spinosus

[casperpetersen]

Hi there
now I think it’s about time to get spinosus owners to sheer some info/facts about these extraordinary animals.
their whole behavior pattern are verry interesting,
and they seem to have some ( /a lot of) social behavior too...

I have 1,2 spinosus... but soon there will be more (at least 2,5)
I have an indoor and an outdoor terrerium for them....
their indoor home is about L125cm H75cm D30cm
and their out door facilities is about L70cm xH170cm xD80cm

my spinosus (when I got 1,3) always slept in pairs or two by two...
and now there is one who sleeps alone

I will throw some pic´s online later...
"party on"

 

[BelgiumLizard]

I am searching for a long time to get this species, but I cant find them for a good price.
Maybe you can help me with my search?

Regards,
Tom

 

[BelgiumLizard]

And is there nobody else that they have?
Maybe somebody in de US?

regards

 

[BelgiumLizard]

How do you keep the eggs?(temp and humi)
And do you have some pictures from you're animals to share with us?

Best regards

 

[casperpetersen]

hey sorry im a bit slow.... I kept the eggs in the terrarium
(because I could not find them) the temp. was(in the period when the eggs were in the ground)
from 18-20C. night 25-30C. because of the warm summer we had in Denmark it was verry hard to get the temperature down and it resolved in bad babys they only lived in about 1½-2 months


some old pic´s : https://www.chameleonforums.com/i-became-dad-today-13500/

and some others

my PC was down so almost all of my pictures is lost but I´ll post some new when they fell like posing for my Canon

 

[BelgiumLizard]

They look nice, but it is not so good news that they did not live long.
And do you have new clutches from this species?

I have at the moment a clutch of 3 eggs of acuminatus, I have them by daytime temp between 19 and 21 degrees celsius and a night drop to 15 degrees celsuis.
I hope that they wil hatch and live on.

Rgds

 

[ciafardo 4]

could those little guys be any cooler lookin

 

[casperpetersen]

acuminatus is also a super cool chameleon!.....but then again wich are not

I don´t know if there is more eggs in my terrarium...it´s stil running (150more days just to be on the safe side)

could those little guys be any cooler lookin

Nope =)

 

[casperpetersen]

This is how I kept them.... and how it is going to be

I am about to make a new terrarium for my spinosus 120cmL x 120cmH x 80cmD(maybe 120x120x120 I have not decided yet)

The old terrarium

in the past I kept my 1.3 spinosus chameleon in a terrarium 125cm x 75cm x 30cm(to small for my and the chameleons opinion)
the sides and the top is made of net the bottom was made of two aquariums

light:
two fluorescent lamps 35Watt one with UV and a coldwhite And three 20watt spots (for a couple of hours every day)

Water:
I have a fog system that I used to turn on when ever I thought it was necessary and I sprayed the terrarium with
a hand sprayer three to five times a day for minimum one minute each time.


The new terrarium

120cmL x 120cmH x 80cmD
the top of the terrarium and 30-40cm on the back wall made of metal net
and maybe I will throw two PC ventilators at the bottom of the back wall

Light:
five fluorescent light 35Watt two UV, two coldwhite and one warmwhite
one 125Wattt Power sun

Water:
I will use the fog system in the morning to simulate the fogy mornings in the Derema and Usambara mountains.
I will also use a rain system with three/four heads, five times a day of minimum one minute each time.
the rainsystem is a real time safer and a necessary thing to have when you are working with these cold mountain rainforest species
(if you don´t want to use all of your time watering the animals).
Five to ten minutes before it starts to “rain” the spots (if they are on) and the warmwhite florescent light stops
until five minutes after the “rain” has stopped just to try simulate the nature and maybe stimulate some sort of natural behaviour
at those poor bastards.


The place of the terrarium is out in a old stable so there is a chance that I can get the right night drop
Day temp. 18Celcius – 23C
Night temp. 10C - 16C


Plants:
Asparagus falcatus, Dracaena surculosa(maybe) and a plant with big leafs so they can hide from “the horrible humans” wine or bean maybe
and last but certainly not least mossy logs and branches.

 

[casperpetersen]

by wine ...I mean some sort of Cissus... maybe Cissus antarctica

 

[BelgiumLizard]

Do you have any tips for new incomming animals?
I will get in a couple weeks mine spinosus.

Best rgds

 

[royden]

I know someone in the states who has a pair. She's on the boards here sometimes but she's pretty busy right now. She just got hers recently. I don't know if they were sexed when she got them.

 

[casperpetersen]

Do you have any tips for new incomming animals?
I will get in a couple weeks mine spinosus.

Best rgds

for my new incomming spinosus I will make a "small" terrarium rack with X? terrariums each terrarium will measure:60cm D. 40/50cm L. 60cm H. were I will keep 1.0 or 0.2/0.1 in each terrraium just to make sure that they get what they need in the first (unknown) amaunt of days or untill the look 99,999-100% fine

and in a near future I will make the "large" terrarium/´s and then use the "small" terrarium too males, females with eggs, baby´s, or individuals who are sick or injurd

 

[BelgiumLizard]

Thanks Casper!
I was planning to setup some flexariums.

Best regards

 

[casperpetersen]

now I´m allmost done... here is some pic´s by the large terrarium (the light is warmwhite tube so the pic´s sux...need too buy coldwhite)
and I allso need some more branches...

 

[laurie]

WOW that enclosure looks wonderful. great job. I am sure your chams will behappy there.

 

[casperpetersen]

Thanks... I hope so

 

[chamelisa]

now I´m allmost done... here is some pic´s by the large terrarium (the light is warmwhite tube so the pic´s sux...need too buy coldwhite)
and I allso need some more branches...

Beautiful terrarium. The moss is awesome. I wish I had access to branches with lichen on them.

 

[Klemins]

Just found this topic. The enclosure looks cool. Did you coat the branches in anything to promote moss/lichen growth? I've heard about a strange mix containing yogurt that you can make that will accelerate the moss growth in tropical terrariums.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Spinosum - the only species harder to find in a cage than deremensis... That's part of the fun. Knowing they're there, but not seeing them, not getting to enjoy them directly - it's kind of an acknowledgement of the reason we keep the dang things in the first place.

Of course, deremensis are BIG lizards, so that makes their hiding ability really remarkable. Spinosus might as well be clear.