Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've decided not to get another panther, or a veiled, but to try a small species. I have a terrarium almost ready and need ideas about what types of small chams are great. I've been reading up on diff kinds of leaf chams, etc, and was wondering if those with experience, or who have also researched them can give me ideas. The size of enclosure is 3.5' long 1.5 feet deep and about 1' high, or a little more.
Also, when giving ideas, if you can, please include how commonly they are bred in north america, and that type of thing. I want to try something that is harder to get a hold of, or not too commonly bred. I am KICKING myself for not getting a pair of armoured leaf chams a few years ago, when a store nearby had some cb.

Hey, I currently keep Rhampholeon Brev's, Spectrum and Brookesia Decaryi and of the 3 the hardest to keep or even find is the Brookesia. Im still in the process of trying to get eggs from my Brookesia, they seem to like going into burmation over winter(think I got some eggs about 2 weeks ago...fingers crossed). The 2 Rhampholeon species are alot easier to keep and I have had several sucessful clutches with them. The main difficulty people find with these species is there hatchling size... Ill post a pic of one of my babies tommorow.

Thanks! I was trying to find info/pics about r. spectrum last night, but my google searches were flooded with lights :/

I house my brookesia in this

I house my Rhampholeon's in this

Hey well I had more photo's but kingsnake is messing around with them.

Substrate: Bark chips, finely chopped spagnum moss and peat moss all mulched together. Layer of leaf's ontop (I use Corn Leaves, Ficus, and Spiderplant.) Should be about 3 inches deep.

Care: Feeding 3 times a week with gutloaded calcium dusted 2 week old crix. Babies eat few day old crix calcium dusted. Babies also cannot stand much too much humidity so alot of ventilation is key. Babies when hatched are about size of a dime. Spray once daily.

Breeding: Both Rhampholeons are very similar here. They lay upto 6 eggs in 1 inch deep burrows. Female then uses her frunt legs to reburry her treasure. Both are quite agressive little buggers when it comes to breeding.. Female may start hissing at the male to het him off. Eggs hatch within 6 weeks. Males get green eyes while courting and change to a white color.

Brookesia: (never had luck yet but here it goes) K, The females seem to stay in a cacoon like state for MONTHS. They never leave their perch and seem to just sit there and swell. Then after a few months the females go down amongst the leaf litter for a few days( trying to find a good next site) (I have never actually gotten babies but I believe I have some few week old eggs, fingers crossed) The females might also be goin down for brumation.(Brookesia seem to love this)

Also I have watched as one of my Brookesia stripped bark from one of my branches... that was a long day aswell so might have been my imagination (as I cannot justify why shed do this)

K I know ive missed something so if you have anymore question plz feel free to ask as this is the second time ive had to rewrite this( first one got deleated accidently) ALSO ill try an post some more pics when my photogallery clears up.(most of my pics wont show up)

n/p

i'm leaning towards r spectrum so far... what type was in the last pic you posted?
i have a hexagon aquarium on it's side that's 3.5' wide, 1' tall and 1.5' deep. I've got a little bit of marble gravel on the bottm, then some sand and topsoil mixture, then 2" of coconut fibre stuff, then I'm going to get a small bag of bark to mix around, and then dry out my hibiscus leaves as the trees drop them to put on top. I've got one grape vine (I'm gettin gmroe soon), pothos at each end, a bromelied, a dripper (very cute, looks like a small tree ), a mini palm tree thingy, and another small type of tree (almost like baby ficus, very branchy, and they have small spade shaped green leaves with white in them). I'll try and get a pic of the set up when it's done, i'm very happy with it!!
I am also going to have a small fan about 1.5-2' away from what was the top (now on the side) of the aquarium, it's mesh on that side so should help with ventilation.
Will this work well for R. species??

Sounds like it could work, I used to use gravel to ensure my soil never got swamped. That sized terrarium should work great for 1.2 or 1.3, R. Spectrum are alot harder to find these days. R.Spectrum also seem to like to stay up a bit higher in the foilage than the Brev's. On my 40ies i use 1/2 of the top covered and the other is left open for ventilation. Ficus vines and most ferns do well in these set ups. Post a pic when your done, gl

Thanks so much for sharing this! We get a lot of questions about pygmy leaf care it will be good to have someone on the list who can respond!