AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Can some of you guys let me know about your personal experiences with breeding these little fellas? Any problems you may have encountered, how you cared for brand new babies, etc. It would help and thank you.
Breeding brevicaudatus rieppeleon chameleons and incubation questions
- Thread starter AnnaBabyxox
- Start date
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
When my eggs are layed do I bury them in the vermiculite or lie them on top?
brandychams
New Member
kinda make a dent for them to lay in without rolling and i usually leave them just like that though a lot of people cover them with spraghum moss
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Thank you, I'll get myself some spraghum moss to go with my vermiculite then. I appreciate the advice.
Can you tell me what your first brev breeding experience was like please? I want to know what to expect. ^_^ Thank you!
Can you tell me what your first brev breeding experience was like please? I want to know what to expect. ^_^ Thank you!
brandychams
New Member
my first was a surprise i never noticed the female gravid she never really showed (pygs are always round
) and i was misting one morning and much to my surprise i had two of the tiniest little chameleons i had ever seen soon thereafter a third
) and i was misting one morning and much to my surprise i had two of the tiniest little chameleons i had ever seen soon thereafter a third
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Awwa, that's so cute! Thank you for sharing. =)
One other question I had was do I plant my pothos right in the coconut fiber with the brevs or do I use a pot? And if I do use a pot what do I do if my brev digs a hole and lays her eggs there, would I just uproot the plant?
One other question I had was do I plant my pothos right in the coconut fiber with the brevs or do I use a pot? And if I do use a pot what do I do if my brev digs a hole and lays her eggs there, would I just uproot the plant?
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Oh, and what age should I raise my babies to before selling them? I understand that hatchlings are very delicate and need a good start before the stress of a new environment and new people sets in. I read somewhere around six to eight weeks, does that sound right to you guys?
brandychams
New Member
at least two months and i usually plant right in the mediaView attachment 31368
heres a pic of my tank
heres a pic of my tank
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Now I'm working on a caresheet to give out when I get my little babies raised. Please comment on it and tell me how to make it better. What I should add, what I should take out, etc. I'd like to keep it at one page to pass out to prospective buyers. Thank you for your help, here it is:
Rieppeleon Brevicaudatus (Bearded Pygmy Chameleon) Care Sheet
Pygmy chameleons will only grow to be three inches in length, making them very delicate and suitable only for older children and adults.
The humidity in the tank should be at 70% or a bit higher. Humidity is very important to chameleons because they live in the tropics where it is always sunny and humid. Using a cheap squirtbottle you can mist your chameleons habitat at least three times a day and make sure the chameleon's eyes get misted so that they don't dry out and to clean them.
Chameleons don't drink out of bowls, instead they drink droplets of water off of leaves. To do this all you have to do is use a thumb tack to poke a hole in a paper cup, this will allow the water to tickle out slowly allowing your chameleon to drink. Another option would be to buy a dripper which is basically the same thing, the water just trickles out a bit slower.
Live plants in the enclosure help out a lot with the humidity. Some good plants are pothos and spider plants, you can find these very easily around summer time in hanging baskets. A good pothos vine will fill out an aquarium nicely for pygmy chameleons.
Pygmy chameleons eat crickets as a staple food. The crickets should be fed before being givin to th chameleon. This is called 'gut-loading' and what it means is that you give your crickets fruits and vegetables to munch on and your chameleon will be healthier for it.
The temperature in your chameleon habitat should be around the mid seventies with the heat light placed over where you want your chameleon to bask. The temperature directly under the basking light should be 80 degrees and no more.
Chameleons need UVB/UVA lights in their tanks because these lights will immitate the suns rays and most reptiles need the sun to be able to properly process calcium to create vitamin D3 in their bodies to avoid Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). MBD is the breaking of bones, sort of like Osteoporosis in a human. It is very painful and the reptiles gets 'lumps' all over his body where bones have shifted or muscles have overgrown trying to compensate for broken bones...it's not a pretty picture. MBD can be cured withexposure to proper UVB/UVA lighting.
Rieppeleon Brevicaudatus (Bearded Pygmy Chameleon) Care Sheet
Pygmy chameleons will only grow to be three inches in length, making them very delicate and suitable only for older children and adults.
The humidity in the tank should be at 70% or a bit higher. Humidity is very important to chameleons because they live in the tropics where it is always sunny and humid. Using a cheap squirtbottle you can mist your chameleons habitat at least three times a day and make sure the chameleon's eyes get misted so that they don't dry out and to clean them.
Chameleons don't drink out of bowls, instead they drink droplets of water off of leaves. To do this all you have to do is use a thumb tack to poke a hole in a paper cup, this will allow the water to tickle out slowly allowing your chameleon to drink. Another option would be to buy a dripper which is basically the same thing, the water just trickles out a bit slower.
Live plants in the enclosure help out a lot with the humidity. Some good plants are pothos and spider plants, you can find these very easily around summer time in hanging baskets. A good pothos vine will fill out an aquarium nicely for pygmy chameleons.
Pygmy chameleons eat crickets as a staple food. The crickets should be fed before being givin to th chameleon. This is called 'gut-loading' and what it means is that you give your crickets fruits and vegetables to munch on and your chameleon will be healthier for it.
The temperature in your chameleon habitat should be around the mid seventies with the heat light placed over where you want your chameleon to bask. The temperature directly under the basking light should be 80 degrees and no more.
Chameleons need UVB/UVA lights in their tanks because these lights will immitate the suns rays and most reptiles need the sun to be able to properly process calcium to create vitamin D3 in their bodies to avoid Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). MBD is the breaking of bones, sort of like Osteoporosis in a human. It is very painful and the reptiles gets 'lumps' all over his body where bones have shifted or muscles have overgrown trying to compensate for broken bones...it's not a pretty picture. MBD can be cured withexposure to proper UVB/UVA lighting.
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Ooh pretty brev habitat you have set up there! And thatnks for responding, I think I'll plant just into the substrate too.
brandychams
New Member
care sheet sounds good maybe just add something about one male per enclosure and alot of people dont but i use calcium withou d3 2-3 times a week and herptivite 2 a month but thats just me
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
I added that to my caresheet. Thank you very much for your input. =) I'm so excited about getting my project up and going. I went out and bought about $300 worth of stuff for my set up today and I can't wait to spend $600 more to get this up and going--my fiance thinks I've lost my mind. lol
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
If I buy a fruitfly kit at lllreptiles does it come with instructions on how to raise them? If not will you guys let me know how to raise these little guys please?
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
One male and four females from flchams
(x2) UVB/UVA light (One for the babies and one for the adult)
Fruit fly kit (LLLReptile.com)
Hydroton clay balls (LLLReptile.com)
Spaghnum moss
Ten gallon aquarium
Twenty gallon tank
(x2) Kritter Keeper (one for the eggs, and one for the crickets)
(x4) Clamp light (one for heat and one for UVB/UVA for babies, one for heat and one for UVB/UVA for adults)
(x2) Heat bulb (One for the babies, one for the adults)
Coconut fiber
Wire window screen
Aquarium active carbon
Pothos plant
Sticks and rocks
Vermiculite
Calcium supplement
Hygrometer
Can you guys think of anything else I might need? I'm just worried I'm forgetting something, thank you.
(x2) UVB/UVA light (One for the babies and one for the adult)
Fruit fly kit (LLLReptile.com)
Hydroton clay balls (LLLReptile.com)
Spaghnum moss
Ten gallon aquarium
Twenty gallon tank
(x2) Kritter Keeper (one for the eggs, and one for the crickets)
(x4) Clamp light (one for heat and one for UVB/UVA for babies, one for heat and one for UVB/UVA for adults)
(x2) Heat bulb (One for the babies, one for the adults)
Coconut fiber
Wire window screen
Aquarium active carbon
Pothos plant
Sticks and rocks
Vermiculite
Calcium supplement
Hygrometer
Can you guys think of anything else I might need? I'm just worried I'm forgetting something, thank you.
brandychams
New Member
looks good when are the little guys coming?
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Thank you and I'm going to buy them in March =) I'm sooo excited, March seems like decades away LOL
Fruit flies are super easy. Just save any big plastic or glass jars (pasta sauce) you find for future cultures. I don't know what comes in the kit but I got a culture from petsmart once, some excelsior moss for them to lay eggs on, and then a big thing of fruitfly media powder from joshsfrogs.com (which will last me forever by the way). And that's really the only costs associated with it. I use old jars with a little piece of fabric over the top secured with a rubber band and every 2 or 3 weeks make some new media, dump some flies in from the old culture and bam! New culture going. I make 2 cultures at a time in case one fails. I'd make more if I had a use for them right now... But when my mantis ooths hatch or if any brev eggs ever hatch (I think she just laid a clutch last week) then I'll be glad to have them around.
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
Thank you so much for the helpful info on fruitflies. I plan to buy a kit from flchams and try to breed my own. Are they easy to get breeding?
AnnaBabyxox
New Member
How long before I order my brevs should I order my fruit fly culture.
If you give them food and places to lay eggs all you have to do it wait. They're very good at making more of themselves without any real motivation. If the kit comes with live flies then just order them at the same time. Mine prefer tiny crickets over fruitflies.
