Chameleoco

Please note that this care sheet outlines my own experiences with this species, there is currently not much info on captive care of this species and all info is from what has worked for us with wild farmed specimins. 

The High casqued Chameleon (Chamaeleo Hoehnelii) is a reletively small, live baring (gives birth to live babies, doesnt lay eggs) Chameleon found in Eastern Africa, primarily Uganda and Kenya. They should not be considered as a first Chameleon.

They are a semi montane species found across a wide range. Kenya in particular has many microclimates, most of which have a Chamaeleo Hoehnelii population. This means that C. Hoehnelii can be found at elevations higher or lower than what is commonly stated for this species, (1) so, some specimins will be more montain than others depending on whereabouts they origionated from in the wild.

Mount Kenya - 17,057ft: The climate of Kenya varies by location within Kenya, from mostly cool every day, to always hot. The climate along the coast is tropical. This means that rainfall and temperatures are higher troughout the year. The further inside Kenya, the more arid it becomes, an arid climate is nearly completely without rainfall and temperature is prone to swings depending on time of day or night.

Nairobi - 5000ft: Average nightime temps in Nairobi (the capital of Kenya)  are in the mid to low 50's (2)  and mount kenya has a range of nightime temps depending on the elevation but it often freezes over night . Chamaeleo Hoehnelii therefore requires a temperature drop over night, I would suggest a temp which is no warmer than 60f over night. So long as they have opportunity to warm them selves to an optimal temperature in the morning, a substantial temp drop over night can be beneficial.

We have housed gravid females in a conservatory over the freezing winter months and they all gave birth to live babies. The exact temperature over night will depend on whereabouts in eastern Africa the specimin is from. With the vast majority of Chamaeleo Hoehnelii on the UK reptile market being wild caught or farmed, this can sometimes prove difficult. Warmer, household temperatures over night seem to be too warm, in a glass enclosure especially, a mesh enclosure could help this, but in very young hoehneliis mesh is unadvisable as a consistent temperature gradient is hard to maintain.

As a daytime temperature, Chamaeleo Hoehnelii like a cooler ambient temp than other lowland african species such as veiled chameleons which you may be more familiar with. Around 70f (21.1c) ambient temp seems to work for us, with a slightly coller end of 65f. Adult females  seem to like a hottish basking spot of around  90f (32c) (gravid females will gravitate towards a warm basking spot, turning their tummys towards the heat, you must make sure they cannot burn themselves.)

Babies are somewhat harder to provide a comfortable temperature for, they like it cool in the morinings with just a UVB tube turned on, then around 9-10 ish we turn the basking spot on for a few hours. A daytime ambient temp of around 75 f and a basking spot of 80-85f. I do not advise this basking temp daylong, keep checking the temp and allow them cooler times during the day. If the daytime basking temp remains at this level, the ambient temperature will rise and babies begin to close their eyes and become reluctant to move or eat. Even excessive spraying doesnt seem to allieviate this, as it seems the air is just too warm, and dries out too quickly (even though there may be standing water at the bottom of the enclosure) I turn the heat bulb off at about 11-11.30 am. In glass enclosures the air stays warm and cools off slowly throughout the day. If the babies are not given a basking period of sufficient temperature for at least this amount of time (babies may need warmer temperatures for longer if kept in mesh) and the temperatures become too low, babies will begin to close their eyes and show reduced movement and willingness to eat, they also have a much higher chance of suffering a fatal impaction as they are not able to properly digest their food.

Maintaining an appropriate temperature gradient is sometimes hard with baby hoehneliis as they need to be kept in an enclosure which is size proportionate, as falls can injure babies (and adults). In a smaller enclosure this temperature gradient may be hard to keep up, which is why it is essential to check temps hourly and watch for signs that the babies are becoming too hot or too warm. Also watch for unusual signs such as babies not basking and cooling as they should (only staying at the bottom/only staying at the top)

Humidity wise we have found that 50% or slightly below is good and this can peak to 90%+ during and after misting so long as it does drop some afterwards. We use live plants in babies and adult enclosures. Chamaeleo Hoehnelii like regular misting and in particular I pay special attention to morning misting and drying. Warm water is almost always immediately accepted whereas cold water sprayed directly onto a hoehnelii will often make them shy away. 

Babies need lots and lots of water, not only to maintain moisture in the air, but wetness on the leaves. If sprayed only once or twice a day the babies will have difficulty passing feces and urate and you may notice some babies with feces hanging out of their bums, which they cannot pass.  Babies sprayed this much also shed much later than babies sprayed regularly, and the shed skin took longer to completely fall off.  More babies were lost which were too hot and too dry. Its tempting to keep hoehneliis cold and moist, but we have found that babies and adults, whilst liking it moist, do enjoy warm basking heat. I use a fine mister with babies more than I use the pump action sprayer that I use with most other species. Whilst they do get a good "downpour" at least once a day, a fine mister is much better at gently wetting the leaves and babies without causing any great disturbance.

Babies eat fruit flies and micro crickets, micro crickets are gutloaded. When supplementing c. Hoehnelii babies be very very careful. Montane and semi Montane species have a slower metabolism than lowland species and are much more sensitive to fat solubale vitamins. I do not supplement babies with a multivitamin for at least the first 2-3 months. I keep them under UVB for vitamin D3 synthesis and gutload the microcrickets and calci-dust them once or twice a week. Fruit flies are not gutloaded or dusted and these make the main staple of the diet. Bean weevils can also be fed. Baby hoehneliis eat noticably less than baby panthers for instance, whereas baby panthers will eat frantically,many items at a time, baby hons tend to eat only several items, and less frequently throughout the day. Fruit flies should always be on hand when caring for any baby Chameleon. I do not leave a fruit fly culture in baby hoehnelii enclosures, as babies seem to get very stressed when too many fruit flies are roaming about, as they eat less there can be an excess of fruit flies which crawl all over the babies.

Adults are fed small sized prey items, they seem to like smaller prey, for instance one female would turn her nose up at small locusts but gobble up fruit flies (although fruit flies should not be fed to adults as a staple!!)  Offer a variety of prey and you should find one that suits. Adults have their prey gutloaded with foods with a high calcium content and dusted with calcium 2-3 x a week. Vitamin supplementation is given once or twice a month. (I use a multivit which contains NO D3, only A. Gravid females may recieve slightly more supplementation.) I always err on the side of caution when it comes to supplementing any chameleon and always gutload all insects with fruit and veg and grains which contain beneficial vitamins and nutrients, rather than throwing a load of powder on all prey items.

I read that some people dust their panther Chameleons prey with Nutrobal once a week (like I say all the time, Nutrobal contains BOTH vitamin A and D, the ones to be careful with). Whilst I think this is wildly too much, people do follow this regime and seem to have reletivelly healthy panthers. Whilst you may be able to get away with this with a Panther or a Veiled (to the naked eye anyway) you will not with a hoehnelii, or any semi montane/montane species and you will undoubtedly end up with a case of hypervitaminosis A or D or both, which could lead to endless health worries including but by no means limited to nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (MBD) kidney and liver failure and gout.

When housing C. Hoehnelii, always house each individual chameleon seperately and out of direct eye contact. Although they can be slightly more sociable than other african species, it is still better to avoid any prolonged contact and the associated stress, especially with wild caught/farmed imports.

It has been written (reference needed) that C. Hoehnelii form pairs when mating and sustain this "relationship" up until birth when the male and female will part ways. This however is not something we have witnessed.

Neonates and juveniles can be housed togther for a short while after birth but I would always suggest seperating each individual cham once they are 4 + months.  This could be longer as the babies grow more slowly than species such as veileds which grow big, fast and become territorial. Interestingly I have noted with different species of Chameleon that if you seperate the babies from a clutch before at least 3 months they tend not to do aswell as babies kept with the clutch.

I do not use loose substrates with adults or babies as impaction can be fatal, as with most Chameleons. Babies are much more susceptable to eating substrate and becoming impacted.  Babies seem to enjoy a slighlty higher humidity all day, which I achieve by using a layer of blue roll. I change this once it is soggy and leave the enclosure completely dry over night. It is important to remember that you should not leave standing water in the enclosure or soaking wet kitchen roll (or similar). Whilst I dry the bottom, the leaves and sides of the enclosure are left wet purposely until they dry naturally.

Furnishing the enclosure is much like a Panthers except I tend to use smaller leaves, plants and branches to accommodate for their size difference and make the enclosure denser as Hoehneliis often come from densly populated montain forests. I make sure with babies that they have lots of vines and dead branches near the top of the enclosure, so they have plenty of room to bask for heat and uvb if the want. The framework of vines and branches is continued further down to the bottom of the enclosure, as babies often become stranded on the floor, and if in a glass enclosure with no vines hanging down for them to climb back up, can be stuck there until you find them. I also make sure that they have lots of real and fake leaves to hold water so that they can drink whilst the water sits on the leaves, and they have lots of opportunity to drink.

As they are a small species you can use a smaller enclosure but 3x2x2f is preferable for an adult male, babies of course should be housed in smaller enclosures until they reach a suitable size for a larger enclosure. I have kept hoehneliis in both glass and mesh enclosures and found that adults do much better when kept in mesh under cooler ambient temps. Baby hoehneliis, like Baby Panthers do better in glass than mesh for the first few months of life.