Calumma parsonii parsonii

[Motherlode Chameleon]

For those who want to keep Calumma parsonii behind glass.
There are some problems with this material. Chameleons don't know this "hard Air" like other lizards.
Like jumping lizards break their noses at glass, chameleons can break their tongue bones, when they try to shoot an insect outsides to near before the glass. When there is a fly at the wall they would shoot through this material. The tongue bone has a length of 10cm or more at adult C. parsonii.
What do you think will happens if it crashed directly against glass ?
Another problem is the high humidity behind glass.
Yes, this is good for less needing to drink of the animals. But it supports the growing of bacteria and funghu colonies. So we water them more by spraying and by manual dripping like rainfall in a less humidity area.
A third thing is the reflection in the glass. When chameleons see themselves in this reflection then there is another chameleon maybe a rival. So male sometimes climbing up and down to reach this rival. If you have an heavy C.parsonii and he is walking on dry hard branches the whole day then this is something what doesn't happen in the rainforest. There they can end this fight but not behind glass. But here he will ruin his feet in a not optimal environment.
So we gave up glass and turn to wood and mesh or free style enclosures also outside.
But outside you have to care more for the length and the weight of your Parsons like on the last photos.
I don't blame glass and I know people love to look through windows in another world maybe with a Parsons chameleon. But if you get a Parsons, this animal should be a part of your world because you have to care for it manually.
It's only my opinion and I hope I have answered the question in the PM.

Thanks for posting more information. That is a neat design I have considered a free range of that nature when introducing a female to a male for breeding in the greenhouse. I could not consider that as an outdoor arrangement since here in the foothill birds of prey are everywhere.

 

[jannb]

Thank you for sharing so much information with us. I do have a question. If your chameleon got out on the end of some of those branches would he fall over the edge of the little fence that keeps him in? From the picture It looks like some of the branches are hanging over the edge of the fence.

 

[rantotro]

Yes that's right. Indeed one female has fallen last year from one of these branches outside from the fence. So it's safer to cut these branches.
But I am also in the garden when my Parsons are there and take a look to every enclosure in short frequences. So I have found her right in time.
Also our dogs are around there. Despite we have crows and falcons here, there were never a problem with birds.
But we use the enclosures outside only temporary to basking in the evening sun or for mating activities.

 

[rantotro]

It's a problem to simulate a rainforest like the Forêt de Kalalao on Nosy Boraha, where we have found wild orange eyes in 2005. They have much space there to change their places to interact and go away if there is a rival.
We have seen that this female was very active in hunting when the wind has blown and the leaves in the environment were in movement. That is a big difference to our indoor enclosures.
In an enclosure there is every time everything the same. Life can be boring there or if they can see a rival they can be stressed the whole day. Without chance to go away.
So we exchange their places after a time, let them live outside for a while or in the winter garden when it is to cold outside.
We hope this is a way to simulate a bit from this eventful and free life in nature.
To transport them between the enclosures we use a branch with a soft bark, where the nails and the hands have a good grip. Otherwise you have many wounds in the arms if you transport them in your own hands. They have a very hard grip and very sharp nails.

 

[diablocham]

I have noticed that our females are receptive only in July or August for round about one week. When this week comes depends from the seasons in this year.
But short before and after this week they can be very angry against the males and change to yellow when they see them head bobbing.
So the male has up to three or four shots in this week. Maybe more if he is a very potent guy.

no matter if they r cb... is same for all females this time of reception

 

[rantotro]

Wild females on Madagascar will be receptive in south high summer, so in January or February I think. This wild female in November was not pregnant but was coming in a better condition a few months after the winter.
Maybe there is a second biological clockwork counting from their day of hatching until their first receptivity after 2 years in summer again, but I'm not sure.
This depends also from the individual growing and condition of the animal.

 

[rantotro]

But coming back to our Parsons in captivity.
After watering them well and when they have drunk the water in the throat we feed them.
Our most important food for our babies and juveniles, but also for pregnant females are flies.
Because the flies keep our powder of vitamins and minerals perfect with their hairs on the body.
We buy the flies as worms and let them hatch in a cricket box. In this box we give a little honey so that they can eat. Out of this box we let them fly in a bag with powder in front of a window. Then we shake this bag.
After this procedure we let them fly in the mesh cages of the chameleons.
It's a very good training for our snipers.
As food supplement we use Korvimin ZVT Reptil and Herpetal mineral.
But flies alone don't have enough proteins for a good growing and adult males are mostly not longer interested in them.
So we feed them also with Acheta domestica, Gryllus assimilis and locusts in the right size. Sometimes we use Zophoba morio to build up a hungry animal again.

The jumping legs of locusts and crickets are a problem sometimes in the mouth of the chameleon.
To prevent before mouthrot we cut these two legs of before feeding with bigger insects.
With tweezers we present the older parsons the dorsal side of head and thorax of the insect.
But you have to be careful with tweezers.
If the tongue catches the tweezers we use the other hand to roll back the tongue from the tweezers quickly before the chameleon bites in the metal.
A better method is to hang the insect at the mesh of cage, but some snipers are shooting before you have done this and the problem with the tweezers is back.
I guess the best is to use your fingers as tweezers, but be careful with these acrodont teeth if the tongue catches one of them.
To feed out of a bowl seems as a safer method to me.

 

[rantotro]

Some answers to the questions in PM's:

Adult Parsons don't eat in the winter for 3 or 4 months. They hibernate from November until February. In this time the females lay their eggs.
So it is important to feed them good before this hibernation. Egg building and laying costs a lot of energy.
Not so the juveniles. They are catching their insects for a good growing also in their first winter. I don't know why, but they did it here. Maybe it's easier to find smaller insects on Madagascar in winter as bigger ones.
They don't need a hibernation in this first winter, because they are not adult in the next summer. For the sexual syncronisation to the seasons it's enough to hibernate them in their second winter.

Summer temperatures should be below 30°C every day. 25-28°C are perfect. In the night we have measured more than 20°C on Nosy Boraha, so tropical nights are the natural environment for the orange eyes in summer.
In Winter we keep the males between 15-22°C (night-day), but the pregnant females have 28-42W lamps to warm up if necessary. We keep them also warmer in the night at 18-20°C.
That's the same way we keep the juveniles in their first winter.

In summer we use the natural sunlight in the garden on warmer days. But for UV-Light in winter we put the Osram Ultravitalux 300W for 20 minutes in front of the cage.
It needs round about 10 days for humans to consume this dose of Vitamin D3.
So we repeat this procedure every week.

 

[pachecoss]

HELLO. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, FOR SHARING SO MUCH INFORMATION. I have a C.Parsonii with 6 months of age it weighs some 35gr.
To know his opinion.In the photo it was weighing 23 gr.
Thank you and a greeting from Spain.

 

[mojolao]

Andreas,
Thank you for your very informative thread !
I was wondering about the male/female ratio of the babies? But I know that most of the babies left your home before it is possible to sex them. Anyway, do you gather these kind of data?

 

[rantotro]

I know from our first babies from 2008 that they had grew to 50% males and 50% females, because we had kept them all one year long to get exact this information.
But this depends also from the parents. In 2010 we had more females from Winfried I think. 2011 from Henry again more males.
But to define the gender is very difficult when they are younger as a year.
After the first skin shedding some babies turn to green and most of these green babies had grew to females. But after the second shedding they change to brown again. But also all time brown babies can be females.
So it's more difficult to define a male. Maybe the dorsal crest could be a sign if it is wavy.
But every time individual factors could change everything and make you blind.
So nobody can promise the sex of a juvenile Parsons really.

I can't say anything about the 6 months old juvenile on this photo. We have to wait another 6 months. Maybe longer, because they become coloured in the second spring or summer.
I guess imported animals get colours later because of the change of the seasons.

 

[Chameleoco]

two of the offspring have arrived here healthy and safely with me
once again thankyou Andreas for producing these stunning little babies your work is 10/10
I look forward to growing these on the last female has been a pleasure.

 

[rantotro]

Thanks Jamie,
your two are a good example.
The left one was green after her first shedding for a long time. Now the second shedding begins in a few days and she turns to brown again.
The right one was brown all the time and if you look at his dorsal crest you can see it's a little bit wavy.
But please tell me next year if I was right.

Do you love baby photos of them ?

 

[Chameleoco]

Thanks Jamie,
your two are a good example.
The left one was green after her first shedding for a long time. Now the second shedding begins in a few days and she turns to brown again.
The right one was brown all the time and if you look at his dorsal crest you can see it's a little bit wavy.
But please tell me next year if I was right.

Do you love baby photos of them ?

Yes i will of course,those pictures are fantastic.do you still have there egg shells?

cheers
jamie

 

[rantotro]

Yes I still have them.
I don't know if I should keep them for a genetic proof.
They are dry out now.

 

[Chameleoco]

Cool,good idea,
Have you any plans to introduce fresh blood into your group for new lines so people can try to breed from the current offspring in the future it would be nice to see a solid gene pool of CB parsonii in Europe as all the other Parsonii for sale at the shows etc are wc and in bad condition, i recently just lost a female to cocidia which was wc but sold to me a s cb just for the sale

 

[rantotro]

After some e-mails and pm's I guess I have to repeat my opinion here:

I don't know much about imported Parsons, only that most females of them die by egg binding because of the changed seasons. This you have in addition to all other problems you can get with wc animals.
So it seems to me that it is not a good idea to buy imports from madagascar.
If you love these animals, let it be.

And don't let them cheat you.
Also traders read this thread with these informations about the seasons problem.
Suddenly the same animal is half a year younger now but only on the self made papers.
Especially when you don't have experiences with C.parsonii you are a perfect victim for the illegal international animal trade and the sellout of this species.
Do you really want to support this ?

If yes you stand alone.
I can't help these wc with advices when it is to late.
I try to help with my advice not to buy them.

Insist on a real proof that they are really CB, before you buy them.
Only in this case you have found a breeder who will support you with his advice.

 

[Scirocco]

10 pages make me want parsons

What locality are the most brilliant blue parsons?

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

10 pages make me want parsons

What locality are the most brilliant blue parsons?

Orange Eye, Yellow Lip, and Blue Phase Parsonii cristifer all can have extensive blue coloration. Not all individuals of the phases end up with complete blue color though.

 

[rantotro]

I guess the most brilliant animals in colours are the subadults.