can anyone confirm my suspicions?

[christineacero]

So Zuri, my "male" T. Sternfeldi has become really fat. And I mean REALLY fat. I voiced my concerns with my local guys and they all believe they accidentally sold me 2 gravid females instead of a breeding pair. The thing that's strange though is this ones demeanor- polar opposite of Asha, who just dropped her first clutch this past Sunday. Zuri ALWAYS wants out, and its always bright green. Asha on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with me while she was gravid.

I noticed today that Zuris belly looks exactly the same as Ashas did the day before she gave birth. She seems to be carrying low. Here are a few pictures:











Basically my question is, does anyone agree that this is a gravid female? Or is this a morbidly obese male? T. Sternfeldis are really hard to sex because they lack the back foot spur.

 

[rshewfel]

Looks like a female to me.

 

[laurie]

I have no background with your Cham, but I do think it looks gravid. What a windfall of eggs you will have. How many we're in the clutch just laid?

 

[CarlC]

No doubt its a female. Start getting together more baby caging!

Carl

 

[carol5208]

You can see an outline of an egg in the lower right in front her leg. Well, it looks like it to me anyways!

 

[CarlC]

This species is a livebearer so what we are seeing is hopefully fully formed little babies in the yolk sacs causing the bulge.

Carl

 

[christineacero]

I have no background with your Cham, but I do think it looks gravid. What a windfall of eggs you will have. How many we're in the clutch just laid?

This species is livebearing so my other female gave birth to 8 babies on Sunday. 2 died the first night, but the other 6 are eating and doing well. This species gives birth on average between 5-9 babies at a time. Zuri is now in what I call her "birthing terrarium" and I'm just waiting to see if she drops today!

And yes, that bulge is what I noticed yesterday too, and Asha had the exact same bulge about 15 hours before she dropped her young. Zuri seems to be bigger than Asha was so I'm curious to see how many babies I end up with this time!

 

[Lovereps]

While I absolutely love my Exo Terra glass terraria and they have been excellent for raising my Jackson's babies because of their good airflow, I want to advise you (and others) of a hidden danger.

There are cutouts for tubing, etc. on the back of the decorative foam background and these open at the very bottom and my curious little chameleons seem to have a real knack for squeezing underneath there and getting stuck behind the foam.

If not found soon enough, the delicate babies can perish.
Thankfully, I count babies like an OCD cham caretaker.

I have learned from experience to block off the openings.
Maybe my baby Jackson's are more curious about their world than most chams but it is a warning worth sharing (The "spike" is actually the end of a bamboo skewer, which on the other side of the background, sevres as a horizontal basking "branch"--it is not something that any chameleon could come in contact with.)

Notice how she couldn't leave there fast enough

 

[christineacero]

Thankfully my babies are only in there for a little bit and then are moved to their individual deli cups! Thank you for the warning though- I would've never realized that! I'll have to keep an eye on that when she drops her clutch

 

[Lovereps]

You're very welcome
If I hadn't obsessively counted the chams several times each day, I would not have realized it either.

You raise baby T. sternfeldi in deli cups?

They must be some very tiny babies.

 

[christineacero]

they are in the tall deli cups. and yes, they are VERY small. About an inch long from tip to tail.