Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So i found a little treasure: its a Brookesia (working on id-ing to specific species)

anyone else have one? general info?

I'm trying, I'm trying. have it on sphagnum moss, couple of plants, ten gallon w/vented top, uv light. making a drip for the water...

anything I'm missing (other than food-I'm going to order something somewhere online for that)

I'm pretty sure that fruit flies would fly through the screen to my cage: how else can I feed little flies like that?

doh, lots of replies to myself!!!

its a Rhampholean species, and the picture I found of a R. uluguruensis is an exact match...

so, there we go, figured out what it is...

check out roo's articles on chamnews (linked below).

As for fruit flies, you need to roder the flightless fruitflies, also pinhead crickets. What are you feeding it right now? Sort of sounds like you got the cham before you did your homework ;-/

A dripper is tough with these species b/c the substrate will become saturated and cause mold and bacterial problems. What sort of light, supplementation, gutload, etc.

I would suggest you read these two articles and check out the link in my signature for general info, sites (most suggested sites), vet, setup, etc. See what you don't understand, I am sure there will be something(lol!) then ask questions. Can you post a pic of your setup?

www.chameleonnews.com/stumphabitat.html
www.chameleonnews.com/brevcare.html

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I actually printed out the stump habitat-I have it more-or-less already like that, just without the drainage layers, which I will set up tomorrow.

I have pinhead crickets right now, I just don't believe that crickets are a good sourse of nutrition, and I have now ordered a bunch of stuff to be here on Friday-it'll just have to eat pinheads til then. I ordered the 'giant' fruit flies, some mini wax worms, small meal worms, and 1 week old crickets. if needed, I can grow out some of the worms to thier bug stages, but sine the ones I ordered are 1/2" for the meal worms, and we'll see how the wax worms work out.

I think I'm doing fairly well... it has a humid enclosure-yeah, getting a spray bottle for it, and the drainage layers set up. I even have charcoal!!! just need to get the balls now.

I did tons of research tonight-I was a biology major before I decided to drop outta college (final year blues) so I know HOW to research... but theres not too much info on the leaf chameleons!!!

roo frequents this forum so you can get first hand info from a very knowledgeable source/breeder. Chameleonnews also has an older article on Brookesia which is somewhat helpful, too, did you see that one? I had a trio of leaf chams a few years back from the Kammers (great breeders) and they all died within 2 weeks of one another at about 9 months old (had them for about 4-5 months). Long story, but one which was never resolved

As for not a lot of info, you are right, but what is there is reputable on chamnews and adcham (look under species profile).

Crickets, like any insect, is not a completely nutritional food source, that is why gutloading them is so important. Some keep them on healthy gutload all the time (me, b/c I find it easier) and others who will gutload them (dry and wet) for 24 hours before feeding off - I find that to be too much to keep track of! ;-/

I would not bother with getting the waxworms to adult stage, they wiil be more attractive (wiggly and cream colored) than the moth.

I would go real easy with those mealies, high is chitin (exoskeleton - being a bio major you probably know what chitin is ) and more difficult to digest. And remember the rule of thumb for feeder size - no longer than the cham's head is wide (b/t eyes). wax and silkworms are an exception (within reason) b/c they are soft bodied.

I used to stick a piece of fruit on a wood skewer and place it in the soil so that the fruit was about eye level with the chams favorite spots The ff would clustr to it and then the chams just pick them off! Works great! Did it with my gecko and anoles, too.

so how big is this liitle fella(?) girl(?) If you post with specific questions you might want to put leaf cham (or simialr) in the topic so roo (and others) will be sure to answer. Got a cam for your cham? can't wait to see pics! I have been toying with getting some again...
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

shes (looking at the few pictures, it looks like a she-with the very large belly, may be having eggs even... who knows?) about 3 inches long, maybe a little less. I'm leaving her alone, so she can get used to everything.

I don't care if shes hard to find!!!! I liked her better than those big flashy ones that they had at the store (they even had a Werneri there, but I stayed away!!!)

hmmm, I can definately hold back on the mealies-I ordered small amounts of everything, so that I can get used to her.

I like the fruit on a stick idea too-thanks for that one!!!

Suprisingly, they take larger prey than Fruit Flies, even the Hydei ssp. elicit almost no reaction. 1 week old crickets are much better. Mine took a few tiny silk worms but crickets are their staple. Keep in mind, these are "boring" Chams. Almost impossible to find in a well planted cage and they can sit virtually immobile for hours! Mine are in a 20 gal. long tank w/only UVB. Heavily planted w/Pothos w/ alot of lava rock "outcroppings". They "cruise" the Pothos to drink (misted twice a day) but really like to hang out on the lava.

These also have a relatively short life span when compared to other species.

Bill

"Keep in mind, these are "boring" Chams"

That’s rubbish! Such a matter of opinion.

Actually, pygmies love the wax moth … more so then the worm itself. I believe this person has a nchisiensis and they like them as well but not as much as the brevies.

-roo

I agree on the "boring" comment, I think they are just wonderful to watch and see if you can spot one hiding. Remember the "hidden pictures" in HighLight magazine? That's what a leaf cham tank is like! lol!!

I said that about the moth going by the size of my little guys, but this keeper's are about 2x the size of my little brevi's

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

"Rubbish"? Are you not stating your opinion while at the same time denegrating mine? Note the "" around the word boring. Added to denote - "for lack of a better word".

I keep 'em and love them, but if you can come up with a better descriptive for a Cham that does its best to act like a "Pet Rock" (nice survival mechanism)I'm all ears.

Bill

“"Rubbish"? Are you not stating your opinion while at the same time denegrating mine?”

Sure, I guess. I couldnt help it ... I love all things pygmy.

“Note the "" around the word boring. Added to denote - "for lack of a better word".”

Point taken, but at the same time the little animated smiley face that winks at the end of my post denotes that I was just kidding with you. >

I think leaves are what they are trying to mimic, not rocks. I also spend a ridiculous amount of time observing them so you tend to catch more activity that way.

Lele … yeah it is fun playing the find the chameleon game … sometimes it’s a real pain in the ass though. A little frustrating trying to find one only to see that it’s an inch away from your nose.

-roo

Must be that time of the month for Roo LOL JK

I must say HIS enclosure pictures and articles have really got me interested in the pygmy chams. Keep up the good work

"Must be that time of the month for Roo LOL JK"

That made me smile, and it was called for. Hehe. Thanks for the nice comments. I really do love these things.

Quite a bit of communication is lost when just using just words and I really didnt intend to upset anyone - but at the same time it is fun to stir the pot every so often as you did with monthly bill comment - and that was funny!

-roo

"Monthly Bill"

LOL Classic

wow-lookit what I started.

wow, lots of reading, I must say... but, I went out and got more carbon today, I have a ton of sand laying around (I have a reef tank-seahorses, which are a ton of work also)so I'm about to start layering away... got some plants that like to have 'moist but not wet' roots... we'll see how they do.

My cat is trying to eat the crickets that I bought till my order of bugs an stuff is here... got a cheapo misting spray bottle, I think I'm doing fairly well. The most expensive thing so far was the light-unless you count shipping with the bug order, then the bug order was more expensive BUT I don't count shipping, so its all good still.

all I need now is some driftwood and sticks. and my cat to leave the crickets alone before she pops the bag.

yeah, I often would feel silly when he was right there!! Kaiya, was always impossible to find, Makeda always visible and Bart was the one hidden in plain view!! I miss them....thinking of getting some again (once my panther boy settles in

billy, I guess I took your "boring" too seriously - sorry
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Lele,

Not to get off topic. I dont understand why people take things so seriously, when people are joking. I think we all can misunderstand tone or meaning as these are typed words. Not saying this about you or anyone in this post. just in genearl I think some people need to get out of the herp world long enough to get back into the human world.

BTW LELE,

How long did you have yours? Did you keep them in a group together?

we had a day with no power and then one with no cable (internet) so I was unable to work for almost 2 days! I have been playing catchup ever since. So, not sure if you are still following this thread or not, but to answer your ???

I got a trio at 4 months and I had them for 4 or 5. they all died within one week of each other

Yes, they were housed together in a 20 or 30high. Setup similar to roo's.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Yeah, maybe I was a bit off as well. House training a puppy is something that REALLY tries my patience so sorry if I came off as offended. This darn American Bulldog pup is driving me crazy - its kinda' like raising kids...infants are a great concept until you have to do it all over again. Glad my boys are somewhat self-sufficient now!

I've also come to the conclusion I just don't have the time to devote to all of my herps adequately. Spring football and T-Ball is starting and I can't miss that stuff. That being said I'm going through some big-time seller's remorse over the animals I've decided to part with!

Bill

Sounds like a lot of husbandry going on lol

Seller's remorese is tough but You got to figure you cant keep them all, When I breed(if I breed) chams that is. I will try to place some with people I know so I can ensure their helath and check in from time to time. I bet yours will be ok and you are helping spread teh species. Have you regiestered them with the cham database? Just curious

No I haven't and I've never heard of it. I'm having enough trouble helping to get these puppies re-registered w/their new owners and coordinating microchips lol! Here's Ruby, our hold-back female American Bulldog - now 13 weeks and 35 lbs.!

http://www.chameleondatabase.com/

Check out the site. I have not registered Zeus yet but I dont know any of his bloodline info either.