New Andapa Hatchling - Hurray!!!!!!!

PardalisGirl

Avid Member
I am so excited.........I have had one very special clutch of 19 Andapa panther eggs in the incubator since November of last year. I checked the container yesterday and there was a head sticking out of one egg :) It's the only Andapa clutch I have and I don't have adults anymore.

Last year I bought a pair of freshly imported Andapa panthers. Unfortunately, the whole shipment had come in loaded with skin worms and other issues. I knew this was an issue when I bought the pair but wanted to try to breed them anyway. The male was not fully grown and his colors had not developed to their full potential yet. He was georgeous though. The female was clearly an adult. She was large and looked very healthy. I treated both for internal gut parasites and let them breed. The male died about ten days later. I did a necropsy and his internal organs were riddled with worms. They were in his lungs, his limbs and up into his skull cavity. There would have been no way to save him from this condition. The only thing that kills those type of worms in that quantity would kill the chameleon as well. I could kick myself because I did not get any pictures of him. I knew he may not live a full life span but did not expect his death so suddenly.

The female laid a clutch of 25 eggs. 6 spoiled soon after leaving 19 good eggs. She was alive for about a month after that. She never recovered from the egg process. Her necropsy revealed worms in her organs as well, though not as bad as the male. So........no more adult Andapa panthers in my collection, and not much of a chance to get any more wild caughts for quite awhile. That clutch of eggs is very special to me since they are new blood and unrelated to the few other Andapa panthers here in the USA. I've had my fingers crossed for months. And now here is the first little hatchling:

Andapa Hatchling.jpg

The little one got to go into a baby cage this morning. I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone in this group who has offspring from wild caught adult imported Andapa panthers. Anyway, it's a fun day for me :)
 
That's great Catherine! Congratulations. It's awesome to see some new localities being produced after all these years. Please, keep us updated as they get color.
 
Congrats, on your babies. Let us know how everything turns out. What are the colors of an andapa? Lol.
 
thats a good story,i didnt know worms could spread so far.
do you gotta treat the hatchlings with something so they dont get parasites?
 
Thanks for the kind words.....the worms are only spread through mosquitos. A mosquito would have to get into a cage of an infested cham and draw blood with eggs and then get into the cage of another cham and bite it. These worms are not found here in the USA and I have never heard of a case of them being transferred during captivity here. There are a lot of them in the locales that panthers are collected from though. It was apparantly a really bad year for them in Andapa last year. The whole shipment that came in was infested. You can often see the worms under the skin of wild caught panthers. They are easily removed with a small incision and a pair of tweezers. The ones that are in the deep tissue and organs can't be removed. The anti-parasite medication that kills them is so harsh on the chameleon that they die from it more often than not. You have to kill them through the bloodstream, not the gut like normal nematodes. This is one reason captive bred panthers are the best bet for most people. With wild caughts you are really taking on the risk that they have something serious going on that really can't be treated. You often can't know they have these worms until you do a necropsy after death.

Sometimes the risk is worth it, like getting a pair of Andapa panthers that are rarely offered. The Andapa males vary in coloration. My male was green with an almost navy blue in his barring. He also had yellow and some red. He was still pretty young and not really acclimated so I never got to see his real end coloration. He looked stressed most of the time. And who knows what the female had on her side. So I will raise this clutch up until I can see the coloring of what I have. Then I will try to trade a couple with someone in the same position so we can mix the bloodline up and breed again. This is my personal special little breeding project. That's why I am blabbering on and on about it all :)
 
Congrats on the Andapas! You must be very excited. We had quite a few clutches hatch out this year. The males in the oldest group turned out awesome. For those that have never seen one, check out Bison below:

bison1.jpg


The only thing I noticed different about the Andapas compared to the Sambavas is that the Andapas show a bit of blue on the their shoulders. The Andapas are also very vibrant at rest. On the other hand, Sambavas display more greens and maroons at rest.

There are more photos on the Screameleons site.
 
Bison is georgeous Vincent!

I repeat................Bison is georgeous Vincent! I should be so lucky :) Do you expect to have any more Andapa panthers available in the near future? I went to your site and there weren't any for sale. They appeared to be sold out at present...........
 
Yikes Catherine, I should have checked back here sooner. We just sold a couple males over the weekend. I took some photos today right before we packed them. The rest will be going to NY with us this weekend for pickup. If somebody is a no-show, I will contact you.

To reiterate my thoughts about how they are different from Sambavas, check out the blues that these guys display. Although this is a hidden color for the most part, they are able to show them off occasionally. One other thing we noticed is that our Sambavas take forever to color up. At just 3 months old, these Andapas are showing some good color.

Here they are:

andapa_2.jpg


josh_andapa.jpg
 
Yikes is Right Vincent!!!!

UUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I want one of those Vincent! Please do contact me if anyone is a no show. Do you have any other clutches? If you do please put me on your list for two males and two females. I will put a deposit on them if necessary. I want something to breed with my clutch. My breeder male looked very similar to your pictures. He displayed his navy at rest too. When he fired up it was very noticeable and unusual. I still have just the one hatchling. The other eggs look great. This one little guy, I think, was just ahead of the curve. He is just a week old and has green on his head. Beautiful markings too. He is the most active hatchling I've ever had too. Always on the go. Let me know Vincent :)
 
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