Breeding Melleri in Captivity

Most mellerichams group members keep single pet melleri, seldom of known genders. One member has bred them in captivity and provided the information here.  For another breeding perspective, see this Ken Kalisch article.

What do you want to achieve with breeding melleri?

If you wish to breed melleri, examine your reasons and be realistic about the long-term quality for the lives you bring into the world.  As reptiles go, Old World chameleons are among the most delicate known and the most often misunderstood. Not only is the Meller's chameleon sensitive to stress, but its large size requires keepers' long-term commitment to enormous enclosures.  A recent report that the same wild-caught melleri have been in captivity for 17 years, with one owner, leads one to wonder about longevity. Are captive-bred melleri built to last 20 or more years in captivity? Will you warn buyers that a captive-bred juvenile melleri may live for two more decades? Are you willing to adopt back any melleri you bred, at any time, for any reason? Are you willing to work with a wholesaler to distribute captive-bred melleri? Will you exchange offspring with other breeders to expand the captive gene pool? Do you have enough space to house them all, especially when they mature to be large adults? With recorded melleri clutch sizes from 15 to 92 eggs, that is a lot of caging, prey, and watering to undertake. It’s a good idea to list your goals and budget well ahead of time, and be prepared for the brood.

How do I tell males from females?

As in hyenas, monomorphism is a successful adaptation for melleri. Since melleri are not as social as these mammals, it is unclear what the benefit is for them. Perhaps, it offers females territorial stability; they look just as threatening and impressive as any male. Males and females occur in both standard and blue morphs.

Not all melleri are difficult to sex. Some males have obvious hemipenal bulges, from a young age, and the bulges may be enlarged in normal adult males during the breeding season. Melleri males can disclose their gender by everting their hemipenes during defecation and veterinary procedures (enema/cloacal wash). It is not recommended to try everting these by hand to determine your melleri’s gender, as this area is easily bruised. The use of identifying spots to sex melleri has limited success. Some keepers posit that the presence of black spots below the eyes and behind the occipital lobes (flaps) indicate a male. This does not work all of the time, perhaps due to the variety of color and morphological differences in melleri. There are some sure methods of sexing melleri:

1. ultrasound of ventral proximal tail base (just behind the vent or cloaca)
2. X-rays to check for skeletal gender differences 
3. behavior at sight of another melleri
4. endoscopy 
5. probing
6. profile of underline, from belly to tail
7. pulsing of hemipenal bulges while basking or being watered
8. hemipenal plugs with feces deposits or wiped on perch

Probing method of experienced melleri keeper Pete Mackevich:

"...Another possible benefit to acquiring a group at once was the ability to probe the hemipenes with a #4 French catheter and compare a number of animals.(As a side note it seemed probing was best accomplished by inserting the catheter at a 35 degree angle to the tail). The hemipenes were actually quite prominent!"

-personal communication

Probing method of experienced melleri breeder Juriaan (CharunMaskim):

"Vets probe from the base of the tail towards the head, just like with snakes. With the males you can go deeper then with the females. This may sound weird but when you probe you kind of push the hemipenes away a little so you can go deeper. The females tend to have a membrane that stops the needle from going in very deep. And the males have a spur on the hind leg, as well, so many times you do not need to probe.*
"You can probe mellers when they are at least 1.5 years or else you will damage them very easily. I probe a lot of chameleons and snakes and found out that probing chameleons is [very difficult], they are more wiggly than snakes, believe it or not.
With the average Meller's male, you can slide the needle in to about 6 to 7 scales, and the female only 3 to 4. The difference is clear. But please be careful! Let a vet do it, or better yet, do not do it at all. They get very stressed from it."

-post #1578 mellerichams Yahoo group

*Some populations of melleri show a heel spur in the males. However, both the male and female owned by the Editor have the same heel spurs. Unfortunately, this is not a universal method for sexing melleri.

Inner (medial) profile of heel spur	Outer (lateral) profile of heel spur
Back (posterior) view of heel spur
Heels of suspected female subadult CB, both parents had spurs/ photos K. Francis

A new and harmless sexing method is the "profile of the cloaca-tail underline". This method is still being tested, we do not yet know if it is universal. Females tend to have a lip on the back (posterior) edge of the cloaca. Females also may have prominent hips, no matter how ideal their condition and weight. Males have either no edge protruding (juvenile or off season) or have an enlarged front lip to the cloaca and enlarged hemipenal bulges (breeding season)

Underline of male melleri in breeding season, tail/photo K. Francis	Underline of adult female melleri/photo K. Francis
Underline of 3 month old female melleri/photo K. Francis	Prominent hips of healthy adult female melleri/photo K. Francis

From this point forward, we are discussing a pair of melleri that meet the following criteria:

1. They are both adults (over 18” each and over 2 years of age, if known).
2. They are acclimated to their present locations, free of stress, and have finished adequate quarantine (minimum of 90 days).
3. They are healthy and free of parasites, and receive at least annual veterinary check-ups.
4. They are not on any medication, nor exposed to poisons or pesticides.
5. They are a known sexual pair (their genders are confirmed beyond a doubt).
6. They are compatible, and have been observed over a long period of time.

The courtship of melleri is entertaining for keepers, as it is one of the most flashy and energetic stages of their life cycle. Please do not put two melleri together to see the "fireworks" displays purely for your own entertainment or eagerness to get babies. Breeding is a serious responsibility and can cost your precious melleri their lives. Unlike other chameleon species where males rush the female and mate forcefully, melleri males are shy and methodical. The equal size and strength of the female give the male good reason to avoid a crippling bite. The male tests her receptivity repeatedly until he is satisfied that she is not going to harm him. Courtship occurs from morning until late afternoon, and a pair may even sleep next to each other during the night.

Female melleri tend to stay in their own territory, and males pass through to breed and hunt. Recreate this dynamic by bringing the male to the female, if they live separately. Bringing the female to the male can result in vicious fighting, as the female fights for dominance of the territory.

Movement of the female stimulates the male into courtship display. He will at first maintain his normal resting or basking color, but flick his occipital lobes (flaps), while pointing his face at her.  Blue and Standard morphs exhibit different male courtship colors. Blue males have a yellow, white, and black pattern, while Standard morph males show only yellow and black pattern. A receptive female will show a solid "army" green color all over. Her stripes will have little or no contrast, being all about the same color.  As her receptive stage peaks, her color brightens to a neon version of her morph, regardless of sun exposure. She becomes unable to darken to her normal basking pattern.

receptive female tries to catch the eyes of three males in combat / photo K. Francis

Left to right: receptive female color, courting male, unreceptive female- all three are known genders /photo K. Francis

At the first sign of aggression, this stage is abandoned and he ignores her. As weeks progress, he will test at closer range, even if initially rejected. If the female shows indifference or receptivity, the male will change to black and white with yellow tinges, yellow partial “lipstick” and green or blue “blush” to his cheeks.

He will flick his lobes so violently and so fast that the end of his jaw may fall open with the force. He will lower his nose, arching his short neck and freeing the muscles for flicking, until his heads bobs with each movement. During this time, both animals are communicating by infrasonics, which can be seen as they vibrate their bodies and felt if one animal of the pair perches on the keeper.

courting male pursuing female/photo courtesy K. Francis

If all signs are good, the male will continue to test her receptivity. The male climbs onto the perched female and stands on her back. If she vibrates and sways, he will retreat. If she remains still, and arches her tail base, he will stand there for about 5-10 minutes. This behavior looks similar to the courtship of pygmy chameleon species. The male will repeat this testing over several days.

male testing receptive female / photo K. Francis

Since melleri females normally produce only one clutch a year, it is paramount that the male correctly time the breeding. If she injures him prior to mating, he may not be the one to fertilize her later. Fertilization can occur long after mating, since females can store sperm and self-fertilize, but fewer infertile eggs may result from a well-timed breeding. Copulation lasts a few minutes and is repeated over days and weeks, sometimes months.

During the weeks of courtship activity, the female initiates some testing behavior. This may be a test for fitness, to ensure that her offspring get the best genetic material available. The female may “slap” or paw the courting male with her front feet. The male returns the pawing, which escalates into both animals holding each other’s forelegs and swaying on the branch. The female may also shoot her tongue repeatedly, at close range, to the male's face and eyes.  This is accompanied by face-to-face charges and rostral butting (poking each other in the face or ribs with the nose), but everything is done slowly and deliberately. There is no biting. The wrestling dissolves into the pair just basking together, sometimes one still holding some part of the other, and copulation may occur some hours or days later. Contact from breeding activity may cause skin scratches from claws; use a gentle, antibacterial rinse and aloe gel to stop infection. Avoid the eyes: rinse these areas with clean water only. Healthy melleri do not become infected and will shed the black scratches with the rest of their old skin.  In rare cases, a claw can puncture the skin deeply and the wound can go undetected for months, until an abscess develops. This appears as a black swelling that stretches the scales apart. Seek veterinary help to treat the abscess with both internal and external medications.

Roosting female in gravid color and showing black breeding contact scratches. /photo K. Francis

When the female shows stress colors, hiding behavior from the male, or gravid coloration, the male should return to his own enclosure. Even a female, who cohabitates with a male, may need a break for a few days. Stress will cause death in a gravid female. Avoid competition for food between the pair. Females need as much prey as they can get for their developing eggs. If she shows receptive color again, she may not be completely fertilized. Return the male to her for breeding, unless or until gravid or stress color returns. Some females become green and cohabitate normally with the male, even though quite gravid. Such a female can dig a nest and lay eggs in the shared enclosure, even as the male watches, with no stress.

Female in process of turning gravid color. Her dam is in full gravid gray below./photos K. Francis gravid female color/ photo courtesy K. Francis

gravid female showing green color/photo courtesy K. Francis

Melleri gestation is around 90 days. Shorter gestations suggest infertile clutches, obesity, or poisoning, all of which are still being studied. If a female has been medicated or purged of parasites while receptive or gravid, the eggs may be infertile and ejected early. If a female consumes prey that has eaten ergot-infected grass, she may abort her entire clutch. Extremely overweight females can produce too many eggs, and will either drop the load early or die of dystocia (egg-binding).

A normal female, with good diet, sunlight exposure, no stress, and a nesting site, will deposit her clutch without complications. With experience, the keeper can learn to pinpoint the day the female will dig and lay.

1. Restlessness, leaving the upper perches to prowl the floor or plant pots
2. Sudden weight loss (this can be a sign of severe complications)
3. Reduced appetite (some females will eat one or two bugs the day they lay)
4. Outlines of eggs visible around her waist
5. Increased basking
6. Pawing walls and floors
7. Washy white-green color, especially on the rear half of the female (contractions)
   

If the female is free-ranged, watch that she doesn’t lay her eggs outside of a nest. Some female melleri will seek out a dark closet or space behind furniture, rather than dig a nest. If eggs are already being dropped, do not disturb her, but place each one in the incubation media as you can. If you leave her alone, be sure to find the eggs soon after she’s done, or they will dehydrate and dent. There may be a few drops of blood left with the clutch, so be prepared for carpet stains.

Experienced females that do excavate nests, do an amazing job. No matter what size clutch she carries, the female melleri seems to know instinctively how large the nest must be. In just a couple hours, she can dig a nest big enough to hold a cantaloupe melon. A clutch of over 80 eggs can be dug, deposited, and buried in about 7 hours. Some keepers have noticed that melleri have a different nesting strategy than most true chameleons. Instead of digging a tunnel and then laying eggs while hidden within, melleri just excavate a large bowl-shaped hole, and drop eggs from a high position on the bowl's rim. The eggs survive a 6-8" drop without damage. A female is thus exposed to predators while dropping eggs, but the trade off is that she can get a large number of massive eggs out and buried within a short time. Mike Monge, of FL Chams, directly observed a WC female dropping eggs. Melleri females will drop clear to bloody fluid with the eggs. Each egg was encapsulated in fluid, like a sea turtle's egg, and dropped one at a time. Oviposition was preceded by the female's vertebrae twisting first to one side, then the other, then the egg dropped; this action was repeated for each egg. Mr. Monge also has removed eggs post-mortem from discarded WC melleri, and reports that melleri oviducts contain more fluid than seen in any other chameleon species' oviducts. He has likewise saved other species' CH potential from deceased specimens, giving him a broad range of comparison.

After her work, she will be exhausted, dirty, and dehydrated. Place her in a gentle, slightly warm shower, in the dark, for a couple hours. After hydration, she needs nutritious food and calcium supplementation.  Over several years, the rostrum of the breeding female melleri will show significant wear. This was once considered another method for telling age and gender of some WC specimens. Due to the collection, holding cages, bagging, and other importation methods, virtually all WC adult melleri have rostral wear or wounding. During labor, the female melleri may change color from green, to charcoal gray with green spots and orange stripes, to a pale white and yellow color. This pale color is the universal melleri signal for extreme pain, exhaustion, and/or duress; even males can exhibit it.

WC female laying eggs/photo courtesy M. Monge/FL Chams

Follow these links to see Mike's videos of a WC female burying her nestful of eggs: http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k53/FLChams/?action=view¤t=MOV01891.flv http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k53/FLChams/?action=view¤t=MOV01890.flv

WC female post-oviposition/photo FL Chams



WC female's nest being excavated by keeper/photo FL Chams

Mike shares his successful method for getting WC females to lay eggs, after showering for 2 hours: Set up a clean 80g trashcan, fill it 2.5 feet (76.2 cm) deep with a blend of 50% peat and 50% new play sand (as sold for children's sandboxes). Place the lid 3/4 or more over tub, with a coil fluorescent (to provide only light, not heat) just illuminating it through the opening.

Melleri Egg Myths

Constant exposure to indoor lighting is good for melleri eggs.

Reputable sources disagree with that statement. Chameleon eggs, with the exception of pygmies, should always be kept in the dark. Incubation boxes should imitate the conditions of a natural nest.

 Melleri eggs always take 5 to 9 months to hatch.

Some keepers report much shorter successful incubations, around 3 to 5 months. There is an account of a melleri breeder who lost an entire clutch of hatchlings because they were not checked before the expected due date. It is good practice to check the eggs once a week for mold, and remove any discolored or collapsed eggs not showing normal development. The eggs’ progress will indicate when daily or twice daily checks are needed.

Only melleri females that have been bred will dig a nest and lay eggs.

This myth may have started because no true “slugs” (obviously infertile, malformed eggs) have been reported from melleri. Unlike other species, melleri females invest size and shells in infertile eggs.  Healthy, normal females lay annual clutches, from adulthood to old age. Adult female melleri who have never even seen another chameleon will cycle, become gravid, dig nests, and deposit infertile eggs. Some females will reabsorb their eggs after exhibiting all signs of being gravid. This can be due to stress over loss of a long term mate, importation, only unsuitable or immature males in the area, or reasons only the female knows. This may be accompanied by a collar edema and continued green coloration during "gravid" months. Very few, if any, other chameleon species can reabsorb or stall their eggs. It is not known if melleri can store sperm from year to year (only one breeding season per year).

 It’s safe or necessary to incubate melleri eggs up to 80° F.

Temperatures over 78° F are dangerous for melleri eggs. As more is learned about regional morph differences, we understand that some melleri thrive in cooler, more montane conditions than others. A range of 68° F to 78° F is safe for melleri eggs, as that is safe for both the montane and the “heat-loving” melleri.

Incubation Media

Many keepers use the commercially available potting soil additives: perlite, vermiculite, and sphagnum. Potting soil, with fertilizer additives and non-sterile ingredients, is a poor choice. It contains chemicals and small insects that will harm embryos. Fertilizer-free soil sounds like a good alternative, but it encourages mold and fungus growth on eggs. Some keepers create a mixture of media to achieve ideal pH for chameleon eggs. Few keepers leave the eggs where they are laid. One 2004 experiment with melleri eggs left in the original nest did not result in hatchlings.

Incubation containers vary with each keeper’s taste and needs. Clear plastic is great for quick visual checks without opening the containers. It is wise to wash all containers and their lids in the automatic dishwasher, to sterilize them prior to use. Some keepers incubate with holes punched in the sides of containers for ventilation. Others say this is unnecessary. No matter which method you prefer, it is necessary to make sure predatory insects cannot enter the egg boxes. Nylon pantyhose, stretched over the punched holes, are not effective in keeping the smallest flies out. Stick clear tape over the holes, and with an X-acto blade, cut the tiniest slits over each hole. This method lets some air in, but hinders even tiny mites from passing- they stick to the adhesive if they try to push through. Be careful to not let in even one tiny insect when you open containers for checks.

Incubation Temperatures

The average temperature range that published sources agree on is 68°F to 78°F. Some keepers suggest a minor nighttime temperature drop, and this range gives ample room for such a drop. The interior of a climate-controlled house, in a dark lower cabinet, stays in this range and is ideal for melleri incubation.

The Incubation Process

The nutritional investment the female places in each egg should be met with equal care in incubation by the keeper. If the keeper has seen where the female has nested, a spoon can be used to gently scrape away earth layers to reach the top of the clutch. If you do not have a very delicate touch with tools, you may wish instead to dig by (gloved) hand. There is no rush at this point, the eggs are being kept moist and at the right temperature inside the nest. When the first white egg is visible, slow down the digging. Start removing them and placing them in the incubation boxes, in separate rows. Do not rotate or tip the eggs, place them in the box at the same angle as they were laid. Wear fresh (latex or vinyl) surgical gloves to avoid introducing bacteria to the eggs. A healthy clutch is beautiful: large (.5" wide x 1" long) bright white eggs, of typical ovoid or spherical shape, springy and bouncy to the touch. If the clutch is mostly strung together, eggs have yellow areas, or eggs are dented, chances are these eggs are infertile, poorly calcified, or have been laid too early. Denting can also mean dehydration of eggs; allow them to sit in moist media for a couple of days to regain their proper shape, then remove to drier media. Check your husbandry and examine the care of the female melleri before and at time of breeding. Foundations of egg quality start well before fertilization.

Once the eggs have been placed in boxes, close the lids, and place them in the chosen incubator. For melleri, our household cabinets tend to maintain the right day/night temperatures. You can test cabinets throughout your home prior by putting thermometers in them and checking by day and night. When you find the "right" cabinet, make sure it is quite dark and safe from pets and children. Leave the boxes undisturbed for the first week. Check them for moldy eggs on the eighth day, and once a week after that. Do not bother with candling any of the eggs. Fertile melleri eggs do not show any positive signs upon candling, just a pink-orange even glow. Vascularization is not visible, due to the enormous yolk provisioning the embryo. The embryo is encased in the yolk up until the very last growth spurt, so candling is fairly useless. It nestles between two dense lobes of yolk, just like a pit in a peach.

It is not a worry to lose a handful of eggs to mold during the first 2 months of incubation. These will shrink, turn brown, collapse, and sometimes moisten the substrate touching the shell. Little round specks of mold start to appear, eventually turning the dead egg's shell white again with the fuzz. If mold is taking over your boxes, and condensation is running down the lids and sides of the boxes, the media is too wet and needs to be changed. Healthy, living eggs do not normally grow mold. You can remove the eggs to drier substrate and some breeders sprinkle them with athlete's foot powder to control the fungus. I had no problems with mold, so I did not use this. Wild melleri eggs are supposedly laid in drained soils, so try to avoid making "wet" incu-boxes. I aim to make the media no wetter than the location my female chose to nest in. Females instinctively know what is best for the clutch, unless under duress and lacking nest options. Once the majority of the eggs have passed the two-month mark, most of the infertile ones have molded, collapsed, and shriveled. The white orbs that remain are now beginning to swell. Those eggs nearest the walls of the cabinet that have the greatest night/day temperature fluctuation will get the most moisture from condensation. Some eggs will swell to nearly twice their original size (15/16" x 1 3/16") in width. Embryos go through several major stages: Neurulation, Organogenesis, Early Growth, and Late Growth. By the middle of the third month of incubation, some of the eggs in my care had reached the Late Growth stage.

2005 melleri embryos. These eggs failed from overly wet incubation media /photo K. Francis

Concerns about Fertility

Since male melleri have been observed to be more shy and handle stress poorly, there may be a correlation between fertility and stress in melleri. This may be why import melleri seldom breed within the first year of captivity. Not only do melleri have a long courtship and gestation, with breeding occurring (usually) once a year, but they appear to need many prior months of stress-free living to produce viable sex cells. Moving a melleri from home to home, let alone importation woes, can take an average of 90 days to reach acclimation. That is three months of normal cell production lost due to stress. Stress is known to negatively affect many animals' reproductive abilities.

The photos below are CBs bred by K. Francis. For care information on neonate to subadult melleri, see the Raising Juveniles page.

Measuring a neonate /photo courtesy K. Francis	Making an escape from incubation / K. Francis
Turning green / K. Francis	firstborn Akia 2 months old / K. Francis
green nose poking out / K. Francis	preferred roosting arrangement / K. Francis
shedding baby #4 / K. Francis