Updates on Olivander the TQ Gracilior (and Co.)

[jajeanpierre]

@jajeanpierre is this the sort of grumpy you had referred to about one of his siblings? He sometimes even puffs up when I just open the door, sit back, and quietly hang out with no attempt to reach in or anything. He just likes to be alone! Ha

My mother in law suggested that perhaps he needs a girlfriend

I have one quad male that will stalk me from inside his cage.

Grumpy to me is when they are annoyed and change their colors. When his sibling is grumpy, he loses his blues and all the bright yellows come out. Some go dark. I don't call that quad male grumpy. He wants to eat me or gore me. That's waaaaayyyyyy past grumpy! I have others that are sweet as can be. One lets me adjust him and the female while he is breeding if the female is not safely on a branch. Reminds me of breeding Thoroughbreds.k

I'm a bad chameleon keeper. If I need to pick them up, I pick them up whether they like it or not. I try to keep that kind of negative interaction to a minimum and move them as quickly as possible.

 

[maryanne27]

Been a while, so here are a ton of pics uploading from my phone. Gotta get on my computer to edit and type because I don't feel like writing all of this with my thumbs!

Ok so we bought a new house and moved in November... Olivander was not amused. I had to fix a few things in his big cage, so he spent a few days in a smaller one. He survived, but he certainly didn't appreciate me.

Anyways, this new house seems to be a lot drier than the old one, so I invested in a fogger to accompany my mister. That made for some cool pics and one happy cham! This whole assortment of pics is from over the past few months...the only one of him I'll comment on is that one where you can clearly tell that the lights had just turned on in the morning. He just looked so sweet in his pj colors, snuggled under his leaf, giving me that grumpy teenager look of "five more minuuuttteeesssss."

Oh, and I had to throw in a pic of Cupcake, my crested gecko. He also has a favorite sleeping leaf.

 

[jamest0o0]

Amazing looking gracilior! Love those guys

 

[jajeanpierre]

He looks very big and fat @maryanne27. Have a look at his mouth, on his right side, bottom. It might just be a bit of old shed, but it also could be some debris/infection starting. Just take a damp Q-tip and gently wipe any debris out from between his jaw/teeth and the inside of his lip. Even if you think it is just shed, pull that lip back and give it a gentle wipe on the inside. Check the other side, too. Congratulations on your move.

 

[maryanne27]

He looks very big and fat @maryanne27. Have a look at his mouth, on his right side, bottom. It might just be a bit of old shed, but it also could be some debris/infection starting. Just take a damp Q-tip and gently wipe any debris out from between his jaw/teeth and the inside of his lip. Even if you think it is just shed, pull that lip back and give it a gentle wipe on the inside. Check the other side, too. Congratulations on your move.

Thanks! And thanks for the tip...These pics are all 3 weeks to 3 months old, and I haven't noticed anything sticking for that long. I'll definitely check tomorrow, though, when he wakes up and gets somewhere more accessable!

As for his size, I couldn't get an accurate weight recently due to his temper, but he definitely looks big!! Looking back, he was 104 grams in October. He puffs up when I get close, and man those LEG MUSCLES are THICK! Hahaha he does look like he has a squishy little belly, but I don't think I'm overfeeding him and bm's are regular. I think he is just quite the bruiser!

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thanks! And thanks for the tip...These pics are all 3 weeks to 3 months old, and I haven't noticed anything sticking for that long. I'll definitely check tomorrow, though, when he wakes up and gets somewhere more accessable!

As for his size, I couldn't get an accurate weight recently due to his temper, but he definitely looks big!! Looking back, he was 104 grams in October. He puffs up when I get close, and man those LEG MUSCLES are THICK! Hahaha he does look like he has a squishy little belly, but I don't think I'm overfeeding him and bm's are regular. I think he is just quite the bruiser!

They all have a poofy belly. Quads are much poofier than graciliors. Quads also have baggier "pajamas" than graciliors.

Look at your recent pictures to see what I mean about the mouth.

 

[maryanne27]

They all have a poofy belly. Quads are much poofier than graciliors. Quads also have baggier "pajamas" than graciliors.

Look at your recent pictures to see what I mean about the mouth.

After you pointed this out, I checked his mouth and all seemed well; no sign of what was showing up in the pictures. He just had a shed, though, and it looks like something popped up again. It seems to just stick in that spot for some reason. I took a wet q-tip to it just now to see if I could remove it, and only a little budged, not all. Needless to say, he was not impressed with me and managed to worm his way back to a hard-to-reach spot in the enclosure. I was actually surprised at the fact that he only puffed and darkened - no lunging or hissing at me like I expected, and he only tried to bite the q-tip once! hahaha I'm going to try again when I can get my hands on him. The spot is pretty tiny and just felt raised/scabby. I'm not too worried since it hasn't grown since those previous photos, but I'll keep you updated if anything changes.

 

[jajeanpierre]

After you pointed this out, I checked his mouth and all seemed well; no sign of what was showing up in the pictures. He just had a shed, though, and it looks like something popped up again. It seems to just stick in that spot for some reason. I took a wet q-tip to it just now to see if I could remove it, and only a little budged, not all. Needless to say, he was not impressed with me and managed to worm his way back to a hard-to-reach spot in the enclosure. I was actually surprised at the fact that he only puffed and darkened - no lunging or hissing at me like I expected, and he only tried to bite the q-tip once! hahaha I'm going to try again when I can get my hands on him. The spot is pretty tiny and just felt raised/scabby. I'm not too worried since it hasn't grown since those previous photos, but I'll keep you updated if anything changes.

Wipe the inside of his mouth between his lip and jaw with a damp q-tip. Wipe deep where the lip meets the jaw below his dental arcade--roll his lip back if you have to. You can always give him a q-tip to bite so his mouth will be open a little and he will be distracted trying to kill the q-tip. Sometimes they get debris or injuries from crickets. The way most people (and pet shops) keep crickets, they are pretty disgusting and dirty.

Whatever you do, don't get bitten. They do not let go and sometimes actually will grind with their jaws trying to take a chunk off. When I've been trying to give antibiotic injections to that big orange wild caught with the mangled tail, I could easily lose track of his mouth trying to place the needle between scales and not going into the muscle. I wrap him in a towel, but he could struggle free. I've ended up having to lie down and quietly wait him out for ten minutes before he would relax enough to release his grip. Their teeth are really sharp, too.

 

[maryanne27]

Hey everyone! Been a while since I've even logged on, so I thought I'd pop in with a few update pics of Olivander. He'll be 3 years old next month, and he is doing really well.

He was actually curious to come out and visit today (for once), but he regretted it when I was taking pictures and swabbing away some old shed on his lip and base of horns. A little chillin, some creepin, practically re-pierced my ear trying to get to higher ground, and a little adventure in the schefflera before he started getting too dry (gotta love forced air heating this time of year). I completely forgot to weigh him, but he doesn't seem to have grown or shrunk since I last did... still a solid boy.

I hope everyone is doing well and has had a lovely holiday season! Happy 2019