GREAT New Arrivals!/UPS Gets Two Right

[Kent67]

As I've had a rough year with UPS and their next day air services this year I spent a rather restless night waiting for two packages to arrive this morning. I'm so happy to report everyone made it safe and sound and I am thrilled with my new additions. By the time I made it home from work there wasn't much but hazy light left outside but I did manage to get a couple shots that turned out. These first are of the captive hatched pair of Trioceros deremensis, the Usambara Giant 3-Horned Chameleon, that I received from Fabián/Merumontanus. It's probably been 5 years since the last time I owned this species and I am so happy to acquire a couple true captive-hatched individuals. I think they're gonna love the San Diego beach weather under a big shady tree this summer. I wasn't able to get many shots because of dieing batteries but I thought this one of the female wasn't too bad.

Here's the grumpy little male. I was holding him on my finger while trying to open the female's bag and got a little too close so he hissed and swung at my nose with his open mouth. He's a tough little dude!

Then, I also got a TikiTiki Cham! Many, many thanks to Chad and Darci! This guy was freshly imported and can throw some insane color combinations. He's still really small, too. Maybe....six months oldish. Besides the good fortune of him being young, he's also rather relaxed about human presence. He was actually hand feeding within just a few seconds of going into his new cage. I was thinking of naming him "Faly Shore." What do you think? I already have Paul Anka-Ramy.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Julirs]

They are all looking great! You are really adding to the collection lately! Watch out or Brad R will call you crazy!

 

[Vegas Chad]

Dang... Should have kept that one! Looks great man!

 

[Gluuvan]

Kent, What awesome looking chams. I am glad ups didn't screw you this time around. Seems like fed ex gives a little bit better service? I love the nosy faly, What awesome reds at such a young age. Looking forward to seeing more of your babies in the future, hope to talk with ya at the reptile show coming up.

 

[Chameleons Canada]

I was just about to post asking for pics of the chams Chad imported, so far the few I have seen look great. Congrats!

 

[merumontanus]

Ha! They look great, Kent. You definitely weren't the only one who experienced a restless night. I am glad they arrived well and in one piece! I wanted to ship the first ones as a pilot test of the new service by forum's sponsor ShipYourReptiles.com before I sent any others, and I am happy to see that everything went as planned!

They are certainly going to love San Diego, and I look forward to seeing them grow under your care.

Cheers!

Fabián

 

[Rocky]

Glad to hear you got everything safe Kent Our tiktiki chams came in today as well. I did not have the great fortune of having them arive on time

We had to go pick them up from the driver because they said the earliest they could get here was 3pm, it was mid 90's at noon when we called asking where the heck they were. Apparently the shipment from Dallas to Lubbock was late. But we met the UPS Driver literally 4 blocks away from my house (I guess it takes 3 hours to drive 4 blocks )

They are all awesome though and they are very personable as well. We have one that hisses when you come near it, but he warms up very quickly

 

[ChameleonAyer]

I literally had to tell the lady one the phone, "YOU ARE GOING TO BAKE MY ANIMALS!!!" That was the third time we called, and she miraculousy was able to get ahold of the driver in less than 3 min after that call.

It was a stressful day for us, BUT the wait was worth it!! They are GORGEOUS!!!

 

[Vegas Chad]

Glad to hear you got everything safe Kent Our tiktiki chams came in today as well. I did not have the great fortune of having them arive on time

We had to go pick them up from the driver because they said the earliest they could get here was 3pm, it was mid 90's at noon when we called asking where the heck they were. Apparently the shipment from Dallas to Lubbock was late. But we met the UPS Driver literally 4 blocks away from my house (I guess it takes 3 hours to drive 4 blocks )

They are all awesome though and they are very personable as well. We have one that hisses when you come near it, but he warms up very quickly

We sent out about 10 boxes yesterday. Yours was the only one that had any problems sorry bout that! Pics? ? ?

 

[ocular_factitus]

Good news huh! I work in shipping, and i know the laziness of UPS workers/drivers
and it's only shadowed by their complete disregard and indifference to the care of your parcels.
But Fed Ex is worse, it sounds silly, thinking their more expensive they'd coddle your boxes, nope.
They toss everything around.
Beautiful Deremensis btw!

 

[merumontanus]

I agree-- I received a trio of T. jacksonii jacksonii today as well (thanks, Chad!), and the UPS driver came to the front counter, box upside-down between his arm, and literally dropped the package on the counter, after which he said "these your lizards?".

Fortunately, the animals were packed well and were otherwise not affected by the poor handling of the driver, despite the big, red, arrows printed on the box.

Nonetheless, I do agree that it's the better option available, except perhaps for the expensive airport-to-airport alternative.

Fabián

 

[Eric Adrignola]

I've been sick all day, so haven't felt like taking pictures.

The little guys are doing great. Within seconds of being put into the cage, the female ate a cricket. Thought I saw the male eat, but it was just her, again. I set out some stuff in a bowl for them, a few roaming crickets, and left them the heck alone. Cute little buggers.

Thanks again.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Those look great, Kent. Love the Faly, too. Chad & Darci ran out of boxes and we have to wait until Tuesday to get ours. But I'm sure they will be worth the wait!

 

[eisentrauti]

Great job Fabián and perfect buy, Kent !
When everything went perfect your deremensis guy looks like this here in a year or so:

 

[summoner12]

hahaha faly shore hehehehe I like

 

[merumontanus]

Great job Fabián and perfect buy, Kent !
When everything went perfect your deremensis guy looks like this here in a year or so:

Yikes, Benny. That is one stunning giant!

Cheers!

Fabián

 

[Eric Adrignola]

My CB male deremensis I got from the Kammers a long time ago - over 8 years, I think.
He died around my graduation in 2003. Had an oral abscess, which was a result of a cricket or roach spike injury.
Surgery fixed it, but the baytril prescribed put him into kidney failure and he died.
Oral abscess made a comeback in the little guy in the bottom, until Carlton Collins mentioned the lack of vitamin C being a likely cause.
He was right.
Lanced two of them on the little guy, one after the other, before I upped his herptivite and reptivite doses. Never happened again.

This is an adult WC male just after receiving some paste wormer*.

The rest of the pics are of my WC subadult male I got from RK reptiles.
He grew up pretty well, despite being banged up in the wild. The female I got with him was missing an eye and part of her skull.
Amazing, as it was healed, and she was no bigger than the ones Fabian has!

You can see how his gums were slightly swollen. This was right after I lanced his second abscess. After getting more vitamins, the swelling went away.

* Allowed to eat their fill, deremensis would maintain weight in captivity without being wormed.
Within a month of their last dose of fenbendazol, they visibly gained weight - despite a huge decrease in food intake.
They never had a lot of worms, but they always had a few big ones.


And, just to further elaborate how great the species is(and how great the CH animals are Fabian has available!),
the little male I got in from Fabian yesterday just ate a cricket from my hand -
after I disturbed him, picked him up, looked at him, and put him in a different part of the cage.

Melleri may be the best chameleons, but these are a close second.

 

[eisentrauti]

Amazing, Eric !

 

[Kent67]

They are all looking great! You are really adding to the collection lately! Watch out or Brad R will call you crazy!

Brad's known I was crazy for a while so it will probably lack the same fun for him as calling you crazy.

Dang... Should have kept that one! Looks great man!

When are you going to post pics of the ones you kept?

Seems like fed ex gives a little bit better service? ....Looking forward to seeing more of your babies in the future, hope to talk with ya at the reptile show coming up.

Yep, UPS is the only carrier I've had a problem with this year. I even used Express Mail for shipping some of my babies and they all arrived well before their guaranteed times. I'll be there at the show. Presumably working the FlChams booth, although I haven't spoken to that guy in a couple months....

I am glad they arrived well and in one piece! I wanted to ship the first ones as a pilot test of the new service by forum's sponsor ShipYourReptiles.com before I sent any others, and I am happy to see that everything went as planned!

They are certainly going to love San Diego, and I look forward to seeing them grow under your care.

Me, too. I think Shipyoureptiles.com works quite well, it's just that we STILL have to rely on UPS. They made it this time without any problems so maybe I should stop complaining. I don't want to jinx my next shipment! I saw someone mention the species profile in one of the old CiN journals recently so I'm going to dig that out and give it another reading this afternoon. Probably read Necas' section on them, too. I love getting new animals. Justifies me getting to be nerdy. Many thanks again for the fantastic additions!

Our tiktiki chams came in today as well.

I'm betting you got the Ambanjas. I saw pics of all the males, very cool! Got any of your own pics of them anywhere?


Sandy, sorry to hear you're having to wait for your guys. I HATE waiting. The last couple weeks waiting for this shipment have been terrible! I would have tried to drive to Vegas again if they ran out of boxes.

Benny and Eric, now those are great looking deremensis! I love the lipstick. Thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[Vegas Chad]

Its cool, just come hang with Darci, Ryan, Lisa and I!