Common Name: Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon

Scientific Name: Bradypodion dracomontanum

Food: Feed every 2 - 3 days. Babies and gravid females should be fed more often. All kinds of small food items, including crickets, flies, wax moths and larvae are eagerly accepted.

Distribution: Drakensberg regions of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa at elevations of 4500 - 7500 ft.

Habitat: found among the green forests, montane meadows and high savannas.

Color Discription: Males display a green-bluish coloration with some white tubercles, as well as light yellow spots on the throat and abdomen. Female coloration is unremarkable, mostly green and brown with some white spots.

Physical Discription: Fine, granular scales are distributed on the sides with a few conical scales. The casque is medium-sized, bent backwards with remarkable cranial crests. The gular crest consists of 10 - 18 square skin flaps. The dorsal crest consists of 39 - 49 small, conical scales and continues to the tail.

Size: 6"

Temperatures: Day temperatures should be in the mid to high seventies with night time drops to as low as 50ºF, even lower in winter. In its natural habitat, Bradypodion dracomontanum is exposed to temperatures as low as 30ºF. The night drop is essential for the animal's well being.

Breeding/Reproduction: Gestation time is about 5 - 6 months. 8 - 12 babies in one litter per year. Best raised individually.

Cage Setup: Individual housing in a well ventilated cage only. Minimum cage size is 20" x 20" x 25" per single lizard

Water: 2 mistings per day but during the dry period only once a day. The use of an extra dripper or individual watering of adult lizards will be helpful. Every other week a multi-vitamin product should be added to the drinking water in an adequate amount.

Special Needs: Special fluorescent tubes with UV-light, HQL/HQI-lamps are required for indoor housing in large enclosures. A little spot light for thermoregulation is also necessary.