Fischeri ID

[Mike Fisher]

I picked up a nice trio of juveniles today. I'm pretty confident in what species I think they are, but I could use some confirmation of what species they are and hopefully they are all the same species.

Photos are not the best, let me know if you need different angles, these guys are a bit skittish.

Pictured are two different females and one male.

 

[Mike Fisher]

More photos... First photo in this second set is same female as the second photo in the first set. The male is not cooperating for photos at all. You can see from the size of the screen cage frame in the second photo, these guys are pretty small. They are all very close to the same size.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Mike,

I'd really like to see more photos of each individual. For the females, I'd really like to see some better detail of the flanks (sides of the body), so I can see the scalation patterns. On the second female, I'd also like a better look at her dorsal crest (almost appears that she is lacking it entirely, but it might just be slight). On the male, could you take a photo of the casque from above, and a try to get a couple more shots in general of him from lateral?

The first female and male appear to me to be Kinyongia uluguruensis. The second female may be the same, but I'd like better photos of her to be sure, as she doesn't appear to have some of the distinguishing features.

Chris

 

[Mike Fisher]

Dorsal female pics.

 

[Mike Fisher]

No dorsal female.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Male pics. He's been doing some exploring in the soil, ignore the grime. This guy is hard to get a good photo of.

 

[Mike Fisher]

More pics. First two of male, second two of female with no dorsal crest, last photo is closeup of head scales of the female with dorsal crest.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Mike,

I have literally only seen 3 photographs of this species alive (2 of a male and 1 of a female), but I am fairly certain that the female with the dorsal crest and the male are Kinyongia uluguruensis based on my knowledge. I'm not as confident with the second female that seems to largely lack a dorsal crest, but given the fact that it was acquired with the other two, the fact that the other two species it could be (K. fischeri and K. vosseleri) are also quite uncommon in the trade, and the fact that K. uluguruensis is only known from a hand full of specimens, so their diversity is really not well known, I'm inclined to say it is K. uluguruensis as well.

Was this the species you thought it was?

Chris

 

[Mike Fisher]

Was this the species you thought it was?

Chris

Yes, but I've only seen photos of a dead one so thought I better call for backup. The smooth female really had me confused though. Never seen anything like her. Thanks for the confirmation....Wish me luck......

 

[CarlC]

The spineless female's color pattern resembles K. tavetana. Also the rear of the casque does not look as heavily scaled as the other female.

Carl

 

[Mike Fisher]

The spineless female's color pattern resembles K. tavetana. Also the rear of the casque does not look as heavily scaled as the other female.

Carl

Carl,

I think you nailed it! Now that I've had some time with them and recently acquired some K. tavetana, I do believe that specimen is K. tavetana especially after I saw this one: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3924/15039294929_35c710d148_o.jpg

Looks just like mine.

 

[CarlC]

Mike here are some photos of tavetanum that I kept 14 years ago. The species is seen in two color forms, brownish and green. I could only find a photo of a green female but I'd say she is a match to your girl. I included a hatchling photo also so you know what size baby you can expect.

Carl

 

[Mike Fisher]

The species is seen in two color forms, brownish and green. I could only find a photo of a green female but I'd say she is a match to your girl.

That was what was throwing me off because the green form must be less common because I couldn't find any photos of any with that much green. Mine is very green, reminds me of kermit the frog. She is larger than the K. uluguruensis females as well as more shy. She hates to be looked at and won't hand feed, she just rotates on the branch when I get close to the enclosure.

All of the new ones I have are brown/drab with a few females with green highlights on the face.

Thanks for the photos. Man, those babies are small! I hope I can get some hatchlings. Curious to see if the brown/green is variable in clutch mates, or is determined by the color of the parents.

 

[CarlC]

Raise the babies like multi's and you'll be fine. The clutch's I had from all green females produced all green babies. The nice thing is the incubation time is shorter at around 6 month's.

Carl

 

[Mike Fisher]

6 months will be a treat! My recent imports are all brown, so more than likely any CH from them will be the same but time will tell. Thanks for the advice with them, I've also checked out all of your threads on this species.