Giants of the Usambaras

[merumontanus]

Hello all,

Some of you might find this of interest. I had some issues with lighting (the neonates were clearly bothered by its intensity), so I had to rely on a single incandescent spot. Be sure to increase your display's brightness for a better viewing experience:

http://www.vimeo.com/1222205

Enjoy,

Fabián

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Fabian,

What a beautiful video!
Thank you for sharing it with us.

-Brad

 

[Chuck G]

Thanks for sharing the video. They are a great species to work with.

 

[Kent67]

Wow, fantastic videos! Thanks for sharing them and hopefully you'll post here every once in a while? I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested in seeing what other chameleons you're working with now.

I really liked the seadragon video too, btw. Great stuff.

 

[Nicodemayo]

116 day incubation wow thats incredible

 

[mattjillson]

That is a pretty bad "A" vid Fabian. Nice work. I think I almost head "Business Time" from Flight of The Conchords in the background!

 

[Trace]

Ditto what Kent said... it's nice to see you over here now. Keep in touch.

I watched the video last night - in fact I checked out most of your site - wonderful work as always.

Cheers,
t

 

[merumontanus]

Thank you, all. I'm glad you enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed making it. A bit a background on this particular clutch:

The female arrived to the facility of a local importer in a shipment of more than a dozen animals-- she was in very bad shape and was found dead the next morning. Knowing they had just received a few merumontanus, I arrived there that morning, and found myself extracting 38 eggs, and taking home an additional gravid female who refused to lay despite her obvious readiness. After providing her with every substrate, lighting condition and modifiable factor possible to induce oviposition, all to no avail, Eric Adrignola suggested digging a deep hole in the same trashcan previously provided, and placing her inside it. Within minutes, the female began laying.

Unfortunately, the eggs from female #2 did not make it, and each slowly molded away, with the exception of two, which do not look all that promising but remain in the incubator. As to the other group of eggs from the deceased female, 24 made it out strong, and are the ones featured in the video.

Incubation was similar to that of melleri eggs, in that it took a much shorter time than I expected, although probably in part to the difficulty in trying to keep temperatures low enough in this almost inhospitable climate (Texas).

We will see what happens with these little ones. I will try to post updates here, as well as document their progress on Vimeo when I get the chance.

Cheers,

Fabián