Pygmy chameleons!

[Infinityaquascapes]

Hello I'm new to the forum and was able to track down 10 pygmy chameleons and picked them up an hour ago. I have some questions for any one with experience. 1 how do you sex them 2 what is the best grouping for them? ? As far has male to female ratio? They seem to be very combative. I know they are wild caught and I just want to make sure they are okay. I'm going to take them to the vet and get checked out for parisites Wednesday. My good friend bought three from me and I now have seven in the terrarium. Any advice appreciated

 

[Infinityaquascapes]

I have seen 3 of them eat so far.

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm going to point you to the Pygmy enclosure forum because I think you will find it useful.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/pygmy-enclosures/

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Congrats! I love pygmies! Here is a caresheet for pygmy chameleons: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/pygmy/

How big is your cage for them? It needs to be really large to hold 7 pygmies, and even then you shouldn't keep more than one male in the same cage. Pic 1 is male, pic 2 is female and in pic 3 it looks like at least 2, maybe all three males. If males are in the same cage they will fight or dominate each other too much to thrive. The rule of thumb is 10 gallons per pygmy (at minimum 5) and the enclosure needs to be densely planted so that they can escape visual contact from each other to minimize stress. So you need at minimum a 40 gallon tank for that many, and more than one tank if you have more than one male.

 

[Infinityaquascapes]

The cage is a 30 breeder aquarium. I have built onto it a screen top to make its taller area the tanks demensions are now 36/18/20 which puts it at roughly 56 gallons. Is this large enough is I heavily plant the tank? Thanks for the care sheet and being helpful

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

It's large enough for that many females, but not for more than one male. If you're seeing them being combative then that means there is not enough room for everyone. Can you post a picture of the whole tank? From the last shot in your first post there seems to be a lot of open space and less foliage than needed. Here are some of my tanks, and on later pages some really fantastic Pygmy environments: https://www.chameleonforums.com/pygmy-habitats-65161/index2.html#post651845

 

[pssh]

Yeah, I would go with what Ferret says. Sometimes two males can be housed together in a really large, well planted enclosure, but if you've never owned pygmies before and/or don't know their behavior really well, I wouldn't try it. The males have to have the right temperament and they have to have enough females and space/cover to be able to live together successfully, and unless you know the behavior and stress signs it can be really difficult to figure out if they are or are not compatible. It is also possible for some individuals (regardless of gender) to not get along, so once you have all the males in different tanks, keep an eye on the females too. If there is only one male in the cage and the pygmies are still being combative, there is probably not enough room/foliage for them or they just don't get along (in which case, you can try switching one out for another of the same gender.)

If you post photos of all the individual animals, members can help you determine which ones are males and which are females.

 

[Infinityaquascapes]

Okay here's a full shot of the terrarium.
What else should I add? All plants are on flchameleons safe plant list.
Ill post individual pics of each later

 

[Chameleonmaster]

You might want to fill it more in the front it looks alittle empty there.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Oh you can stick lots more plants in there! And lots of little stick highways. There should at least be one bushy plant per pygmy I think. And some little logs to climb on and lots of small sticks. And dead leaves on the bottom will help them blend and feel protected while going from plant to plant. Mine spend a decent amount of time on the ground. Make it like a jungle.

 

[azn567]

Are these better to get wc or cb?

 

[c81kennedy]

Everything is better CB.

 

[qdude46]

The only problem is that findin cb pygmies I almost impossible someone pm of you are selling any or know a place with cb pygmies I've been searching for months now.

 

[pssh]

I would try and get in touch with the keepers here who often have pygmies and/or breed them. They are going to be your best bet as far as CB pygmies. WC is generally the route most people go because of the relatively few CB pygmies around. WC can be okay, as long as you can hand pick them and/or the person you are buying from is very reputable and wont send you the really sick/injured/dehydrated animals. If you have to opportunity to hand pick some, make sure they look healthy, hydrated, well-fed, alert, etc. Also, I find that the younger/smaller looking animals tend to do better than if you pick the older/bigger looking animals.