Veiled chameleon

Why is it important to report veiled chameleons?

Veiled Chamelians are adaptable and are able to establish wild population in a wide range of environments and climates.

The veiled chameleons:

• can prey on native birds and insects
• carry parasites including threadworms, coccidia roundworms and protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium which can cause malaria, Trypanosoma which causes sleeping sickness and Leishmania. These parasites can be transmitted to humans and other animals.

Description

Veiled chameleons originate from the southwestern coastal region of Saudi Arabia and western Yemen.

The veiled chameleon is a tree-dwelling lizard:

• which can vary in colour, and colour can change rapidly depending on their environment, mood and temperature, this enables them to camouflage to avoid predators and hunt prey. When upset they turn black and white.
• which has a prehensile tail that allows them to grip branches and other surfaces
• males typically have vertical body bands of bright gold, green and blue mixed with yellow, orange or black
• females are typically light green with a mottled pattern of white to gold spots on the body and light blue on the dorsal crest
• males can grow to 61cm in length whilst females grow to about half that size and tend to have thicker bodies.

Breeding

In captivity, 30-60 (and up to 85) eggs are typically laid per clutch, and 3-5 clutches may be laid annually. Eggs often take 6-8 months to hatch. Females become sexually mature at around 5-6 months old and can live to about 5 years of age while males can live up to 8 years.

Rules for keeping restricted animals

Rules apply to restricted animals that can pose biosecurity risks to the NSW economy, environment and community.

The Biosecurity Act 2015 (Act) provides the legislative framework for managing the biosecurity risks of these non-native animals. The Act controls and regulates:

• the entry of certain non-native animals into NSW
• the movement and keeping of those animals within the State through registrations and permits.

The registrations and permits impose conditions to ensure the risks of keeping non-native animal species are adequately managed, such as security and safety requirements to prevent the escape of animals.

The illegal importation of animals also often leads to animal cruelty issues due to the efforts made by smugglers to avoid detection of the animals during the importation process. As a consequence, smuggled animals can suffer stress, dehydration and starvation and many smuggled animals die during or as a result of the smuggling process.

Veiled chameleons (and other chameleon species) have been bred and actively distributed by the pet industry and are now kept both legally and illegally in captivity around the world. In Australia the importation of live animals is controlled by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), and the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth). There are restrictions on the animals that can be imported into Australia. These restrictions have been established as a safeguard to protect Australia against exotic pests and diseases that are considered a threat to the Australian environment, economy and the wider community and to protect endangered species from uncontrolled trade which can lead to population decline and extinction of endangered species.

As a reflection of the biosecurity risks it presents, the Veiled chameleon is classified as a Prohibited Dealing under the Biosecurity Act 2015. It is an offence to keep this species unless authorised, for example under the Exhibited Animals Protection Act 1986 or Animal Research Act 1985.