From 05 to 07 May 2023, the annual meeting of the AG Chamäleons once again took place in Boppard am Rhein. Traditionally, the chameleon friends who had already arrived on Friday met at the Italian restaurant in the Rheinallee for a cosy dinner. After the location had changed owners and names several times in the past years, it is now called “Castello da Toni” again, as it was many years ago. An exchange of experiences and many exciting conversations heralded the conference.

Saturday morning started with a classic keeping and breeding session in front of almost 50 chameleon lovers who turned up. Jean-Dominique Dufraine gave a talk on two species that he has been keeping and breeding successfully for several years. Rieppeleon brevicaudatus, a terrestrial chameleon that seems to have been somewhat forgotten in herpetoculture in recent years, but which is a lot of fun to keep, will hopefully get a new chance to reappear in German terrariums in the future. The Seychelle’s Chameleon Archaius tigris is also small, but a species with interesting behaviour that can be kept in groups. Thorsten Negro then reported on his recent trip to Madagascar, where he went in search of the various Parson’s Chameleons of the red island. A special target was the “green giant“, the colour variant of the Parson’s Chameleon in the rainforest of Masoala, which had hardly been documented until then.

After the lunch break, we continued with legal aspects of terraristics, interestingly presented by Oliver Witte. Whether a tenant can prohibit the keeping of chameleons, whether a certificate of competence makes sense for everyone (yes!) and what rights and obligations you have when selling animals were just some of the topics discussed. In the photo competition, a beautiful photo of a Brookesia vadoni from Marojejy in Madagascar by Markus Bartels was chosen as the winner. He received a 50 € voucher from Chimaira as well as one of the beautiful conference collector’s mugs designed by Caro Vierbücher, which change chameleon species every year – depending on the winning motif of the previous year’s photo competition. Second place went to Markus Grimm with a photo of a Chamaeleo chamaeleon reticrista from the island of Samos in Greece. He received a 30 € voucher from QB Insects. Third place went to Monique Bartsch with a photo of a Calumma globifer she bred herself. She also received a voucher from QB Insects.

The eagerly awaited lecture by Dr. Sarina Wunderlich on the subject of UV-B LEDs. then went directly into practical herpetoculture. The conclusion after many measurements and considerations: Currently, the physicist advises against the use of UV-B LEDs over chameleon terrariums. However, the technical possibilities to reduce the previous deficits of LEDs are already available – just not affordable for the normal consumer so far. It is therefore realistic that UV-B LEDs will become usable in a few years. So we are eagerly awaiting an update in the not-too-distant future. The lecture part was concluded by Rayane Vuillemin, who presented the Association Caméléon Center Consérvation founded in Switzerland last year. Various projects are planned to draw greater public attention to the protection of chameleons. Among others, a project on the occurrence of chameleons in the Vohimana Special Reserve in Madagascar is currently being supported. Several chameleon species are also to be propagated across Europe as part of an ex-situ breeding programme to establish a stable population outside their home countries. An exciting project that we are sure to hear more about!

The general member meeting at the end of the day was pleasantly short. Treasurer Tim Vierbücher gave an overview of the current financial situation. WG spokesperson Dr Alexandra Laube presented the activities of the board in the past year. In addition to the complete overhaul of the website and increased activity in social media, a monthly newsletter was launched and a AG-owned cloud and a data management system were set up, especially for publications. The increased visibility generated a lot of approval among the AG members. The goals for the coming year are the revival of the breeding statistics and the 50th-anniversary issue of CHAMAELEO. In addition, there will be a survey on whether the conference should continue to take place in Boppard or whether it should change location again after 21 years. We are already looking forward to the result! The various ideas and presentations were then eagerly discussed at the joint dinner.

On Sunday, it started right on time with a travel report by Lars Dwinger, who actually comes from the aquatics scene and came to the chameleons via his first trip to Madagascar. He showed many great photos from the rainforests of Ranomafana and Andasibe in the highlands as well as Akanin’ny Nofy on the east coast of Madagascar and gave tips for travelling around the Indian Ocean. The conference ended as it began, with a husbandry report – this time by Markus Grimm. He told about the habitat of Chamaeleo chamaeleon reticrista in the wild and showed video and picture material of storm-beaten chameleons as well as mating. Afterwards, the expert examiner for Switzerland presented his own husbandry conditions for the species in the terrarium and gave a lot of information on how the successful incubation and breeding of the European Chameleon can succeed.

Finally, there were some great donations to the AG: Jean-Dominique Dufraine donated 500 €, Jutta Dwinger donated the proceeds of the bags she sold of 320 € and Caro Vierbücher rounded up the already impressive sum by another 100 € for the AG Chamäleons. Many thanks to all three donors! A big thank you also goes to all the speakers for their interesting and varied contributions and to the helpers in the background who made the conference a success. And finally, we would like to thank the DGHT Policy Advisory Board, Peter Sound, for once again making the premises available without complications. We are looking forward to 2024!