pygmy questions

[Darts87]

Ive been keeping poison dart frogs for a few years now, and im interested in trying the pygmies seeing that they can live in a terrarium setting ( and i love making tanks w/ lots of orchids/broms/etc). Ive been researching them for a while now, only drawback i saw is one article i read said they only live a couple of years. Can anyone verify if this is correct? Also i keep FFcultures for my pdf's so the food issue wont be a problem. If anyone can comment on previous experience w/ the life span or or just in general i would appreciate it.
thanks,
Andrew

 

[dannyces]

hello am in the same boat and from what i have found is that alittle more then 2 years seems to be the longest people have had them and ff are great for young ones but not really enough for adults they seem to do better with larger food items and eat alot more pdfs. although i have not kept any yet this is just what i have read. are you on dendroboard?
good luck and let me know if you find any cb babies i cant find them anywhere
Danny

 

[Chris Anderson]

Andrew,

Yeah, thats about right. The pygmy chameleons are shorter lived then most other species. CB or CH will obviously live longer then WC. If kept well, pygmies will breed well though even though they don't live long. Here are a couple good care sheets on them:

http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=63
http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=46
http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=50

Chris

 

[Darts87]

thanks for the info, i think i talked to you today in class about the chameleons after the lab w/ the veiled. Reason why i like the pygmies is i have a lot of plants left over from my last pdf tank and i have two extra empty tanks just waiting to be built. So pdfs are kind of difficult to maintain, how would you rate keeping the pygmies? i was worried about the size meaning fragile, but then again i have kept thumbnail pdfs (D. imitator) w/ no problem

 

[Darts87]

Oh yea also Dannyces: im on dendroboard my username is Lilypad87 i have a new 20g high i just built if you want to check it out.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Yeah, I had a feeling it probably was you. An Andrew in Tampa who keeps PDFs and is interested in chams on the same day of the cham feeding lab was a little too much of a coincidence. Anyway, I would say that if you get CB or CH, they are probably easier then PDFs as long as you are consistent with their care. The humidity doesn't need to be as high as darts and if your temps are alright for darts, they should be fine for pygmies. The only thing will be that you'll need to mist daily and allow for more airflow (screen top on a tank vs. a solid cover, etc.).

Chris

 

[Darts87]

yea that veiled chameleon in lab brought back memories of the one i used to keep Im going to do a lot more research but i like the idea of the pygmies because of smaller tank size and similar care, Jw do u happen to know if flchams will have pygmies at the expo in march? i know right now the website says sold out.

 

[Chris Anderson]

I'm pretty sure Mike is out of pygmies at the moment but he may be getting more soon. You'd have to email him and ask. I'll try to remember to ask him when I talk to him next though.

Chris

 

[Darts87]

k cool thanks ill try the email add on the website. Just in case he gets them in ill probably go ahead and set up a tank this weekend.

 

[dannyces]

Oh yea also Dannyces: im on dendroboard my username is Lilypad87 i have a new 20g high i just built if you want to check it out.

cool ill havw to look for you and id love to see the setup.. heres mine http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/37459-first-try-lots-pics.html
Danny

 

[Dunnigan]

I'm pretty sure Mike is out of pygmies at the moment but he may be getting more soon. You'd have to email him and ask. I'll try to remember to ask him when I talk to him next though.

Chris

I talked with him last night he is still out, no word on when they are coming in.

 

[kenya]

Hi guys, Chris is right on with all of his advice so far. I just wanted to add in that when constructing pyg vivaria, keep in mind that they are more leaf litter, woodsy, forest floor rather than lush, damp, Amazon. Keeping it closer to how they would be living in Madagascar will help prevent future problems.

Unfortunately, they are short lived little guys, so it is good to get a trio and let them lay so you have a cycle. You will have to introduce new blood each generation to prevent inbreeding, but otherwise they are rather easy to maintain once set up.

They are also adorable beyond words.

 

[Darts87]

thanks kenya, in most of my pdf tanks i use a lot of leaf litter and driftwood so ill keep that in mind when i build the tank, i got the drainage layer done just want to find some nice branches. So if they arnt available, maybe i can try another species in an screened in tank, possible a veiled since i had one before