Help Sexing pygmies (R. brev.)

[wuffielover]

Hi all! I recently got 3 juvenile pygmy chameleons, and they are super cute! I'd been waiting for these guys for a couple of months, and we (by 'we' I mean 'the petstore where I work') finally managed to get some more. The last group we ordered were adults, so I was very pleased when these little guys came in. They are probably WC or at best CH, but seem healthy and happy so far, eat well, etc. The thing is, I tried to pick out a 1.2 group out of the six we got, but the more I look at them the more I think I ended up with 2.1! So I thought I would join up here and let some people more expert than I take a look. What do you think?

If there are 2 boys I will probably end up taking one out, although so far they haven't shown any aggressive or dominant behaviors toward each other that I've seen, not even colors. They (the 2 I *think* are boys) do tend to hang out at opposite ends of the tank, though. They are in a 20 long at the moment, with lots of sticks, plants, etc. Here it is:

Any helpful advice on setup, etc. is welcome!

 

[Julirs]

First one looks like a female-next two are males!

 

[wuffielover]

*Sigh* poo. That's exactly what I was afraid of. Oh well. I'll keep monitoring them and set up another tank so I can separate the 'extra' male if/when they start anything.

 

[Sporkthedork]

I was going to ask Julirs how she did it but I just read the following from flchams pygmy care sheet:

Males

• Typically are smaller and will have a slimmer body type
• The dorsal crest is more rigid / defined then with a female
• Males have longer tails
• Males will usually have some sort of pattern which is much more apparent especially in the eye turrets/flanks when displaying for a female


Females

• Typically have a larger more rounded body type
• The dorsal crest is rounded less defined
• Females have shorter tails
• Females have more subdued coloration (light browns) with no patterns (or very little) unless stressed

 

[wuffielover]

I read that too (only about 500 times before I got them! Nervous anxiety, lol), but didn't feel real confident sexing them still, just don't have much experience!

 

[blackbetty]

Q: How soon after they hatch can they be sexed?

I would have guessed 1 and 3 were males fromt he shape of the body and the stripe.. why would you say the first one is a female? Because of having a shorter tail? The middle one looks more like my females with the thick rounded bodies, even though the tail is a tad longer...Hmmm..

 

[Julirs]

Super old thread-but you can sex most right after they hatch with a pretty good sucess rate.

 

[blackbetty]

Danke. Said message was too short so I filled it up but I wanted you to know that I appreciate you answering.