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Rickeezee
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 Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:04 pm Post subject: Chamaeleo (Triceros) melleri |
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Chamaeleo (Trioceros) melleri
Meller's Giant Chameleon
(also called Mueller's, Giant One-horned, Elephant-eared Chameleon)
I recently acquired a pair of LTC mellors, approx age two years. They are are mostly wild caught and rarely offered as UK CB.
The pair I have are a true pair, their previous owner kept them together since he owned them. So I shall continue this tradition.
The male of the species actually can pine if he is not living with a mate!
The husbandry requirements and behaviour of the mellors is quite different to that of most other chameleons. For example: when mating you take the male to the female, they do not reach sexual maturity until between the ages of 2 and 4 years. Mating can be a lengthy process taking up to several months before the female will allow the male to mate.
The female will swipe the male with her front legs to gauge sturdiness and whether he is fit enough to continue the gene pool, in turn he will defend with his front legs and they can end up doing a dance both holding each others front legs!
The male when displaying to the female will flap his occipital lobes and head click.
The more I learn about this species the more fascinated I am with them.
A good website for those interested is: http://www.melleridiscovery.com/
I have taken a few pics, they are not very good, the mellors were not really into it and changed to defensive colours, so sadly you don't get to see the vivid greens and yellows that they normally display. Better pics will appear in time!
Oh yes they are quite large beasties, and very powerful! They have been out on my arms a few times, they have a vice like grip (healthy sign), and on occasion have drawn blood via their grip on my arm! 
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Rickeezee
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Rickeezee
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Rickeezee
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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I forgot to say, if anyone has any experience of keeping mellors please contact me either via a pm or via a post on this thread as I would love to find out more about this amazing species. Thanks.
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Peter Parrot
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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Good luck with them Rick. 
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Rickeezee
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Peter Parrot wrote: | | Good luck with them Rick. |
Cheers Pete, should make a fascinating project especially if they do breed! Lots of learning potential for me.  Their behaviour is amazing!
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Xenopus
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Beautiful. They do look HUGE though! Also there isn't as much of a difference between the male and female as I would expect - or is it because the grumpy colours are similar but at rest they're not? Good luck with them, here's hoping for some CB babies (did the previous owner have any luck with breeding them?). |
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Rickeezee
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Xenopus wrote: | | Beautiful. They do look HUGE though! Also there isn't as much of a difference between the male and female as I would expect - or is it because the grumpy colours are similar but at rest they're not? Good luck with them, here's hoping for some CB babies (did the previous owner have any luck with breeding them?). |
Thank you; they are huge! The male and female do look alike whether fired up or relaxed, they do display different mating colours from each other though.
The previous owner had one clutch of eggs last year, their first, that were all infertile, may have been because they were not sexually mature? I am not sure. But they do not reach sexual maturity until between the ages of 2-4 years. So that may have been the reason. Luckily since I have had them the male has been displaying to the female on and off. This has surprised me as I have only had them for a couple of weeks now. I have made a few changes to the previous set up, including changing the heating and lighting arrangements.
The female is not receptive at the moment although she is beginning to go through the long drawn out mating ritual. They only breed once per year, so fingers crossed !
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JStroud
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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Absolutely awesome mate, best of luck 
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Mememe
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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Hopefully you can get some nice CB babies!
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