hello, new here

[heloderm]

Hello,

Just figured I'd stop in and say hi and introduce myself. I have already met and even purchased my first panther chameleons from many on this forum. My names john light and I've been in the hobby for around 15 plus years. I live in south florida and have worked with more species then I could count! Besides non venomous reptiles I have worked with venomous reptiles for 6 years now, infact I have rio fuerte beaded lizard eggs in the incubator!

I've always like chams but never really got into them or kept them till this year. I bred veileds and currently have 125 eggs in the incubator. Last night was the first time I bred panthers. My current collection consist of 3.21 panthers (still purchasing more, I'll end up with 5.30) the veiled eggs and beaded lizard eggs. I just sold my adult pair of beadeds. I'd like to have around 100 female and 20 male breeder ambilobe panther chameleons. I don't plan on doing to much retail, mostly wholesale.

Well that's pretty much it, I look forward to sticking around these forums!

John light

P.s. I'll get some pics up when I get some time to take pics.

 

[laurie]

Wow welcome to the forum. You really have lots of chameleons!! I thought I had a lot and I have 14. I guess I am small time, but I keep them just for the fun of it. Let us know how things progress.

 

[SS4Luck]

wow welcome that is a crazy project. Do you have any pictures or you HOT Reptiles? Im facinated with them

 

[Nicodemayo]

Do you plan on hiring employees or someone to help you out? Good luck with a colony of that size alone, you'll figure out real quick how much time even a small colony takes.

Good luck
-Nic

 

[chameleon97]

Where do you keep them???¿¿¿¿¿¿?¿¿?¿¿?¿¿?¿¿?¿¿? ¿

 

[heloderm]

I keep them on my patio currently but I'm working on setting up my 19 x 10 garage. No employees, currently I have a close friend helping out a little but this is mainly my deal. I work for fire rescue, my shifts are 24hrs on and 72hrs off so I have plenty of time to take care of everyone.

I don't have many pictures, I need to purchase a new degi cam. The only photo's I have are On my blackberry. My venomous collection was never very large but I did help out a few friends quite a bit. I had a large indo venomous shipment not to long ago. I liked the veileds but I love these panthers! These animals are so interested in what's going on, their colors, just amazing! I won't work with animals I'm not fond of, I love these guys!

 

[Trace]

I may acquire some Heloderma suspectum within the next year (still in the research stage). I'd love to hear your thoughts and see some pics of your Heloderma horridum exasperatum. Congrats on those eggs.

Welcome to the forums.
Cheers,
T

 

[jojackson]

Gila's and beadys have always fascinated me. Id love to see some pics aswell.
Can you tell us a little about their genral demmeaner/behaviours, feeding habits etc?
I keep shinglebacks which have always struck me as similar, sans venom, but im sure they have some unique attributes/behaviours? Are they both egg layers?
P.S Welcome!

 

[Pure]

Welcome, your current projects sound awesome. I too would love to see your collections.

 

[heloderm]

Gilas and Beadeds are very similar. I never kept gilas because do to the humidity down here in Florida they just don't seem to do to well. They are both egg layers. I'm pretty sure gilas have 2 or 3 venom glands while beadeds only have 1. My beadeds were very calm. I'd reach into their cage with my hand completely flat. Most of the time the beadeds would hit my hand with an upword motion of their head. After that I'd just reach down and grab them. I have pics of them around my neck, kissing my face.... I won't post pic's like that because I don't want to give someone the wrong Idea. They are venomous and it would seriously suck if they did bite. They are very easy to read as adults IMO. I only once had the male try and bite me and it was a feeding response. I put the male back in the cage to soon and the female still had about 1/3 of the rat hanging from her mouth. The male ran up and trying to grab it and I had to get involved. Other then that, I know why they call them beaded puppies lol. I have 1 perfect egg in the incubator. I killed 9 others. It was my first clutch of eggs and I made every rookie mistake! Atleast I have 1 good egg and I really hope it hatches! They would chase f/t rats on tongs around the cage or climb up things to get to them. Overall they aren't real active (love to dig though). My pics are really bad, I could never capture their yellow color! I just looked and I don't have any photo's of the beadeds except for my phone so the pics won't be to good. I have a few other pics I'll post now.

female mangrove snake:

Male Papua New Guinea Taipan (this is a friends snake which is now paired up with an equally beautiful female!):

Adult female Proven breeder West African Gaboon Viper:

The pictures were from a friends place I used to help out alot. He's had everything from diamond backs to mamba's (all color phases), water cobra's to king cobra's, boom slangs to anything else over the years he's imported! I owe alot to him considering most of my experience with venomous has been recieved working with him!

John

 

[SS4Luck]

omg i think gaboons are the prettiest snakes on the planet