My new ousties!

NICK GILCHRIST

New Member
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At last my Ousteletts Chameleon pair have arrived!!..after a slight delay. due to having to reschedule couriers etc.

Mad dash around on Wednesday, as i needed to put the 2 cage units into some framework and build a combo hood unit..so with a bit of ingenuity. and combined with 2 of the Homebase special offer £12.95 each bookshelf racks...I knocked these 2 up...

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As the shelving units are only 6" wide. and the cages 12" wide. it leaves a nice area of side mesh either side of the support..using the remaining shelves . i made the suspended hood. and attached the back of the unit to the back of the cage (after cutting to size) which helps in maintaining a higher humidity..the hood part has an 18" 10.0 UVB strip and a 100w heat spot connected to Habistat dimmer. which controls both identical units.

Excuse the unfinished tops showing light through! at the time of the pics i had still to screw these down..after putting a hinged lid on.

Anyhoo..back to the chameleons...Paul the breeder had brought these on since beginning of the year...and already the growth rate is impressive..


see pics..

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There is about 4 weeks difference between the 2 pics above. The top one is at a few hours after hatching..

and here is the other one!

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At the moment. there is some slight confusion which one is the female..although you might say that obviously the green one must be female as males are brown or greyish brown.and females are some shade of green.however. the green one is a week younger than the grey one..but twice its size...which suggests male as they are twice the size of the female at adulthood..and then some..so guess i will just have to see how it develops..


Anyhoo..here they are in their new units..having a munch ..on some young locusts...well several....

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I dont expect them to be in the new cages very long. as they will outgrow them rapidly..especially the male...and ultimately he will end up in a 6ft x 5ft x 2ft unit probably in less than a year.. going on how much they both eat...i reckon my livefood supplier and my bank manager will be on first name terms with each other before the year is out!:)
 
Congrats on your new acquisitions! Nice cages; glad you're prepared for them to outgrow them quickly (and then you've got two perfectly good cages you can put some other creatures in:p).
 
Congratulation!!! The chameleons look great. You cage arrangement looks good to. You me want to elevate the cages a couple of feet off of the ground though.
 
Green ones are females. They have vastly different growth rates when young. Ousties from different regions are also differently sized. I had a huge w c female that was larger then my male.
 
Green ones are females. They have vastly different growth rates when young. Ousties from different regions are also differently sized. I had a huge w c female that was larger then my male.



Wow thanks for that info....that does help a lot!...right then so..ive got a big girl!!:)
 
I love the larger species like ousie, & melleri. Those are some healthy looking babies. Looks like you picked a great breeder. That makes all the differnce when bringing home new babies. Oh yeah do they like the higher temps like the veileds?
 
I love the larger species like ousie, & melleri. Those are some healthy looking babies. Looks like you picked a great breeder. That makes all the differnce when bringing home new babies. Oh yeah do they like the higher temps like the veileds?



Well currently im keeping them pretty much as you would Panthers. but slightly less humid..there are not a lot of Oustellets keepers in the UK and every one here seems to be of the opinion that thay must be maintained under the same temps and conditions. however. ive read that although they occur in many of the same regions. in fact they prefer drier forested areas..now. no doubt if they were wild caught this may be a more critical factor. however im currently maintaining a hot spot basking area (top of unit) of around 85f with the cooler areas in the shade and lower down of 75f. Overnight i switch off basking areas and have a constant overnight drop to around 65-70f..this is on a 12 hour cycle 8am - 8pm etc..so far they seem to react favourably..both are feeding well..both use all areas of their cages at different times.. approximately at 1 hr before shut off at 7pm they both move to cooler areas and seem to await switch off..in the morning within 10 minutes of switch on..they make their way to the basking areas . They are hand misted 3 times a day. and have a dripper system which both have been seen to use...bearing in mind this is only a few days from moving into the new units..it would seem they are settled and happy...

any other tips from other more experienced oustie keepers..and will be most welcome.:)
 
did you get these off a member of rfuk and are they related otherwise there could be some nice breeding there
 
did you get these off a member of rfuk and are they related otherwise there could be some nice breeding there


Yes I did, both are from the same female so are related. however i have another pair from an unrelated male/female which i have recently obtained via a breeder in Hamm Germany and should have those shortly. so will end up with 2 unrelated pairs.;)
 
Very nice pair you have. And another on the way? That group will have their own bedroom soon, and then come the little ones:eek:

Welcome to the forum.:D
 
Very nice pair you have. And another on the way? That group will have their own bedroom soon, and then come the little ones:eek:

Welcome to the forum.:D

Thanks Laurie..and please excuse my rudeness!! i will post up an intoduction hello to everyone..God! im soooo rude! sorry everyone!:)
 
Ousties!!

Hey nick, glad both are doing ok - they look very familiar to me!!! Sorry not been in touch, laptop down again - Had about another nine of these hatch since we last spoke and still got 12 eggs going strong!! Talk soon mate...:D
 
Thanks for the info nick. Ive worked with panthers, veild and jacksons. Just trying to expand th knowledge base. Good luck with the ousti project.
 
Hey nick, glad both are doing ok - they look very familiar to me!!! Sorry not been in touch, laptop down again - Had about another nine of these hatch since we last spoke and still got 12 eggs going strong!! Talk soon mate...:D


HEY Paul!:) both doing fine mate! ..as you can see! ...and now it looks like ive got a pair of Mellors heading my way!!:)
 
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