New Chameleons - Deremensis and Melleri

LilBlue

New Member
A dream come true for me! On Saturday I picked up 0.0.2 Meller's, and 1.1 3 Horn Usambara Chameleons. My local reptile store brought these guys in, saw he posted them Friday night on fb and I was there at opening next morning :D

First thing was get everyone showered, they all drank well and the Meller's appreciated it the most. The Usambaras are amazing, look so healthy. The male passed a hydrated urate sunday morning, and Monday he had a healthy poop as well. They are eating like champs too, anything I put in there. I read they are very slow and docile and gain weight easily, so I will keep that in mind. If anyone can tell me an age on the 3 horns that would be great, the female is the same size as the male pictured on my hand(I have average girly sized hands lol). I think around 10 months old.

The Meller's came in ok too. After showering they both had relaxed happy colours. They both have horns too, except one has a shorter one and has some nose rub, the other's horn is slightly bent.

I'm thinking I might have 1.1 Meller's. From what I have read, the colours one was displaying are non-receptive/already gravid. I had them sitting in the same enclosure for a bit a while I was setting up the second cage after their showers. In the pictures, the one I think may be a female(the one with nose rub) is at the top of the cage. I had set the male further away and to the bottom of that cage, but he moved up to the middle branch, and the other continued to show grey/black and creamy pink colours. When "she" was moved to her own cage, she settled down with colouring, returned to a light green. She has been on and off with these colours, but mostly relaxed.

Now before anyone starts giving me heck lol, they are only in glass terrariums temporarily, new cages are being built right now. This was an unexpected last minute had to get these guys purchase. I only had glass tanks on hand. But I have everything else, brand new UV/basking bulbs, fixtures, plants, vines, you name it I have extra haha. And also the next day I replaced the fake vines with live Ficus plants, really filled their cages as I had 7 plants. I remembered that young Meller's will eat fake plants and get impacted, I definitely didn't want that, as these species are hard to come by around here.

Oh, and how could I forget? I also traded two king snakes I had for 2 female Nosy Mitsio Panthers. They are too darn cute! And man can they move fast!
So I became a cham mom of 3, to 9, in two days:D

Cages that are being built: Mellers are getting a 2' x 2' x 5' each. 3 horns are getting 2' x 2' x 3' each. These are just starter cages as well. I want much bigger for the Meller's, and even free range some day.

Any extra info about raising these guys and keeping them happy would be appreciated. I don't know who's stressed more, me or the chams. Yeesh!
 

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Just a few more pictures. This Meller's is the one with nose rub, and what I think might be female, looking happy after a long shower. And the two little nosy mitsio girls.
 

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Thank you:) We named the Meller's Atom and Ambush. Still looking great today, and drinking in their terrarium. My stress levels are definitely going down lol. I'll post more pictures in the photography forum when they have settled in a bit more.
 
That's a beautiful deremensis pair! They are so different from the others. The light-sensitivity of their skin is amazing. At times it seems to show lighter "clouds" floating across their skin. I think you'll find that once acclimated they are very sedentary and don't eat much at all (which gave me fits until I started weighing them and realized they were fine, BTW) and are the ultimate "sit and wait" predator. My wc male was quite a surly little guy too. The only cham I've had that went out of his way to bite me.:p

Don't tempt me...deremensis might do the best in my current house situation. I have to be strong, as I have NO decent vet options up here and would hate to watch a cham die because I can't get good care when something goes wrong.
 
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