Trioceros johnstonii discussion group

[leedragon]

Great to see they do so well Jason
I just wont give them a loth of wax worms they are very fat and not good for the liver.
Better give gut load crickets(feed them organic vegetables and dandelion leaves)silk worms and horn worms are also a very good food.
Don't give them synthetic vitamins they are very sensitive to edema just once a week dusting with miner-all indoor(sticky tongue farms)and they will do perfect

miner-all indoor(sticky tongue farms) contains D3 once a week is 4 times more often than it is recomended for a jackson ) once a month with D3, don´t you mean once a moth or miner - all outdoor?

no disrespect, just wondering

 

[biffle]

I normally don't feed wax worms but thought it would be good one time treat to fatten up the new arrivals. Their normal diet consists of %75 cricket, %15 roach, %5 bb flies, 5% superworm. I alternate between bb flies, horn worms, and silk worms.

I only planned to feed her 10 but she kept begging. And begging. .. and begging.

Yup she is still begging.

Jason

Great to see they do so well Jason
I just wont give them a loth of wax worms they are very fat and not good for the liver.
Better give gut load crickets(feed them organic vegetables and dandelion leaves)silk worms and horn worms are also a very good food.
Don't give them synthetic vitamins they are very sensitive to edema just once a week dusting with miner-all indoor(sticky tongue farms)and they will do perfect

 

[biffle]

I'm only dusting calcium (no d3) once a week for my male. My female is getting it daily since I belive that she is gravid. They both will get multivitamins once a month. I don't give d3.

Jason

I normally don't feed wax worms but thought it would be good one time treat to fatten up the new arrivals. Their normal diet consists of %75 cricket, %15 roach, %5 bb flies, 5% superworm. I alternate between bb flies, horn worms, and silk worms.

I only planned to feed her 10 but she kept begging. And begging. .. and begging.

Yup she is still begging.

Jason

 

[biffle]

My female bwindi. Are these gravid colors?

 

[reptoman]

My female bwindi. Are these gravid colors?

If they are then my female is gravid as well. She looks just like that most of the time.

 

[Saldarya]

Aside from the color you can also see she is gaining some girth. I will take some pics of mine tomorrow when I get home for comparison.

My female has been eating very well up till now. I do not feed on Wednesdays, and then she did not eat today. In addition, she is roaming the cage quite a bit. All of this on top of the fact that she has been checking out the dirt makes me believe she is close.

I will keep posted, hopefully all goes well.

 

[Saldarya]

Pics of my girl today

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Pics of my girl today

Looks great except she seems to be developing some edema? I would keep an eye on that.

 

[leedragon]

Looks great except she seems to be developing some edema? I would keep an eye on that.

seems pregnad to me

 

[Saldarya]

Looks great except she seems to be developing some edema? I would keep an eye on that.

I see the same. I have not supplemented them at all other than Ca in the three weeks I have had them (well gutloaded prey) so i am not sure where it may be coming from or if it is a side effect of being in a late stage of gravid.

As you say though, will just keep an eye on it.

Thanks!

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

seems pregnad to me

Yeah!! That is something everyone is going to watch too!

 

[kameleons jvo]

I see the same. I have not supplemented them at all other than Ca in the three weeks I have had them (well gutloaded prey) so i am not sure where it may be coming from or if it is a side effect of being in a late stage of gravid.

As you say though, will just keep an eye on it.

Thanks!

Gravid females often show some edema from time to time,after laying the eggs it disappears after some days so nothing to be worry about

 

[biffle]

Mama bwindi's eating has slowed a bit. She is eating about 6 half inch crickets a day.

This is where she goes when she is hungry. Her I'm hungry face.

 

[Todnedo]

Mama bwindi's eating has slowed a bit. She is eating about 6 half inch crickets a day.

This is where she goes when she is hungry. Her I'm hungry face.

Best of luck with her! my fingers are crossed for a healthy clutch.

 

[biffle]

She said No. He said pretty please!

 

[Saldarya]

She is definitely not interested!! What was his response? He does not look especially 'fired' up. Head bobbing, etc?

Thanks,

 

[biffle]

The video.. http://youtu.be/3LynDGbLxNA

 

[Saldarya]

Yep, he was interested!!

 

[Saldarya]

Update on my johnstonii

Evening All,

Thought I would share a bit of an update for those following this thread and the shipment in general.

In regards to the pair I received:

The female is gravid as can be seen in the recent pics above. I confess that as this is obviously the first time I have dealt with this species, the long gestation period is a change in pace. Although she certainly shows size, I get he sense she may still have a month or more still to go. People I have spoken to say that the eggs are large compared to other like sized chameleons, so I get the sense she still has growing to do.

In addition, she is eating large quantities of food, especially silkworms. This evening she ate 14 full size ones for example. She cup feeds randomly, same with the male.

In the case of the male, he eats as well, but not as much, which I would guess is normal for an adult male that is obviously not developing eggs. He will eat 4-5 silks one day, skip a day, a few crix, skip a day, etc...

They both seem to be drinking well. I confess I have not actually observed them drinking, but urates are white and with today being the 3 week marked since they were received, I would have expected to see some negative signs had they not been drinking.

As an FYI, they get misted 10 min, 2x day, and have 2 drippers in each cage for 8 hours a day.

They both seem to bask intermittently throughout the day with basking spots around 80*. I use halogen lights, so I would say the direct spot of the beam is a bit warmer. The female basks more often, which again I assume has to do with the development of eggs.

I have also picked up another male from a member who recieved a pair and lost a female.

He has been a bit different and I get the sense that he may be a bit older than the other male.

I took him to the vet this past Monday due to some 'sores' that I noticed on the dorsal portion of the tail below his back. It seems he has a few abscesses from older wounds (perhaps from the wild or as part of the shipping process). One (the worst) was lanced and I am now treating the wound topically. The others appear to have healed or are not active. He does not seem any worse for the wear, but clearly they need to be addressed.

He, like other male, has a random appetite. Today he ate 6 silkworns quickly. Other days he may not be interested.

He spends ALOT of time in his basking spot which he prefers to be a bit warmer, probably 84*. Watering is the same as the other two.

Ambient temp in the room is 73* with a gradient in the cage from 79* at the top to the 73* at the halfway point. Room temp is dropped to at least 61* a night.

I really do believe this drop in temp is vitally important and wish I could get it lower still.

In general, so far so good!! I feel the males have settled in and although I dont think I am out of the woods so far (and not withstanding the wound care on male #2) I believe the critical time has past.

In regards to the female, its all going to depend on how she handles the egg laying process. I do believe I am fortunate here in that she obviously came in gravid but no so far along that she was not able to settle in. She clearly has a daily routine and is not overly shy. So again, just standing by here.

Anyhow, just sharing some general info and an update. Will keep all posted.

Thanks!

 

[kameleons jvo]

Evening All,

Thought I would share a bit of an update for those following this thread and the shipment in general.

In regards to the pair I received:

The female is gravid as can be seen in the recent pics above. I confess that as this is obviously the first time I have dealt with this species, the long gestation period is a change in pace. Although she certainly shows size, I get he sense she may still have a month or more still to go. People I have spoken to say that the eggs are large compared to other like sized chameleons, so I get the sense she still has growing to do.

In addition, she is eating large quantities of food, especially silkworms. This evening she ate 14 full size ones for example. She cup feeds randomly, same with the male.

In the case of the male, he eats as well, but not as much, which I would guess is normal for an adult male that is obviously not developing eggs. He will eat 4-5 silks one day, skip a day, a few crix, skip a day, etc...

They both seem to be drinking well. I confess I have not actually observed them drinking, but urates are white and with today being the 3 week marked since they were received, I would have expected to see some negative signs had they not been drinking.

As an FYI, they get misted 10 min, 2x day, and have 2 drippers in each cage for 8 hours a day.

They both seem to bask intermittently throughout the day with basking spots around 80*. I use halogen lights, so I would say the direct spot of the beam is a bit warmer. The female basks more often, which again I assume has to do with the development of eggs.

I have also picked up another male from a member who recieved a pair and lost a female.

He has been a bit different and I get the sense that he may be a bit older than the other male.

I took him to the vet this past Monday due to some 'sores' that I noticed on the dorsal portion of the tail below his back. It seems he has a few abscesses from older wounds (perhaps from the wild or as part of the shipping process). One (the worst) was lanced and I am now treating the wound topically. The others appear to have healed or are not active. He does not seem any worse for the wear, but clearly they need to be addressed.

He, like other male, has a random appetite. Today he ate 6 silkworns quickly. Other days he may not be interested.

He spends ALOT of time in his basking spot which he prefers to be a bit warmer, probably 84*. Watering is the same as the other two.

Ambient temp in the room is 73* with a gradient in the cage from 79* at the top to the 73* at the halfway point. Room temp is dropped to at least 61* a night.

I really do believe this drop in temp is vitally important and wish I could get it lower still.

In general, so far so good!! I feel the males have settled in and although I dont think I am out of the woods so far (and not withstanding the wound care on male #2) I believe the critical time has past.

In regards to the female, its all going to depend on how she handles the egg laying process. I do believe I am fortunate here in that she obviously came in gravid but no so far along that she was not able to settle in. She clearly has a daily routine and is not overly shy. So again, just standing by here.

Anyhow, just sharing some general info and an update. Will keep all posted.

Thanks!

A very nice piece well written
I could not add much more to it i guess, i keep them in about the same conditions but i cool them a loth more at night.
Also if its possible give them some sun they absolutely love it and they color way more beautiful.
Females have indeed a very long gestation time(about 4 months like deremensis) eggs are indeed very big and when the baby's are born they are huge(size of a melleri baby)
Baby's need to be kept at fairly low temperatures!!(same as incubation temperatures)they need also a sharp drop at night,the grow very very slow.
I bred them up to f4!
Success with them