Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there:

I own a pair of pygmy leaf chameleons, and today I was cleaning out there vivarium. I had no idea that they were a male and female, let alone that they would breed! As I was removing a twig from the cage, a small squirmy object fell into my hand. Thinking that it was some horrible prasite, I was just about to drop it when I realized that it was a new chameleon half the size of a dime. I put him in a small glass tank with some flightless fruit flies. On the bottom I put some spagnum, with a small twig and a sprig of pothos. I still can't find the other baby. I'll watch out from now on when I clean out the vivarium. He sure is cute! I bet the other is still in there.

DAVE

Congratulations
Hope you find more!

Sounds great! A nice surprise. Hope it does well!

Congratulation, be sure to keep a high humdities for the babies, they tend to dry out quickly.

Pygmy could laid 3-5 eggs at a time, so you should get more suprise later.

Hi there:

Yesterday I pulled an all nighter (last week I pulled two in a row) and kept coming up to check on the Chameleon habitat, but found nothing. Last night, I came up to find a tiny chameleon walking upside down across the screen lid. I gently removed him from the tank and put him in with the other. This one is alot fatter, and prefers to stick to the ground rather than climbing as high as he can. I named the first hatchling Squidgy; the second Ken.
I was wondering what I can feed these guys. I put some teeny tiny crickets in there, but those are really hard to get. When I tried flightless fruit flies those just climbed right out of the mesh. Any suggestions.
These little guys have actually tried to bite, but I am sure that they will learn to trust me. You cannot even feel them!

DAVE

Hey believe it or not, I also found one new baby inside my viv after I return home on 27th. Anyway, regarding the feeding issue, I generally use a small container as a feeding pot where I would take them out once a day for feeding. With the way, I could save those pin-head crix and baby was much easy to catch their prey.

Hi there:

Thanks for the tip. I noticed that every time I find a new baby, the female disappears and I can't find her anywhere. Then I notice that she is thinner and I find a baby near the entrance of the nest. They are getting less nippy. I am definately NOT picking these guys up with my fingers, but I have been letting them crawl across my hands. Do you think I could find a third tonight?

DAVE

Hi Dave,

From my experience, pygmy will laid 3-5 eggs, so you should able to find the 3nd one if all eggs got fertilized.

Hi there:

Yes! Including the parents I now have 5 healthy happy pygmy leaf chameleons!

DAVE

Congratz X 3
what kinda setup up do you have?
what are the temps? humidity? food? plants? lighting?
etc...

Hi there:

Yes, I know glass is bad, but I have had no problems using it with these guys. The pair is in a 10-gallon vivarium near a half-sunny, half-shaded window. They seem to have actually enjoyed cooler temperatures. The shaded end is 65 degrees farenheit, and the sunny end is 76 degrees farenheit. I mist the enclosure well each day.
I have read and heard that in the wild these guys very rarely encounter full spectrum lighting, and was told not to bother with it. It sure sounded fishy, but obviously these guys have been thriving great, and when I experimented with a UVB strip, they fled from it like vampires.
The substrate consists of 4 layers; pea gravel, charcoal and potting soil without fertilizers, I used a big climbing brach with a small fiscus tree, overlapping slabs of cork and sturdy rocks with some artificial fan palms and live pothos. It is all strung with thin vines and twigs.
For food I offer small calcium D3 dusted crickets, and have even seen them eat the ocassional waxworm and piece of soft fruit.

DAVE

Wow thats almost identical to my decaryi tank
excepts for cork bark and most of the plants you have!
lol
thanks for the info