Side Striped Chameleons

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Common Group – Chamaeleonidae
Common Name – Side Striped Chameleon
Scientific Name – Trioceros bitaeniatus
Distribution Area – Mountains of East Africa including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Southern Sudan, Northern Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire

Natural History

The Side Striped Chameleon range in colors from steel grey to a light beige color having 2 white stripes going from its head to its cloacae. These stripes can range in color, depending on mood and stress, from black to rust. These chameleons come from the various mountain ranges of east Africa; they are usually found around 4000 to 7000 ft elevation. These mountains have dense foliage and cooler temperatures as well as relatively high humidity around 90% + for most of the morning and nights and around 80% + during the hottest parts of the day. This being said the Side Striped chameleon is comfortable in cool humid climates. They are fairly sedentary; males will sometimes stay in the same spot for several days. Females are a little more active over the course of the day they will move to basking areas and then back to the shade to eat and rest.

Size and Longevity

The Side Striped Chameleon is a fairly small species of chameleon at only 4 – 6 inches from head to tail. They give birth to live young, and reach sexual maturity by six months of age. They have no discernible features such as horns or color patterns to tell the sex of these chameleons, the only fool-proof way is to look for the hemipenal bulges on males or lack thereof on females. These chameleons are not well documented so there is little documentation on average lifespan in the wild, but they seem to live for several years in captivity.

Housing

There are a couple of ways to house the Side Striped Chameleon; the all screen cage method, and also the all glass cage to hold better humidity. With the all screen cage method we would recommend a {ZooMed Medium Reptibreeze cage](http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/reptile-cages-and-vivariums/screen-reptile-cages/-/zoo-med-medium-repti-breeze-aluminum-screen-cage/) or the generic LLLReptile 16 x 16 x 30" Aluminum Screen Cage or even something larger. If you have the space, bigger is always better! We also recommend getting a properly sized substrate tray to hold bedding and water tray to contain excess water for ease of care. If you decide to go the glass tank route, we would recommend ZooMed's Extra Large Glass Terrarium or the Exoterra Glass Terrarium 18 x 18 x 24. For those unable to pick these sizes up in store, there is always the option of an appropriately sized Penn Plax Cage. In any of these cages we would recommend a ficus plant of an adequate size for the cage. Make sure the ficus really fills the cage up; these chameleons like to have a lot of hiding areas and many different basking zones.

Heating and Lighting

As we mentioned earlier, these chameleons come from the cooler mountains of east Africa and like basking temperatures no higher than 88 degrees F with nice ambient temperatures of around 75 degrees F, with nice low drops to 60 degrees F at night. If you are heating up the screen cages you can use a mercury vapor bulb such as ZooMed's 100 watt Powersun housed in a ZooMed Deep Dome which will provide a nice hot basking spot and tons of UVB. Use of such a hot bulb is okay in a fully screen enclosure; the heat will dissipate out of the cage and keep it within a reasonable range for your chameleon. It is essential to provide your chameleon with a source of UVB, which they need to produce Vitamin D3, a vital ingredient for the absorption of calcium. If you are planning on housing your Side Striped Chameleon in an all glass enclosure, we would recommend using a ZooMed 25 watt basking bulb in a ZooMed Mini Deep Dome in concurrence with a fluorescent UVB bulb and fluorescent fixture of appropriate size to your cage. The reason we recommend this setup is the glass cages hold in heat very well. We will also suggest you look into a fan system as all chameleons need high air flow to thrive. This also keeps the cage from over saturating with water. Do not leave any visible light on at night, as this will stress your animal out. Keep them on a 12-hour cycle (12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness). This can be accomplished simply by turning the light on in the morning and turning it off at night, or by using a timer. In order to monitor temperatures, we highly recommend using a digital thermometer to track the high and low temperatures within your cage.

Substrate and Furnishing

Since the Side Stripped Chameleon loves humidity, you need to use a substrate that with hold moisture well and not mold or decompose. This being said I suggest using compressed coconut bricks, loose coconut fiber, orchid bark, cypress mulch, New Zealand Sphagnum Moss, or chipped coconut husk bedding. All these substrates hold moisture very well and are for the most part mold and mildew resistant, and soft enough to break the fall of your chameleon. As far as furnishing your cage - as we said earlier a ficus plant is a great centerpiece because they grow, they are easy to maintain, they offer hiding spot and gradients for your chameleon, and offer a great natural look as well. Also offer horizontal sticks and ledges as well for the chameleon to easily move from one area to the next. Suitable branches include sandblasted grapewood pieces, driftwood pieces, manzanita, Sumba vines, or surreal vines. Don't forget the foliage, too! There's tons of cool fake and live plants you can put in the cage, including tropical vines, jungle vines, fake tropical plants, naturalistic fern plants, large leaved 'smart plants', and climber vines.
Water and Humidity – Remember these Side Striped Chameleons are from east African mountains so they need it cooler and very humid. In all screen cages we suggest misting them with a hand spray bottle or pressure spray bottle at least three times a day if not more. An easier option is that you can buy an automatic misting system like the ExoTerra Monsoon System, a ZooMed Reptifogger or a high quality Mist King System. This is why we recommend buying the substrate and water trays so as to keep your floor dry and your chameleon humid. Remember you want to keep the humidity above 80%. In an all glass tank we would recommend just the Reptifogger since these cages are good about keeping in humidity.

Nutrition

The Side Striped Chameleon will accept a variety of foods including crickets, giant mealworms, and numerous species of roaches. If you can train them to eat off of tongs they will accept a much larger selection of food, including canned caterpillars, canned grasshoppers, and canned silkworms just to name a few. Since they are a sedentary animal they do not need to be fed everyday. You can feed them every other day to every third day. Use a high quality multivitamin supplement and calcium supplement containing D3 no more than every third feeding for adults, and no more than once a week for babies.

Handling

You must think of yourself as a caretaker and not so much as an owner because these are small chameleons and view anything bigger than them as a threat and potential predator, so it’s very stressful for them to be handled by you. This can lead to a shorter less than ideal life for them, I would recommend you look at and admire them in their cage as a display animal not as a hands-on animal.