Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 3 leaf chams are 3-4 months old and in a 10 gal. tank. I have a 30 I was going to move them into and was going to wait, but I think there is soon to be mating (if not already) and would rather settle them into their permanent home now so I don't disturb any potential eggs in substrate in the future. Are they too small to put in that big of a tank? (30Lx12dx18h)Will they have too much trouble finding food? I use bits of apple so that the ff and crix congregate in just a few spots and the kids seem to have adjusted to this so I could set up similar in new tank. Any thoughts from leaf owners appreciated.

thanks,
lele

When I had my leaf chams I had them in a 55 gallon tank and they found their food with no problems.

how many did you have in there?? Did you breed them? did you just let them lay in the substrate and leave the eggs there? I have heard that is recommended with this spp. What did you use for your uppermost layer of substrate?

thanks!
lele

>>When I had my leaf chams I had them in a 55 gallon tank and they found their food with no problems.

I only had 3 in there and I had a very bad experience with them. I had no info on them except what the person who sold them to me gave. They were two females and one male. The females were shipped to me gravid and ended up eggbound. The male died months later of a URI because they told me to keep most of the top covered in plexi or glass to keep in humidity for them and of course that was the wrong thing to do. I know the females were eggbound because I donated their bodies to my vet who had never come across R. Brevicaudata before and she wanted to do a dissection. She said they were probably too stressed to lay their eggs because they were shipped gravid and became eggbound. Probably the eggs crushed their organs.

Sonia,

now I recall a previous post of yours saying that you'd had an unfortunate time with them...sorry I made you dredge it up

yeah, I am sure it sucks when you get bad info - esp. from a breeder. you sort of expect it from a pet store, but not from a breeder. But thanks for sharing your sad story and the info.

I have a plexi top but I move it around on top of the screen and sometimes remove it all together for proper ventilation. I rear giant silks and they are very sensitive to humidity at different instars so it is something I tend to pay very close attention to - have to, no matter what the critter is any loss is devastating

Thanks again,

lele

>>I only had 3 in there and I had a very bad experience with them. I had no info on them except what the person who sold them to me gave. They were two females and one male. The females were shipped to me gravid and ended up eggbound. The male died months later of a URI because they told me to keep most of the top covered in plexi or glass to keep in humidity for them and of course that was the wrong thing to do. I know the females were eggbound because I donated their bodies to my vet who had never come across R. Brevicaudata before and she wanted to do a dissection. She said they were probably too stressed to lay their eggs because they were shipped gravid and became eggbound. Probably the eggs crushed their organs.