Rieppeleon Brevicaudatus

[ajohnchoi]

Hi Friends,

It's been a while since my first post.

2 days back, I have bought a pair of R. Brevicaudatus, I have finished setting up by using pieces of repti bark as substrate, a bowl of humid soil and fake plants.

I have placed pin head crickets (jumping legs removed) on 2 separate small bowls, after 2 days all crickets seems to be still inside and nothing has been consumed.

Actually do I have to let the crickets run around without taking off their back legs and put more inside so that the chameleons can easily find them? Or remain same?

Please advise, thanks alot.

 

[Grzegorzasty]

Maybe they need time to acclimatization? And why are You removing crickets legs? I put .... complete crickets to terrarium, and my guys are catching them.

 

[Julirs]

No need to rip off legs-just make sure they are small enough to fit between the pygmies eyes-they can eat things a little bigger than you would think. They will take a few days to settle in, and you may never see them actually eat in a well planted enclosure.

 

[ajohnchoi]

Maybe they need time to acclimatization? And why are You removing crickets legs? I put .... complete crickets to terrarium, and my guys are catching them.

I remove cricket legs so that they remain in the small plastic container and when they happen to die, then I can see them die in the container and remove immediately. Also, I do like to monitor how much cricket they actually eat. This will also I think prevent night time munching to my chameleons.

 

[reyesjoshuacruz]

better idea

dont remove them, you will shorten their life span


just break the legs, or even just one main leg. they will live longer, not be able to esc, and its less messy

 

[ajohnchoi]

No need to rip off legs-just make sure they are small enough to fit between the pygmies eyes-they can eat things a little bigger than you would think. They will take a few days to settle in, and you may never see them actually eat in a well planted enclosure.

Noted your comments Julirs. Are they actually thin? Because I feel very bad if my pets are too slim. Is it better to be as they are or do something to make them fatter.

 

[Julirs]

Do you have a picture of them? Pygmies can look very round and fattish when gravid, but normally should look slim, but you should not be able to see bones or see wrinkly skin. Here are many pictures of some of mine...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/pygmeleon-extravaganza-17283/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/pygmies-waking-up-9271/

 

[ajohnchoi]

Do you have a picture of them? Pygmies can look very round and fattish when gravid, but normally should look slim, but you should not be able to see bones or see wrinkly skin. Here are many pictures of some of mine...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/pygmeleon-extravaganza-17283/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/pygmies-waking-up-9271/

Hi again Julirs, those are very adorable and beautiful chams from your collection. Actually, I do notice some ribs from the side when they are pretending to be dead leafs.

I bought this pair during last Saturday, then in Sunday, the female laid 7 eggs inside those repti bark, she's more thin now. Actually if I don't take off cricket legs, then how many crix should I put inside the cage?

I put the eggs in another container of soil and put another 5mm soil on top of those eggs and put them aside in lower temperatures, is this correct?

 

[nick barta]

Cricket Leggs

Pulling off (or snipping with scissors)cricket legs was popular in the mid 1990's due to some cases of mouth injuries to chameleons. This thread was on the Chameleon Information Network, and a small percentage of keepers removed the legs. With anything but an adult cricket, there is no benefit from an injury standpoint, and IMO a paranoid approach to Husbandry.
If you goal is to count how many crickets are consumed, a slicker and/or taller feed bowl will do, and you may have to add a climbing stick directly over the bowl so the Chams can reach them.
Good Luck with your little guys.

CHEERS!!!

Nick Barta

Puyallup Washington

 

[ajohnchoi]

Pulling off (or snipping with scissors)cricket legs was popular in the mid 1990's due to some cases of mouth injuries to chameleons. This thread was on the Chameleon Information Network, and a small percentage of keepers removed the legs. With anything but an adult cricket, there is no benefit from an injury standpoint, and IMO a paranoid approach to Husbandry.
If you goal is to count how many crickets are consumed, a slicker and/or taller feed bowl will do, and you may have to add a climbing stick directly over the bowl so the Chams can reach them.
Good Luck with your little guys.

CHEERS!!!

Nick Barta

Puyallup Washington

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your reply. Forgot to mention, I have several horizontal sticks running on top of the bowls, so when a chameleon passes by, they can still grab horizontally for the catch.

If they do really don't eat after 2 more days, then I'll consider just to let the crickets run around the cage without taking their legs off.