From 16 to 18 May 2025, the annual meeting of the AG Chameleons took place once again in Boppard am Rhein. Traditionally, the chameleon friends ‘Diverso’, who had already arrived on Friday, met in the Rheinallee for a cosy and very tasty dinner. An exchange of experiences and many discussions about, with and around chameleons heralded the start of the conference.

Saturday morning began with the first remote lecture directly from Berlin in front of around 35 conference participants. Sophie Obermeier reported on the expert training courses offered by the VDA/DGHT Expert Training Centre East. There, interested parties can complete both the certificate of competence according to §2 TschG and that according to §11 for commercial and – attention, this also applies to many private owners – commercial owners. Sophie also explained why every chameleon keeper should obtain a certificate of competence – even if it is not yet compulsory in Germany. A training course focussing solely on chameleons is currently being planned. Now that the technology is working perfectly after a few teething problems, there are already initial thoughts about using this option at future annual conferences to allow speakers to speak who are unable to attend in person due to physical distance.

Falk Eckhardt then presented his keeping of Trioceros serratus. The animals – especially the females – are visually difficult to distinguish from Trioceros peretti and Triocecros wiedersheimi. Falk had taken over a group from another keeper and also bred them. He explained how they are kept in gauze enclosures with cork walls on two sides and discussed egg laying and successful incubation of the eggs. As the species’ country of origin, Cameroon, has not allowed chameleon exports for years, the terrarium population of Trioceros serratus is unfortunately not particularly large at present. A lack of females in particular makes the long-term conservation of the species in German terrariums rather unlikely at present. Anyone keeping animals of this species, including individuals, should definitely contact Falk so that any individual animals that still exist can be reunited.

After the lunch break, the programme continued with a richly illustrated travelogue by Gerd Fritzsche. He has already visited the KwaZulu-Natal region in eastern South Africa twice. His ‘bucket list’ on the last trip included various dwarf chameleon species, including Bradypodion melanocephalum, Bradypodion setaroi, Bradypodion thamnobates, Bradypodion caeroleogula and Bradypodiondracomontanum. From Durban we travelled by car to St. Lucia and back to the famous Drakensberg and Karkloof. The odd mamba was removed from huts and houses by his local guide, who specialises in snakes. Hippos and giraffes were also on the itinerary ‘as accessories’ – even though the diverse dwarf chameleons were the main target of the trip.

We then returned to herpetoculture with the presentation by Jean-Dominique Dufraine. He has been keeping carpet chameleons (Furcifer lateralis) for some time now, a small but all the more colourful species from the highlands of Madagascar. Jean-Dominique hopes to find a small group of keepers who would like to keep and breed Furcifer lateralis on a long-term basis. He is particularly interested in exchanging experiences on special, species-specific issues such as ‘egg throwing’, for which Furcifer lateralis is well known. Jean-Dominique reports the experience of the breeder of his animals that the chameleons buried eggs in the sand when the light from a lamp reached the bottom of the terrarium. Several clutches are now in the incubator. There were other interested parties on site who might want to keep the species again or for the first time.

The photo competition was once again divided into two categories this year. Marko von der Osten-Ellinghaus won first place in the nature photography category with his photo of an amazingly colourful, mating Furcifer rhinoceratus male on Madagascar. Second place went to Markus Bartels with a photo of a Calumma parsonii parsonii of the colour variant ‘green giant’, taken on the Masoala Peninsula in Madagascar. Gerd Fritzsche took third place with his Bradypodion setaroi from St Lucia, South Africa. Gerd won again in the terrarium category, but this time in first place, with a very nice Bradypodion damaranum. Benni Ludwig took second place with a Parsons chameleon. Third place was drawn by lot among several participants due to a tie – Jean-Dominique Dufraine won the race with a carpet chameleon. The two first place winners each received a €50 voucher from Chimaira. The second and third places received vouchers worth €30 and €20 respectively from QB Insects and Der Terraristikladen. The latter were fully sponsored for the photo competition, for which we would like to express our sincere thanks. In addition, each winner received one of the conference collector’s mugs, which are designed by Caro Vierbücher and change chameleon species every year – depending on the winning motif of the previous year’s photo competition.

The lecture part ended on Saturday with the general meeting. In her annual report, WG spokesperson Dr Alex Negro presented what the management team had achieved over the past 24 months. These included the 120-page CHAMAELEO 49 as well as two flyers for member recruitment and advertising the breeding statistics. Social media and the lively newsletter were also continued. The offspring statistics, which have been advertised intensively since 2022, were able to record the first reports for 2024 for the first time in almost 10 years. After Tim Vierbücher resigned as treasurer, Alex Negro also provisionally took over his role. She therefore also outlined the current financial situation of AG Chamäleon. The 50th anniversary edition of CHAMAELEO is on the agenda for the coming year. In addition, a competition is planned to modernise the AG Chameleon logo, which is now over 30 years old.

As expected, the new elections were quick and straightforward: the management team was confirmed in its current composition. The team of spokesperson and – new, also treasurer – Alex Negro and the assessors Jan-Benedikt Glaw, Monique Bartsch, Anne Stemper, Benjamin Ludwig and Svea Brüne is now completed by Lars Dwinger. Saturday evening ended with a pizza dinner.

Sunday started with a presentation on the current state of chameleon medicine by vet Alex Negro. She reported that there has been an enormous increase in knowledge, especially in the last ten years. Whereas in the early 1990s, when the AG Chameleons was founded, there were only a few vets who looked at reptiles at all, today there are not only over 120 reptile experts on the AG ARK list, but also reference values for a variety of diagnostics such as blood chemistry, blood counts, ultrasound, X-rays and even computer tomography just for chameleons. Various case reports from around the world complemented the lecture.

This was followed by a more practical and richly illustrated presentation: Markus Bartels and Lars Dwinger reported on their trip to Madagascar in April this year. They spent a whole week in the mountain rainforest of Marojejy in north-eastern Madagascar to find, document and – thanks to permits – collect undescribed species together with the Tanalahorizon team and chameleon researcher Dr Frank Glaw. Following this sweaty but very successful chameleon expedition, they travelled to the lowland rainforest of Bobangira directly on the Indian Ocean. New discoveries awaited them there too – and a rather arduous tractor journey.

Finally, there were some great donations to the AG: Jutta Dwinger donated the proceeds from the hand-sewn bags she sold, totalling € 175. Caro Vierbücher also donated her proceeds from the sale of hand-painted porcelain to the AG Chameleons, another € 184. Many thanks to both of them! 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 Peter Sound for organising the venue.

See you in Hanover in 2026!