Search for Parsonii Info

In the recent days of renewed interest and activity, I think it is time someone suggested that we publish what we can on this forum. Legality and morality aside, we all would like to see Parson's Chameleons flourish and multiply. More ( or in this case ANY) CB means less WC. In my humble opinion, the community is only hurt by tight-lipped and malicious keepers that have experience but refuse to share anything. Their reasons are legit and I cannot blame them for their intense desire to keep Parson's out of the hands of inexperienced keepers. They are NOT a simple or hardy species. But how can experienced keepers learn from each other on a larger scale if not through a medium like this?

I believe our progress with this species is retarded because our collective knowledge is shared only via phone calls and emails between few individuals. I know serveral members on this forum are ready and generous with their advice but is the benefit of keeping that information hidden really outweighing the benefit that other experienced CURRENT keepers of Parson's chameleons could receive from knowing what works for others.

I heard that circa '94-95, Sticky Tongue Farms was a leader in Parsonii breeding...ahead of all the conservation groups, zoos, and experienced keepers combined. Being that I was only 12, I cannot confirm. Linda Davison wrote an important article about Parson's that was published in Reptile Magazine. Does anyone have it?

I do hope the best for the species and wish that one day we can reintroduce our CB specimens back to Maddy. Let's talk about solutions and not bicker about underhanded motives, greed, or ill will towards others.

This is one of the BEST threads I have seen posted in quite a while, and I agree entirely with you.

I know a few people in S.A that keep parsonii and they are actualy doing well. Lleroy being one of them.

Im sure people can do the same thing with parsonii than what they want/are doing with the new bradypodions

I have a very old reptilla with a article on parsons, would that help at all.

laurie said:

I have a very old reptilla with a article on parsons, would that help at all.

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Yes Laurie, that would be great.

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Now to lead by example, hear is some info that might be helpful:


François Le Berre seems to have had success with parsonii. He has quite a bit of experience with a vast amount of species of chameleon and has written several articles and of course The Chameleon Handbook. In this book, François states that there are four types of Calumma Parsonii Parsonii: "Orange-eyed," "Yellow-lipped," "Giant Yellow," and the smaller cristifer.

François states that parsonii prefer temperatures of 74-82°F with a RH of 75%. The preferred forest stratum is that of 6ft, frequently found in eastern coastal forests, mid-elevation rainforests, coffee plantations, forest edges, and degraded primary forests.

His Breeding and Hatching Data is as follows:
Sexual Maturity: 20-24 months in captivity
Life Span: Over 10 years in captivity
Size: Males 32 inches and females 30 inches both measured from head to tail tip.
Clutch Size: 20-40 eggs
Clutch/Year: One
Hatch Time: 18-21 months with fluctuating temps starting with a cold period of one month (minimum temp 63°F and maximum of 77°F)
Time from Copulation to Lay: Four to five months.

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Franco Gagliardi's article in ChameleonNews: Growth of Parson's Chameleons
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Richard D. Bartlett's Chameleons
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Through the invaluable input of others, I've found a semi-consensus that 72°F is the preferred target temperature. While 80°F is too hot, heat stress indicators do not become apparent until 85°F. As with most rainforest dwellers, periods of higher humidity (85%-100%) are ideal but only if allowed to fluctuate back towards the 65-70% range. This is why many books state, it is best to allow your enclosures to "dry-out" between heavy mistings.

The water requirement of parsonii is HUGE. The bigger the dripper the better! Ideally, the dripper should drop water all day. A few keepers have fashioned buckets and barrels where gallons of water drip out over a period of time. If you can do it, you'll be better off for it because the animal can choose whenever it is thirsty to get a drink. The water requirement alone SHOULD BE A MAJOR DETERRANT for casual keepers or keepers who must always keep parsonii indoors. Imagine filling and emptying fresh and waste water at the pace that is necessary.

More to come later...

I'll post some info. if I can get a hold of my friend who lives in upstate New York. He's old skool and has had great success and actually has a few Parsons left from a long time ago. Not sure why I havn't thought of this thread.


He's bred them and even supplied zoo's with Parsons before.

Great post. I've been really interested in this, as well. It just seemed like such a taboo subject to talk about on the forum that I've kept my mouth shut.

Ive been corresponding with a few keepers on a European forum an there are people working very hard to try to understand why we cannot get the incubation right. They're using one of these bad boys to collect information about the soil in Madagascar. Hopefully from the data collected, we'll better understand what we're doing wrong.

Why do I get the feeling that "someone" has acquired a Parson's?

No, I wish. If I did have one, I'd like to know there were other keepers out there willing to compare notes. Parsonii are such an amazing species that to have one as part of your collection, I think you should take notes and leave at least a few footprints. I haven't seen too many footprints so I'd like to help encourage others and maybe leave some bits of info that I've learned without actually keeping.

Anybody care to share their knowledge?

Very interesting thread in German - about problems with the egg laying of parsoniis:

http://chamaeleons-online.com/forum/vermehrung/calumma-parsonii-legenot/msg79494/#msg79494

and the keeping in general:

http://chamaeleons-online.com/forum...ltung-von-calumma-parsonii/msg77340/#msg77340

The authors know what they write - they breed C.parsonii !

Benny are you offering your translation skills freely these days or what will it cost us?

CNorton said:

Benny are you offering your translation skills freely these days or what will it cost us?

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I will ask the authors if it's ok to translate it and post it here. Or is google already able to to it ?

I am having real difficulty understanding the google translation. Thanks for the links and if you can translate, that would be amazing!!

Have you already tried it ?

People who obtain parsoni are inducted into the tight lipped group of parsoni keepers.... I think the people are tight lipped for good reason. If there were lots of info out in the open about them more people would try to keep them. Since they are hard to come by, people don't bother because they have no info on the husbandry and the price makes most people avoid the species.

I am certain, if someone popped up on the forum and said "I have a parsoni, check it out, what do I do with it?!' the parson's keepers would PM the person and follow the thread.

Another thing to consider is that cuccesful parsoni keeping is still a frontier. People keeping them are coming up with new methods and each keepers method will differ from the next due to local climate.

I think the cham market needs to ignore this species and leave the parsoni keepers to their keeping. When the species is viable and available more info will be available.

summoner12 said:

If there were lots of info out in the open about them more people would try to keep them.

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I respectfully disagree. If the information for keeping parsonii included specific examples of WHY they are so difficult to keep, I don't think we'd have a bunch of novices lining up to pay $2500 at a "chance" they might do well.

summoner12 said:

Since they are hard to come by, people don't bother because they have no info on the husbandry and the price makes most people avoid the species.

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Yes, the price is one of the deterrants that I support. It is a good way of screening impulse buyers and the uninformed.

summoner12 said:

I am certain, if someone popped up on the forum and said "I have a parsoni, check it out, what do I do with it?!' the parson's keepers would PM the person and follow the thread.

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I have observed such a thing but don't you think that person would have reservation about speaking up to begin with? I, for one, would be embarassed to admit I acted so foolishly as to buy something so expensive without a clue why it's expensive in the first place...or how to keep it from dying.

summoner12 said:

Another thing to consider is that cuccesful parsoni keeping is still a frontier. People keeping them are coming up with new methods and each keepers method will differ from the next due to local climate.

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This would be a valid point if all keepers of parsonii were keeping them outdoors. I'd like to think that indoors, most household environments are at least similar.


I created this thread because I believe it IS our responsibility to shed light on dark corners of our hobby. Parsonii keeping in America is limited to a handful of individuals none of which would be worse off if they knew what was working for the other keepers.

This is solely my opinion and no disrespect to anyone, including you Kevin...whom I deeply respect for letting chameleons free range acoss his living quarters.

Parsonii are a difficult specie to keep. Their proper indoor husbandry is still unknown, being a long lived species most don't survive in captivity more than 5-7 years, if ones lucky.
There are few keepers dedicated enough to spend years and thousands of dollars to travel that rocky road to find the answers. To find good solid information on their care is like trying to wring water out of a dry sponge.

CNorton said:

I respectfully disagree. If the information for keeping parsonii included specific examples of WHY they are so difficult to keep, I don't think we'd have a bunch of novices lining up to pay $2500 at a "chance" they might do well.

Yes, the price is one of the deterrants that I support. It is a good way of screening impulse buyers and the uninformed.

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People with money do stupid things.

CNorton said:

I have observed such a thing but don't you think that person would have reservation about speaking up to begin with? I, for one, would be embarassed to admit I acted so foolishly as to buy something so expensive without a clue why it's expensive in the first place...or how to keep it from dying.

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I think a lot of people would try to put the life of the cham before thier own humility, if they cared about the animal

CNorton said:

This would be a valid point if all keepers of parsonii were keeping them outdoors. I'd like to think that indoors, most household environments are at least similar.

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This is a valid point no matter where you keep them. My house isn't the same as say... someone in chicago.

CNorton said:

I created this thread because I believe it IS our responsibility to shed light on dark corners of our hobby. Parsonii keeping in America is limited to a handful of individuals none of which would be worse off if they knew what was working for the other keepers.

This is solely my opinion and no disrespect to anyone, including you Kevin...whom I deeply respect for letting chameleons free range acoss his living quarters.

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I agree with getting info out there but at the same time think it isn't a great idea. People with the animals connect with others. This happens because people who can get the animal tend to know people with them and therefore get the help needed.

Here is the translated version of the first link that Benny provided us with

http://translate.google.com/transla...refox-a&hs=Wsy&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

Kwelp68 said:

Great post. I've been really interested in this, as well. It just seemed like such a taboo subject to talk about on the forum that I've kept my mouth shut.

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I think it is taboo on the forum because most parsonii keepers are still experimenting with techniques, and perhaps don't want to give away all their secrets. I can respect a keeper who does not want to encourage more animals being taken from the wild because a breed becomes popular.