Chamaeleo namaquensis Breeding Success in Czechia

After fabulous reports on the breeding of the Namaqua Desert Chameleon from Belgium (Jürgen van Overbeke) and Austria (Haus der Meeres, Vienna), another successful breeding is reported 

by Vojtech Víta incl. photographs

Chamaeleo namaquensis - a few days old hatchlings

Chameleons are trully bizarre creatures but even in between of many unique ones, there is an extremely obscure species, the namaqua chameleon.

The only species of chameleon adapted to survive in harsh deserts of skeleton coast. This species is simply different!

When I had a chance to get this iconic species I simply couldn´t resist. Shortly after I got a small group of CB juveniles, I also travelled to Namibia to see them in wild and learn about natural conditions - an awesome experience! This species requires quite a specific husbandry methods what makes it super interesting to observe in captivity. They are nothing like normal shy chameleons, they are confident animals, active walkers (or runners!) and of course voracious eaters of anything smaller than their own size (in nature they can pray on lizards or even vipers!).

Last year, when one of the females layed clutch of eggs, I was worried the difficult part yet begins. I tried to modify what I believed to be natural conditions for incubation (well maybe I underestimated ability of females to dig to extreme depth), eggs survived quite wide differences in between of day and night as well as generally low temperatures during several months through winter time. After spring increase of temperature I hoped it is on a good way, but nothing happened for another few months. Finally after 275 days of incubation a first namaqua chamelon hatched! However the remaining five eggs stayed without any visible change. So I waited.. Then after another twenty days, another four individuals appeared! What a miracle moment!

This is just a first breeding result, lets see how it continues but hopefuly it is on a good way.