Oustalet's Chameleon - the Most Underrated Chameleon in Captivity

Oustalets Chameleon - the most underrated chameleon in captivity

Despite of decades of very intense work on establishing many chameleon species sustainable way in captivity, only few species have made it so far. Notoriously known are only three species, namely the Yemen chameleon, the Panther Chameleon and the Jackson's Three-Horned Chameleon: The last of them is however not established really:

if they would not be huge numbers of wild caught animals delivered illegally to the continental United States from the Hawaii and if Europe would not be saturated by the fakely farmed, in fact wild caught imports from Kenya, the species would not be as frequent as it is now in our cages. The main reason for this disaster is, that people do not simplyUnderstand, that comedians are sensitive creatures and not pets in the normal sense and they expose them to unacceptable conditions with factors, which efficiently kill chameleons within a few weeks maximum month from their purchase. These misbehaviors especially. Include:

The overheating

The overfeeding

Wrongly constructed and miserably ventilated and illuminated cage…

I do not even mention the issues with hydration, feeding wrong feeders and wrong schedules of supplementation.

It is quite frustrating billance after so many years and in times, when superb equipment is easily and relatively cheaply available and proper correct information on their management is widely available, but of course not in the primitive Google search that delivers in many cases an absolute nonsense.

The more surprising is the fact that one fantastic species, which is very impressive and is very easy to keep because it is very limitedly prone to obesity, same to overheating and it is quite tolerant to all the other aspects of captive husbandry, is almost forgotten and very rarely kept and propagated.

I talk about the so-called Oustalet's Chameleon, sometimes also known under the names the Malagasy Giant Chameleon or the Giant Chameleon, Furcifer oustaleti.

This species occupies almost all Madagascar from the coastal lowlands to montane habitats. It is quite well equipped to tolerate big fluctuations in the climate - it means in temperatures and humidity levels, as it thrives both in thorny hot dry shrubland, as well as in the moist lowland tropical areas and it is also home in altitudes even above 1000 m, where it can get pretty cold at night.

For captivity it is very well suited and as easy to keep or even easier, then the most frequent captive chameleon the Yemen Chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus.

These giants are having a very gentle and calm temper can usually be very easily manipulated or taken out of the cage for a quick sun bath or even free range or for keeping outdoors. Like all chameleons, they hate any cuddling, but are quite patient and calm to be handled.

With their impressive total length exceeding significantly 2 feet in total in adult males, they are hard to oversee even in a well vegetated cage. Males are usually colored in various shades of black, brown and beige, while females can have similar coloration but in some localities they can be lime yellow or green or green with a black pattern, sometimes with yellow and red on the casques. So, despite of not extremely colorful, they represent a very attractive and easy to keep chameleon for captivity. I know about no one, who kept them and would say anything negative about them. So, if you are a keeper and enthusiast, ready to consider enlarging your collection of captive chameleons, the Oustalet's Chameleon is definitely the candidate number one to consider.