Furcifer oustaleti

[scott313]

I have been wanting to work with Furcifer oustaleti for a while now, but besides the WC coming in, I am having a hard time locating a person who actually has some cb breds for sale. I used the site search button, and really didn´t even find much about them listed here. Anybody on this forum keep them in their collection consistently? I am hoping someone could point me in the direction where I could find a reliable person who breeds these guys. Any comments on personal experience with these guys are welcome. Interested in hearing what size enclosures, etc. that you may have kept them in. I have done much research on the web..but there really isnt much, a link to a pdf (if one exsists) would be great.
Thanks for any info, and the help!
Scott

 

[Julirs]

Mike at FL Chams has a few clutches that should be hatching very soon. I got a CB male from him about a year ago and a WC female this month. They are my favorite species and I will be breeding in another month or so. They grow more slowly than the Veileds, but get decently large. I will soon be moving both of them into 24X24X36 cages as they are in a bit smaller cages at the moment, but my male is going through a growth spurt. They are big time baskers, and the only way I have seen either of them drink is from the leaves, and they are shy about that. I water them a bit more often than the others. I kept Oscar a tad bit warmer as a baby than the Veileds, not by increasing intensity of the basking light but by adding another basking light to keep the upper part of the cage warmer.

Here is my male-he is a very rosy brown, very velvety-they are somewhat shy...

 

[scott313]

Thanks Julirs.......my experience is with panthers, when you say they are shy, how shy are they? Or is it maybe your guy is more on the timid side. Anybody who has kept multiple animals have anything to share about the demeanor and shyness of these guys. I really dont want a cham who is going to hide from my every move. While i dont remove my chams from the cage, a do like to hand feed once in a while and I prefer a species of cham that is not overly bothered by my presence.

 

[Julirs]

I would say they are not more shy than Panthers. Then again I have a Veiled that thinks he is a puppy. My Oustalets have huge appetites, and have NO PROBLEM handfeeding! They love silkworms, and readily come to the front of the cage to eat. My WC female chases down crickets like you wouldn't beleive, and for a WC I would have to say she is not very shy. I would say they don't care if I am there or not. You won't find tons of people here that have them, I ran into maybe 3 tops. Kent has had a few I believe, and a few keepers in the UK.

 

[scott313]

Sounds like this may be a cool species to work with. My ambient temp during the fall and winter would be set to about 74 - 75 with a basking spot. I live in Buffalo, NY..... ambient temps higher than this would NOT be possible during these months. Will these temps suffice during the colder months?

 

[Julirs]

I live in Florida and my ambient temps are always around 72-74 in the house.

 

[scott313]

I would like to stast out with a CBB male. Is there any way to tell the difference in sex between 2-3 month old babies?

 

[Julirs]

Yes there is. Like I said, give Mike a yell. He has at least 3 clutches with some hatching any day. I got Oscar at 2 months. It would be worth the wait.

 

[scott313]

Thanks for all the info Julirs! Much appreciated!!!!!!
To any one else, feel free to chime in with comments as you read through the thread, any info or notes on this species would be a great help, as there is not much published on these guys. Reptiles magazine has a spread on them this month, but the article does not really give much insight into them beyond general cham care and in my opinion offers no real new insights and is poorly written. In fact it has a side note about how the author liked to ride her bike, with the cham sitting on the handle bars.......this info would have been better left out (hope the cham was wearing his helmet for safety!).

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, the Feb '08 issue of "Reptiles" magazine has a big article (it's the Centerfold ) on Oustalet's written by Linda Davison (Sticky Tongue Farms and Miner-All). I had to go to Petco () to buy it.