Calumma parsonii parsonii from a french keeper

arno

Member
Hello everybody!!

before all, i would like to apologize for my english!!I’m french... i hope you will understand me?

I’m member of this forum since many years but i never post because of my bad english.

i’m a chameleon keeper since 2007. I have breed yemen, pardalis, trioceros and dwarf chameleons there is 10 years ago...

Now i would like to share my experience with parson’s chameleons.
I have a pair of orange eye parsonii

they are 5 years old now.
When i got them, they was only 1 years and some months old.

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my male come with respiratory infection that i have to treat..

now they are both 5 years old and healthy!


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I’m trying my own method of incubation... For the moment there is no problem of mold on my eggs. I will tell you about that if i get healthy baby next year!
 
You shouldn't have been worried about posting because you thought your English was bad! I'm sure we can all work with it and figure out things! Glad you finally decided to post!

You are so lucky to have Parson's eggs! I hope they all hatch for you! You have a lot of waiting and worrying to go through first sadly! I haven't had a Parsons chameleon for quite a few years. I had eggs over 25 years ago and THREW THEM OUT after about 14 months not realizing they usually took longer to hatch. :(

J'espère que tout va bien avec vos œufs! (Did I get it right?)
 
Thanks for all your messages! :)

@kinyonga it is too bad for your eggs but 25 years ago you couldn’t know... i remember when i start my passion for chameleons 13 years ago we don’t know anything about parson’s incubation... people just keep eggs at constant temperature and zero or sometimes one or two hatching but where very weak and live no long...

and yes you right! :) everything is good with my eggs! Im on the first diapause and i will up the temperature gradually in few days...

Did you ever seen a parson make noise like a frog with respiratory infection? :(
I would like to show you and maybe if someone is interested share with you the medicine i gave him if it’s possible? But i think i can’t post short video here?

thanks again for all your reply. I realize that im member since 2012 on this forum... ? i never post before but sometimes it help me for care and know how things are done in others country! That’s a good information source!
 
you said..."it is too bad for your eggs but 25 years ago you couldn’t know... i remember when i start my passion for chameleons 13 years ago we don’t know anything about parson’s incubation... people just keep eggs at constant temperature and zero or sometimes one or two hatching but where very weak and live no long"...it was a lesson that came with a cost as many lessons do.

You said..."and yes you right! :) everything is good with my eggs! Im on the first diapause and i will up the temperature gradually in few days"...I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your success!

You said..."Did you ever seen a parson make noise like a frog with respiratory infection? :(
I would like to show you and maybe if someone is interested share with you the medicine i gave him if it’s possible? But i think i can’t post short video here?"... I've never seen a Parson's with a respiratory infection. I'd be glad to see it and know what medication you used for it.

You said..."thanks again for all your reply. I realize that im member since 2012 on this forum... ? i never post before but sometimes it help me for care and know how things are done in others country! That’s a good information source!"...I'm glad you have found the forum useful!
 
Sorry the video can’t be upload here.
But for what told, my parson male came at my home with respiratory infection. He was young and only 70g. I was afraid to loose him. :( even if i had to medic few pardalis with same problem in the past, i was not confident about this on a young parson.

Something impressive was the noise he make with his throat when opening his mouth. It was like a frog noise and he seemed to suffer :(

Then i took him to the vet who confirm the RI.
My vet give the same antibiotic that is use years ago on other species with 100% success!

This medic is marbocyl fd. I don’t know why but it seem to give better results than baytril. I never loose a chameleon with an infection with marbocyl fd. This is why i will share with you this information.
For what is saw on all forum and informations files about chameleons, only baytril is recommend for RI.
I just share it to maybe help someone who have difficulty to heal an RI on a chameleon, this could be a good alternive if baytril don’t give good results..

i gave it to him the time the vet told me. It was very stressfull for the chameleon. I had to grab him and make him open his mouth by grabbing the skin of his throat every day. And this just 3 days after the shipping and coming in his new home... :(

During this and after this, he won’t eat... Then i decide to give an insect that all chameleons are crazy about. Flies!

For me flies is the best insect to boost a peaky eater to feed.

After 2 weeks his appetite was normal and he was totaly recover! :)
Now he is a big healthy male like you see on my pics.

I will share with you more information about care i give to my parson and on some interresting observations i make about them.

I hope im understandable ?

Just a pic of my male when suffering RI (sorry you can’t have the noise ?) F6D90029-834F-410F-B7DC-D697B1DB8E10.png
 
Nice to have you posting here. Your english is fine! Have you been to the US haha, most of us struggle with it as well.

Any thoughts on why Parsons seem especially susceptible to RI? I've known a couple people that lost theirs from this. I'm lucky *knock on wood*, haven't had any with my yellow lip.
 
Sorry but i can’t tell if they are especially susceptible to RI. Mine came with it. :( but since i never have problem like that...
But i know that a lot of parson’s keeper have too much humidity at day time and not enought air flow in cage (glass terrarium for example) that could be a reason for RI..
and something i personnaly think with my observations of other keeper is that depending of locality of parsons, they seems to need more/less humidity and need/don’t need to brumate...
It could be a reason. but it’s only my personnal observation.
 
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Sorry but i can’t tell if they are especially susceptible to RI. Mine came with it. :( but since i never have problem like that...
But i know that a lot of parson’s keeper have too much humidity at day time and not enought air flow in cage (glass terrarium for example) that could be a reason for RI..
and something i personnaly think with my observations of other keeper is that depending of locality of parsons, they seems to need more/less humidity and need/don’t need to brumate...
It could be a reason. but it’s only my personnal observation.

That makes a lot of sense. I think in general people focus too much on humidity % when it seems like air exchange is more important(given that the cham is getting enough water).

I think you're right about the locales too. Seems OE keepers usually have them in pretty cool temperatures, but just from personal observation with my YL he seems healthier with warmer temps.

I've only had/have 1 parsons so my experience does not speak the same as a breeder, but mine is free ranged inside for the winter with d3 supplements, occasional outside time(no uvb light), and long showers every other day or so. Then spring to fall he is outside full time(hot and humid here). He's done very well with this so far.
 
That makes a lot of sense. I think in general people focus too much on humidity % when it seems like air exchange is more important(given that the cham is getting enough water).

I think you're right about the locales too. Seems OE keepers usually have them in pretty cool temperatures, but just from personal observation with my YL he seems healthier with warmer temps.

I've only had/have 1 parsons so my experience does not speak the same as a breeder, but mine is free ranged inside for the winter with d3 supplements, occasional outside time(no uvb light), and long showers every other day or so. Then spring to fall he is outside full time(hot and humid here). He's done very well with this so far.

yes i think at daytime water is more important than humidity.. i have a misting system 2 minutes in the morning when light on and 2 minutes in the afternoon only. But i have dripper almost all day for watering. In the night i have fogger. 3am-8am. It stop with the light on.

I don’t have any experiences with yellow lips. They seems to be rare in france :/ but even in the OE it seems to have difference depending of their locality. In france a lot of OE are originary from nosy boraha. (Mines are not) but the OE from boraha seems to prefer warmer temps than OE from inside of madagascar. And with other keepers observations they seems to not brumate or brumate less longer than OE from inside madagascar.

mine seems to like cool temps.
i can see them basking only 2-3 times a years under the basking spot...

i keep them 20-26°c in summer and 15-18°c in winter.
They will brumate by themselves, i don’t switch off any light in winter so they could choose to bask but they don’t do. they seems to need to brumate...

i think you right with your keeping! Free range is good if all is safe for them. And outside keeping is the best!
you don’t give uvb during winter? Only d3 supplement?
And i think you right once again... i will talk about uvb burn in terrarium..
Mine have arcadia t5 6% but i think the brown coloration under their dorsal crest is uvb burn like almost all parson’s in captivity...
I’m thinking on how to fix this problem :)
 
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Congratulations on your eggs.

Ideally you should be out of diapause completely at this time. Best to follow the seasons with egg incubation so the babies hatch at the beginning of Summer. How low did you diapause your eggs?

I believe that hot humid condition with little airflow will lead to respiratory issues. Also I believe that continued cool wet conditions will also lead to respiratory issues as well. I have had good luck using Ceftazidime for treatment of respiratory infections.
 
Thanks!

Yes i was thinking about to start incubation with cool temps but i start with hot. Do you think i should have start with cool?

My eggs are at 15°c on diapause

Now i up gradually to 24°c.
 
Thanks!

Yes i was thinking about to start incubation with cool temps but i start with hot. Do you think i should have start with cool?

My eggs are at 15°c on diapause

Now i up gradually to 24°c.
Yes you can start cool. I usually start at 65f and take them down right away.
 
Ok thank you!
I was worried about 2-3 first months if i start with cool temps. But i will try next time :)
 
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