Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone out there has worked with either the hoehneli or Mt. Meru jackson's. I am a little confused about their husbandry requirements. I have heard that the hoehneli are one of the most commonly held species in Europe yet the literature I have read (i.e. Petr Necas' book on chameleons and Masters of Disguise) states that they are a high maintenance species that requires very strict husbandry parameters (high humidity, cool temperatures, and a drastic night drop in temp.)or they will perish quickly. I was wondering if anyone knows how the wc hoehneli that were brought in last year have fared. I know several people had babies from gravid females but I never see any cb specimens offered on the market. I have heard similar things about the Mt. Meru's in terms of how delicate they are to work with. I think both species are really attractive but I have shied away from working with them because of their "reputations".

Also, does anyone know if there is any chance that any of the dwarf bradypodion species will ever be brought into the U.S. again? The pictures in Necas' book of Bradypodion damaranum rival any panther morphs in terms of vividness of color. He describes them as a "keeper's dream" species because of their beauty, their low requirements for food and space, and the fact that they are ovoviparous. I am assuming that their countries of origin do not allow exportation of their native species but I don't know that for a fact. Any light that could be shed on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Brian

For the Hoehneli, they are very common in Europe as well as Quads. It seems that the more difficult montane species are being kept with great sucess in Europe. Its a shame that there are no cb populations here. I was about a click away from buying some hoeneli several months ago but I backed out at the last second. The literature I have read does not imply they are a very demanding species, but they are not very productuve breeders (such as veileds or carpets), only dropping once ot twice a year with a clutch of 4-22 neonates (and the Mt. Meru's drop smaller clutches, also Meru's are exremely dificult to keep. Many keepers just find them dead for no apparent reason. I personally do not keep Merus, but I have heard horror stories, but I have also heard success stories too.) But that is still a decent amount of youngsters, but due to the low number of imports and the even lower numbers that are healthy and stay alive long enough to produce quality babies, there are virtually no hoehneli on the market. Then this is where some people come in and critisize people for buying wc animals, and how they have high mortality rates... but if its not for those people, then we would be stuck with panthers and veileds (Beautiful, yes, but change is good) forever. I dont know about you guys, but I'm tired of seeing the same thing on the market all of the time. I would really like to see more cb chams of various species on the market.

IF you'd still liek soem information on Meru's, i have seme on this website!
Link

I've found that there are two general sorts of hoehnelii in the trade - Ugandan and Tanzanian. The Ugandan specimens are hardier in my limited experience. I've got my second litter of F2 babies from them, the F1 parents were born last year in March, so I'm doing a little better than a generation a year. I keep them outdoors whenever the weather isn't completely overcast and the minimum temperature is above 35F. Babies I keep inside if the temperature will fall below 40F. I don't have any for sale, but did sell some F1 males in November to the East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, CA. I will probably continue to sell to them, as this is a hobby. The trick for me seems to be keeping them outdoors as much as possible (about 8 months out of the year - I live in the redwood trees/fog belt of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 2300' elevation, just south of San Francisco). When indoors, I use mercury vapor lights. The colors are amazing under mercury vapor lights - halogens and they are mostly grey and brown, but they have pink, yellow, white, and green when they can bask under the lights. Very few species I've worked with show this much variation between UV-producing halogens and UV-producing self/external ballast mercury vapor lights. They really, really need UV - the biggest killer of my babies was brittle bones when they weren't getting enough UV (I need to get a meter to check my bulbs before I see babies with broken legs!).

Good luck, get Ugandan material if you can, but they are all wonderful. Expect to spend hundreds of dollars on the setup per animal, including a few hundred at the vet getting them cleaned up and settled in (I don't shotgun if I can avoid it - and I've had a bout of respiratory disease go around more than once - you need to know the sensitivity of the particular pathogen - then recheck you bulbs!).