WC Bearded Pygmy chameleons hardy or not?

[Warrix642]

I was thinkin about buying 1.3 WC Beadred Pygmy chameleons and I have a few questions about them... Is 1.3 a good mix or should I do it differently? I assume most people got there pygmys WC so what is there to look out for? Are they a hardy species or are they touchy? Will parasites spread between them since they all live in 1 enclosure? Do they cange color much? Are they an active cham or not? Anything else I should know before I buy?

Thanks,
Dustin

 

[lisa h]

Hey Dustin, I think the decision to get a wc pygmy is the same as getting anything else wc. My thinking is that because of their size they would be very difficult to treat if something went wrong. I think most people do trios -- 1.2, but if you have lots of space, then 1.3 is probably ok. I like to have enough room that if they don't want to see one another, they don't have to. They seem hardy enough, but again, because of their size things can be more difficult to notice than in something larger. I think they change colour a lot, though I have not had the pleasure of owning a blue or pink or red cham, so I'm speaking colour change relative to pygmies. My female sports all kinds of dots and stripes, then goes to dark or light grey. My male is more plain, although he goes anywhere from a mossy green grey to a very dark grey (if he needs to warm up, or I'm taking too many pictures). As for activity, some days they're all over their enclosure, sometimes they spend 2 days on the same twig. I heard that's normal. The only other thing that I feel is important is that they be looked after the same as any other cham or lizard, in that just because they are cheap to buy and little in size does not mean that they don't deserve the same vet care and general care as the larger chams. Not to imply that YOU wouldn't, but I wanted to put that out there. I will let someone with more experience speak to the parasite issues. I assumed that mine were wild caught, but I don't know, and I put them together right away. That was this past summer, and they are happy and healthy. So far she's laid three clutches. They have turned out to be my favourite type of cham!

 

[Warrix642]

Hey Dustin, I think the decision to get a wc pygmy is the same as getting anything else wc. My thinking is that because of their size they would be very difficult to treat if something went wrong. I think most people do trios -- 1.2, but if you have lots of space, then 1.3 is probably ok. I like to have enough room that if they don't want to see one another, they don't have to. They seem hardy enough, but again, because of their size things can be more difficult to notice than in something larger. I think they change colour a lot, though I have not had the pleasure of owning a blue or pink or red cham, so I'm speaking colour change relative to pygmies. My female sports all kinds of dots and stripes, then goes to dark or light grey. My male is more plain, although he goes anywhere from a mossy green grey to a very dark grey (if he needs to warm up, or I'm taking too many pictures). As for activity, some days they're all over their enclosure, sometimes they spend 2 days on the same twig. I heard that's normal. The only other thing that I feel is important is that they be looked after the same as any other cham or lizard, in that just because they are cheap to buy and little in size does not mean that they don't deserve the same vet care and general care as the larger chams. Not to imply that YOU wouldn't, but I wanted to put that out there. I will let someone with more experience speak to the parasite issues. I assumed that mine were wild caught, but I don't know, and I put them together right away. That was this past summer, and they are happy and healthy. So far she's laid three clutches. They have turned out to be my favourite type of cham!

When you got yours did you take them to the vet? Where did you buy yours at? Have any of your clutches hatched? Does anyone know if you can house 2.3 together?

 

[hallenhe]

I think a WC pygmy can be a bit different - with a Mellers (commonly available WC) it is pretty much standard to take them to the vet, do a fecal, begin a course of parasite treatment, etc. Parasite treatments are never easy on the animal, and with something as little as a pygmy, I'd be afraid of doing more harm than good, and I think many people just hope for the best for them and leave them be (or I'm a horribly negligent pygmy keeper).
I got a 1:2 WC group in March; both of my females have since died (in early August and mid-September, one immediately after laying eggs; gave no signs of ill health to that point), and I have several babies from at least two clutches. The eggs were left in the big cage, and I did nothing special with regards to their incubation, and the babies hatched out fine.
People generally report survival of one year or less for WC, but these are animals that live about 3 years at best and are generally adult when shipped (age unknown).
Brad Ramsey bought a 1.3 group the same time I got mine, and has not had trouble keeping them together. I wouldn't try a 2.3 - Julirs has at least one male that is very aggressive and had to be separated out early on. Do some searches on some of their pygmy posts, for I know they've had a lot of experience.

 

[lisa h]

I did not take them to the vet. I wrote to the forum and asked some questions. Maybe do a search of my name and find the posts from July 12 and just after. I got some excellent advice. Mine were from someone at our reptile expo, and they knew absolutely nothing about them. Luckily, the guy at the next booth bred them for many years and gave me all kinds of info. He's turned out to be a very good friend and mentor. Unfortunately I screwed with my eggs, and I fear the first two clutches will not hatch. I wanted to keep them in situ, but I needed to put the adults into an exo terra enclosure. Once I started moving the plants out I disturbed the eggs, and didn't realize they couldn't be moved up, down and all around. I do have them in a container, and I'll wait and see. The first clutch should hatch any time now, and the second one after Christmas sometime. She just laid another clutch, maybe last week, and they are staying as is. I wouldn't house 2 males together, although it has been done. They would have to be in a really big enclosure, and there would always be the chance of aggression. I wouldn't take the chance, but maybe someone here has had a positive experience. I'll try to post a few pictures so you can see the colour on these guys. My female had crazy spots and stripes yesterday!

 

[PNsSP]

If you go the WC route hand pick them out yourself. You can treat them for parasites but they can live fine without treatment as long as you know what to look for as warning signs if a problem would arise.