Identification of Kinyongia Species

Well just got this cham as I could not resist seeing it at the petstore ...



Pet store owner said that it is a young fishers chameleon ...I have a kinyongia Multi which I got as an adult an was always shades of green ..

This is on the brownish side with occasional green and measures circa 4 inch from snout to vent (excluding tail )

From the research I have done to me it looks like a Kinyongia Tavetana as I have never seen a young multi on the brown side..

Thanks
 
Looks like a female Kinyongia multituberculata to me. The rostrals and dorsal crest indicate multituberculata. K. tavetanum does not have a dorsal crest.

Carl
 
They can be present to non present. I don't ever remember seeing a female without some sort of rostral present even if minimal.

Carl

Thanks for clearing that out for me as I was confused going through kinyongia species and not placing one species to my new purchase..
 
As CarlC said it's definitely a K. multituberculata. However I will disagree about the sex; Female multi's can have rostral blades but generally are not as heavy/thick as the males. Also their dorsal crest is less developed. I think that is a male.
 
As CarlC said it's definitely a K. multituberculata. However I will disagree about the sex; Female multi's can have rostral blades but generally are not as heavy/thick as the males. Also their dorsal crest is less developed. I think that is a male.

Wow man I would never imagine a male multi having such defined brown colouration..do you think that he would start going into greenish colours when moving into adulthood?
 
I think he is an adult, or close to it because of rostral blade size. Normally those blades come to a fairly jagged point and I think this guy has lost the tips through improper capture in the wild/nose rubbing on cage previous to your obtaining him. In general the green colour happens more frequently than the brown but it is not unheard of with the multis. He may also be a bit stressed in the new situation and may become more green as he settles in.
 
I think he is an adult, or close to it because of rostral blade size

the fact that the blade size is large made me think that it is not a k.multi as he is small in size..reasonabbly smaller than my adult k.multi. I will try to get a photo of each on a ruler.
 
Trace is probably correct. It most likely is a male because of the larger sized rostrals.

Carl
 
Just posting quickly to concur with the previous comments. That is a male Kinyongia multituberculata and a healthy looking one as well.

Chris
 
Shocked and Surprised ...

Well listen to this...went to clean the bottom of the cage and found 9 eggs :confused:

I was so sure that In had a male. Suddenly it all made sense that I found her awake after lights out and was also roaming the bottom of the enclosure.

Felt so bad that I had not even provided a laying bin as I noticed that she tried digging into one of the plant pots but could not succeed due to the stones covering the soil..

There is a slight possibility that they might be fertile as checked with the pet-store owner where I purchased her from if she was kept separately at the breeders and he told me that most probably she was not...

I have removed the eggs and put them in a container ...all I know till now is that they should be kept between 68 - 73F, with a night time drop being beneficial, and they take between 11 - 17 months to hatch..

Any help through experience would be greatly appreciated ..
 
Congrats!
Yes keep the eggs below 73f, preferably around 70ish. Hatching will occur around 9 months.
Since she is wild caught expect the eggs to be fertile.

Carl
 
Wow, I stand corrected on the sex. The rostrals seemed too well formed to be a female. Good call, Carl!

As Carl said, she is likely wild caught and there could therefor be a reasonable chance of the eggs being fertile. Keep them cool as described and wait and see what happens.

Chris
 
Congrats!
Yes keep the eggs below 73f, preferably around 70ish. Hatching will occur around 9 months.
Since she is wild caught expect the eggs to be fertile.

Carl

Thanks for your reply Carl...I do not know if she is WC or not. What I do know is that the pet store owner gets the chams from Germany ...

One more question...I have put them in a container with soil at the bottom. I have seen on here that most of the members use vermiculite which I have no idea what that is ...is the bedding that important and if so, why ?

Two questions actually :) > is there need of humidity for the eggs as in should I be moistening up the soil from time to time ?
 
sorry just saw your reply now Chris ...Thanks for your response. Cannot wait until I get a sign that the eggs are fertile .

If they are not, after how long will they show signs of them going bad?
 
Check local garden stores for vermiculite. I prefer large grain.
Moisten it and grab a handle then squeeze your hand into a fist. When the dripping slows to one or two drips you are good.

The medium needs to hold moisture evenly so vermiculite is a good choice. Some of the newer products available probably work well also. After hatching hundreds of chameleons vermiculite has proven to work well for me.

Carl
 
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