameleon hasn’t had its fill yet, they will look out for their babies and eat them. This is because they are opportunistic eaters. Chameleons are omnivores.
Omnivores are often called “opportunistic eaters” by scientists. These eaters will eat almost anything around them when hungry.
They benefit from this as they are able to find food anywhere at any given time. Unfortunately, this means that even their babies turn into backup rations when the moment arises.
The Chameleon Is Territorial
Chameleons are naturally very territorial animals. They have an extreme dislike for other creatures being in their territory.
All other chameleons are huge threats to them and they will not hesitate to show aggression towards them.
Bigger chameleons may just end up with a scratch or two at worse. However, smaller chameleons aren’t so lucky as they simply become food for them.
The Chameleon Can’t Form Social Bonds
These creatures do not have the concept of social bonds with other creatures. They live for themselves all their lives.
Chameleons don’t acknowledge their own offspring and treat them like any other creature. It doesn’t even matter if they are kin or not.
This isn’t just about baby chameleons though. Other chameleons and even lifetime caretakers are not considered friends. They simply get used to their presence.
Since a chameleon sees their babies as just another chameleon, they won’t hesitate to eat it.
In fact, chameleons will not hesitate to cannibalize another chameleon when they are hungry as long as it’s smaller in size.
How To Prevent My Chameleon From Eating Its Babies?
This is all disheartening and all but I assure you that countermeasures can be done to prevent this. Let me show you a few ways you can prevent your new baby chameleon from becoming chameleon food.
Keep You Momma Chameleon Fed
Keeping the larger chameleon fed will help prevent it from looking for its own source of food. Chameleons don’t just eat everything they see whenever they feel like it but only eat when they are hungry.
They didn’t evolve in an environment bountiful with food so they have no concept of unhealthy overeating. Though it depends on the species, adult chameleons should typically be fed 3 to 5 times every other day.
Controlled feeders or bowl feeders can be used so that you can control when and how much to feed them. Keep in mind these are all manual feeders so don’t think you can just leave it and forget about it.
Remove The Babies From The Mother’s Cage
You are allowed to move the babies out of their mother’s enclosure. It is often recommended that caretakers remove the babies as soon as they are born.
One tip is to remove the mother chameleon as soon as you notice that it has laid eggs. This allows you to look around the enclosure for her freshly laid eggs.
If you are not present when this happens, you don’t need to worry too much either. There are certain times of the day where a chameleon has its hunger turned off, giving the babies a chance to run away.
Baby chameleons have the innate instinct to disperse as soon as they are born so keep an eye out. It becomes a huge job to do when they disperse as they can be difficult to find.
The baby chameleons will need their own cage as well, so prepare yourself for some babysitting.
Is It Normal For Chameleons To Eat Their Babies In Captivity?
As previously mentioned, chameleons do this out of instinct instead of ill intent. This means that it is perfectly normal for a chameleon to eat their babies.
With that said, it is unlikely to happen unless the chameleon’s caretaker is extremely negligent and forgets to feed their chameleon for a week or two. If not, chameleons won’t bother eating their children.
Baby chameleons are unbelievably small and immediately scatter around the enclosure when they are born.
Chameleons are too slow and lazy to waste their energy searching for the scattered babies.
If there is a better alternative of food for them, they will choose to pursue that instead.
How About Chameleons In The Wild?
In the wild, chameleons usually leave their babies and never visit them again after giving birth or laying the eggs.
It is very unlikely for chameleons to reunite with their babies. Therefore, it’s not normal for chameleons to eat their babies in the wild.
Sadly, even if you bring the chameleons back together they will not even recognize each other.
In fact, their incapability of forming social bonds just makes them think of each other as strangers or potential threats.
Conclusion
Chameleons treat their babies like other chameleons which may cause them to eat their babies out of hunger or threat.
You can’t change the basic behavior of chameleons but you can prevent them from eating their babies.
Keep your chameleon fed so that it doesn’t see the newborn babies as potential food. Either that or remove the babies as soon as you can before they become too difficult to find, or worse.
It is perfectly normal for chameleons to eat their babies as they have been hardwired for survival for millions of years. Don’t be too sad and just let nature run its course.
