Note: The cage pictured above is the pet store's cage. Ruth would never put a Chameleon in a cage with substrate. Chameleon's zapping crickets can easily ingest wood shavings, sand or other substrate.
I don't usually post pictures of other people's Chameleons. After all, this is my little brag site. But a Mellers Chameleon in Regina is something special. Back a week or so ago I was in Cow Town - our local Regina western wear/feed store/pet store and I spotted an unusual Chameleon labeled as a "3 horned Chameleon". This guy was clearly mislabeled - first of all, he only had one horn. But could it be? A Mellers here in the middle of the Canadian prairie? A rare and delicate animal like this would be very uncommon.
The Mellers is hardly ever bred in captivity and captive bred animals are usually sold as babies. This was a young juvenile. He was probably captured directly from the wilds of east Africa. Sadly most wild caught (WC) Chameleons die in transit or within the first few weeks of ownership. WC Chameleons often have high parasite loads and adapt to captivity very poorly. The average Chameleon owner would be ill advised to ever purchase a WC Chameleon.
Also known as the 90 day Chameleon, the Mellers Chameleon is one of the hardest Chameleon species to keep alive in captivity. Worse, it was in a small glass aquarium tank with a dish of water. I had a little chat with the department manager and gave him a bit of insight into the Mellers Chameleon. He promptly moved this beautiful animal into a much larger ventilated cage, set up a dripper and gave him some plants and branches to climb on.
Even with these changes, a Mellers isn't long for this earth without expert care. I could just see it - little Johnny gets a new lizard for his birthday then a few days later "mommy why is my lizard laying on his back??". I don't have room for an animal like this and even with a few years experience I'm certainly not an expert. There was only one thing to do. I called my friend Ruth and told her about the Mellers. Within a few hours, Ruth had purchased him. Whether even Ruth can keep this fine fellow alive in captivity is hard to say but at least he has a chance this way.
Chamaeleo Triceros melleri is also known as the giant one horned chameleon. They are, I believe, the second largest Chameleon species just behind the Parsons Chameleon. They are very hard to sex so we really don't know if this is a male or a female. They are usually very shy and adapt poorly to captivity, however this little guy seems to be doing ok so far. Time will tell. Good luck Ruth!!
Update: As of October 22, 2003 Ruth has kept this guy healthy and happy. He has grown and he's eating well. Looks like he isn't a 90 day Chameleon - at least not with the right care.
Update 2: Sadly this beautiful Chameleon escaped from Ruth's cage in her back yard. There's no chance he could survive a Saskatchewan winter. Weirdly enough if he lived till winter it would have been about 90 days...