I own two male Cuban false chameleons, an adult and a juvenile, who are very charismatic and I adore them. I was wondering if someone could answer this question for me: why are all of the Cuban false chameleons for sale males? Most of the postings even specifically say “only males available”. Are most captive-bred Cubans born male, or are the females too valuable?
I’m very curious about this!
I think that people are not sexing them correctly. I have a female we thought was male.
Hmm, that’s interesting—you would think then that they would just sell them as unsexed babies? The “only males available” just seems too consistent to be by chance.
I’ll try to ask one of the breeders, though I imagine I won’t necessarily get a straight answer.
This may be a dumb question, but how are you sexing your guys?
Not dumb at all! Exactly, what I would suggest!
I’m using the two big scales underneath the vent (like they suggest on Incognito Anoles). I attached a photo of them on the baby, and on the adult they are really big and clear.
I asked a couple of people who sell them, and they said that most hatchlings do tend to be male, so they often hold back the rare females to raise for breeding. Apparently they lay only one egg at a time, so hatchlings are relatively scarce regardless. Since, as far as I know, there aren’t any large-scale breeding operations for this species, I wonder whether anyone has tried any long-term experiments with incubation temperatures to see whether that affects gender balance in hatchlings.
Thanks for all the answers! I’m an experienced crested gecko breeder, but I love my Cubans for all of their charisma.
They’re so cool 
Would love to get into these guys one day.
I kinda figured that you knew, but some people don’t. I’ve thought about the hold back of females as well. We are thinking of getting a male this year for our girl…that we thought was a boy at first.
So is it safe to assume that in the absence of those “scales” its a female? I have a cuban myself and have been trying to sex it as well. Any help would be assume!!
Yep, that’s correct.
So it’s safe to that picture is female
What size is a good start to put them together, with knowing the female is bigger? I don’t know his birth date
