Posted by:
Ingo
at Fri Oct 27 06:35:40 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Ingo ]
Dear Kristina,
I have not yet kept melleris myself. I have thought about giving it a try and done quite some research in advance. But here in Europe these are rarely available. The WCs coming in are not always in best shape and CB animals are hardly seen.
Moreover, at least to me, sexing of mellers still is an issue and I do not have the capacity to start with a larger group and find out, which is which.
Also my herp room does not guarantee the degree of nightly tempdrop which I consider the most recommendable for melleris.
So I do not have any first hand experiences.
I just can tell you that several german keepers did experience problems with flaps and in some cases crests and that most of these blamed it to low humidity leading to stuck skin after sheddings, which in turn, if overseen, promoted necrosis.
One breeder in fact had such problems with his juveniles and got completely rid of them by elevating relative humidity, especially at night.
I know that mellers do bask, but obviously it is stressful to them to not have the availability to leave a basking spot relatively far behind.
On the other hand, they obviously can thrive under solely fluorescent lights.
Thats why I recommended to "forget what I said about lights, wehn it comes to melleris".
In a classical setup for a heliophile animal, IMHO a melleri would suffer from quite some stress. Sadly most melleri keepers still do not provide enough space for these giants to allow them to actively change between larger diffusely lit areas and a defined basking area.
In large tanks, I am convinced, they will bask-I see the same for Acanthosaura and Gonocephalus, which are both said to avoid bright lights and which definitely do so in smaller tanks.
BTW, I like your melleri page very much. A lot of relevant informations and a very meaningful attittude when it comes to housing conditions and feeding.
Best regards
Ingo
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RE: captive care of Oustalet's pics - Ingo, Fri Oct 27 06:35:40 2006