First CB Velociraptor

[NHenn]

Exciting News! It is official, we successfully hatched the very first Velociraptor in captivity!!!

Okay, maybe not a Velociraptor but this is indeed the first Furcifer petteri (that we know of) hatched here in the US. This little guy was born last night along with 4 other siblings so far. In 2014, F. petteri was given a CITES quota of only 100 chameleons so their numbers within the US are extremely limited.To date, these are the only babies here in the US.

 

[ponders]

Congrats! Beautiful photos Nick.

 

[ChamDE86]

Your photos are amazing, Nick. Almost as amazing as these magnificent creatures!

 

[Lathis]

Congrats and best of luck with them! They are beautiful straight out of the egg!

 

[jpowell86]

That's great stuff! Good luck with them!

 

[guanagator]

Great photos! Awesome looking little ones.

 

[MelissaB]

Congratulations! They are beautiful.

 

[BayChams]

Omg that is SOOOO Awesome!!!

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Amazing, wonderful, lovely! Congradulations! And you did an amazing job with the pictures!

 

[Mom]

Stunning photos! And very cute!

 

[OldChamKeeper]

That's a picture I'd vote for.

 

[Trace]

One of my favourite species. Congrats. Any idea if that one is a female because of the spots/lack of lateral line?

 

[jpowell86]

Have anymore hatched since Thursday??

 

[Kath44]

Wow! Cuteness overload. Congrats. Kath.

 

[nightanole]

Either A, he takes 10,000 shots to get these, or B, hes got the worlds best squeaky rubber duck next to the camera.

Hard mode, all 10 babies looking at the camera, and no one blinks

 

[Direwolf]

Fantastic! They're beautiful!

 

[Miss Lily]

That first photo is amazing! Definitely a future picture of the month entry!

 

[NHenn]

One of my favourite species. Congrats. Any idea if that one is a female because of the spots/lack of lateral line?

Trace, I'm not positive on this one as the tail is blurred out in the picture but it is fairly obvious which is male vs female right at birth. I was surprised how easily it was but you can tell right way by the tail base as the males appear to have a bulge even at birth. I can't speak to lateral lines or spots as no babies have a lateral line yet and they all have those two spots which both the adult male and females will keep.

Something special I noticed was the color of them while in the container that they hatched in. The females would be a deep brown / rust red color while the males where a bright green. Once they are placed in the cages they all change different colors (mostly green) but everyone I took out of the container was like this. I will post some pictures I took with my phone so you can see the color difference and the tail bases as well.

 

[NHenn]

Have anymore hatched since Thursday??

Yes, I'm up to 18 in total from 2 clutches! There is one egg left to hatch which I believe will be today as it is shrinking at the moment. So far they seem to be very hardy and most are eating like mad already.

 

[NHenn]

Either A, he takes 10,000 shots to get these, or B, hes got the worlds best squeaky rubber duck next to the camera.

Hard mode, all 10 babies looking at the camera, and no one blinks

A: But it is more like 100,000 pictures lol. I waited over an hour watching this guy as he wouldn't open his eyes for the picture. Finally, he decided it was time and I only had a few moments to take as many pictures as possible as he started to wiggle and come out of the egg.