Been awhile (MERU PICS)

[Edward Kim]

Finally had some time to take some pictures. Since I contribute their good health (or higher survival) to this forum I thought I'd share. BTW for the group that was waiting for babies I apologize it seems like they were plugs not babies.

 

[Edward Kim]

Some more pictures for you guys.

Thanks again...

 

[merumontanus]

Edward!

I've been looking for an update from you for what seems forever! They look absolutely amazing! And the horn seems to have held up so far. That female is gorgeous-- I can't get over it. Here's to some offspring in the future.

Cheers!

Fabián

 

[Edward Kim]

Fabian,

Breeding has been tough as i'm sure your aware of. I put them together a few weeks ago and the female was unresponsive. I'll try again in a few week once they adjust to the higher temperatures. I was wondering how your breeding project was going? I saw pictures of your new breeding pair (NICE ). When are you planning on placing the two together? Is there any specific environmental ques your mimicking/manipulating (i.e. temps/daylight interval/humidity/water showers)? I've noticed that the females get more responsive with increased showers but I could not find any published works supporting this.

Edward

 

[merumontanus]

Fabian,

Breeding has been tough as i'm sure your aware of. I put them together a few weeks ago and the female was unresponsive. I'll try again in a few week once they adjust to the higher temperatures. I was wondering how your breeding project was going? I saw pictures of your new breeding pair (NICE ). When are you planning on placing the two together? Is there any specific environmental ques your mimicking/manipulating (i.e. temps/daylight interval/humidity/water showers)? I've noticed that the females get more responsive with increased showers but I could not find any published works supporting this.

Edward

Hey Edward, I've only witnessed a single, true, successful copulation with my merumontanus, and it was induced under similar circumstances as yours. The female did not appear to be receptive to the male's obvious approach, until I introduced an additional male into the enclosure. As expected, the males displayed and the larger male chased off the intruder (which I removed immediately). A few minutes later, the male began courting the female again, who did not gape or try to escape, maintaining her resting coloration while he mounted her. He had a really difficult time copulating, but after a few tries, he finally succeeded. I recorded most of the event on video, so let me dig that out today or tomorrow and I'll post it.

The new animals are acclimating quite well, but as you know, they are tough to establish as wild-caughts. The females are a bit too young (and tiny, really), so I'm not even thinking about an introduction at the moment. I'll certainly keep you informed regarding any developments with the group.

On another note, are you still feeding arachnids? I have a female xantholophus who loves spiders, but I'm weary of pesticides in my area so I tend to avoid them. Can you describe the diet you're offering your animals, as well as your supplementation regimen? Also, I noticed you were not using fluorescents on your setups-- are you providing UV via mercury-vapor bulbs? Unfortunately, I'm restricted to using fluorescents and low-wattage spots considering the climate here, but I've ordered the new "Low" Mega-Ray from ReptileUV to test on the montanes-- though I haven't heard back from them yet.

Cheers,

Fabián

 

[Edward Kim]

Fabian,

It's great to hear that your building a solid breeding colony. We should cross bloodlines once we produce solid CBB. I'm sure that the offspring produced will have significantly higher survival rates and NO PARASITES . Doesn't that sound GREAT!

Your right, I put the fluorescence lights away since it's summer and natural light is ample here in S. California. I still feed arachnids to the pair but house/blue bottle flies are their dominant food item. I have completely moved away from crickets and have contemplated purchasing silkworms (they don't seem to take them but my fingers are crossed). I also capitalize on wild moths when they congregate under my porch light as a nice snack. I've been very cautious when it comes to supplementation. I've had a few pass from renal failure from what seems like over supplementation. Gular edema was also observed in these cases. I lowered supplementation to once a week and the issues have subsided. Since they receive natural light I only use Ca.

I attached a pic of a dissection, the structure "I assumed" is a kidney. It is enlarged (bloated) and appears to have excessive amounts of urate crystals. Whether or not this is due to oversupplementation is questionable and is merely my best assumption. This is the reason why I lowered supplementation. My apologies for the messy dissection it was my first chameleon dissection...

Cheers,

Edward

 

[eisentrauti]

Hi,

great work, Edward. They are all looking good, but isn't the male a bit too well feeded ?
Cool that you posted the pic of the dissection !

 

[Syn]

*Shivers* Oooh, dissection. Bit saddening to see but so interesting! Thanks!

 

[Edward Kim]

Eisentruati,

Is he overfed? This is very much a possibility but I have no reference chameleon to compare him to. If you can find an image of a wild Meru i would appreciate it.

Thanks for the compliments I owe it all to you guys...

Edward

 

[eisentrauti]

Hi Edward,

mmh yes I think so. I have also kept merumontanus and the male seems to have to much weight. I think Fabián can also give you his opinion about it. The pics of other males and the experience with my male leads me to this conclusion

Best regards
Benny

 

[Edward Kim]

I'll keep that in consideration next time I allow him to gorge on waxworms

 

[AJA]

Hi Edward,

mmh yes I think so. I have also kept merumontanus and the male seems to have to much weight. I think Fabián can also give you his opinion about it. The pics of other males and the experience with my male leads me to this conclusion

Best regards
Benny

Benny
Please tell us what you see as a 'fat' chameleon. Is it because you don't see any ribbing in the photo? Do chameleons put fat on their organs (like rabbits) or do they put it on their skin/muscle like people and cows.

Thank you
Amy

 

[eisentrauti]

I've never said that he is fat - he has just to much meat on his bones. Espacially the feet and the tail look very stable - a bit too stable.
Chameleons (and all other reptils ) store the fat at first in their organs, at the kidney and the liver.

 

[AJA]

So why is this bad? The bones can't support the weight?

 

[eisentrauti]

No that's not a problem, but the fat which is stored in the inner organs causes earlier or later the death of the animal. Trioceros, Bradypodions and other chameleons which doesn't need much to eat die very fast because of this.

Adiposias is very often the cause of death when animals with low basal metabolic rate were kept in captivity. The keepers make the mistake that they think they need the same mass of food as small mammals or birds

 

[SoCaliSon]

That is a great looking Jax in my opinion. I am not a Jacksonii expert... But I would not call that chameleon over weight at all... I see an exceptionally healthy looking Jackson's, having been looking at them a while doing my research on starting to work with them myself.

What kind of spiders are you guys using to feed with... and how do you acquire them? I am interested in this.

 

[eisentrauti]

in this genus it's usually better to have chameleons with a bit too less than too much weight

 

[merumontanus]

Hi Edward,mmh yes I think so. I have also kept merumontanus and the male seems to have to much weight. I think Fabián can also give you his opinion about it. The pics of other males and the experience with my male leads me to this conclusion
Best regards
Benny

I think the animal is certainly well-fed, but I'm not sure I would go as far as to say it is overweight-- and most certainly it is not obese. What I do think this animal exhibits is clear signs of extended development and growth in captivity, and although many wild animals may look less "fit" considering all the environmental pressures, exercise, sporadic availability of food, etc, it is most certainly a very good "problem" to have with a species (and particularly, subspecies) known for its picky, dietetic, nature in captivity. In other words, I'd rather have an issue with a healthy appetite in jacksonii than the more common problem of anorexia.

 

[AJA]

so why feed the arachnids? Are they more nutritious? higher calcium? Are we talking small ones or baby tarantulas

 

[eisentrauti]

they are usually not fat, fast and I remember an article about the feeding of caudatas in which spiders were the second best feeder after earthworms