Johnstoni

[biffle]

My female johnstoni is full of eggs again. I'm not sure if they are fertile or not. She looks close.

 

[TheOtherOne]

She looks amazing! Very nice cham!

 

[Brad]

Thanks for sharing. People usually show off their males and we don't often see the females. Keep us updated on the eggs.

 

[Chase]

She looks awesome! Like Brad said, let us know when she lays and keep us updated!

Chase

 

[kplatvoet]

She is pretty - I thought they had live birth - am I mistaken ?

 

[pigglett79]

She is very pretty. Hopefully those eggs are fertile.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Beautiful! I see Johnstoni in my future.

 

[Saldarya]

She looks great Jason!!

 

[kameleons jvo]

An absolute beauty

 

[biffle]

I have good and bad and bad and bad and bad and bad news on my Johnstoni project.

Bad#1
My favorite chameleon in the world passed :-( . my female johnstoni passed from what appeared to be egg binding. she was acting just like she did 3 months prior when she dropped 9 very large eggs. She passed the morning of her appointment. When we opened her we found 9 small undeveloped eggs.

Bad #2
After my female died I decided to open her eggs from her first clutch. I thought they were bad but wasn't 100% sure. They were all infertile :-(.

Bad #3
I found my male johnstoni Magic hanging by his front feet with his back feet dangling. His back legs seemed to work but he just didn't want to use them. He was eating and drinking from my hand but was not pooing.

Bad #4
I'm now a chameleon enema expert... yay! The first enema didn't get much out. I'm giving him carafate tabs diluted in water to loosen stuff up. I get the opportunity to test my newly found skill tomorrow afternoon!

Bad# 5
An x-ray revealed a questionable vertebrae in his lower back. It looks like the vertebrae has been deteriorating for awhile. There was not a break but there was also not a good definition of two vertebrae about a half inch infront of his rear legs. It looks like the damaged vertebrae finally got to a point to where it caused bowl and rear leg issues. My vet has a specialist comming in Thursday to look at the x-rays to confirm the findings. My vet may have been try to be nice when he said that believes there is a chance that with treatment, some functionality can be regained.

I've got my fingers and toes crossed until Thursday.

And finally the good news!!!!
I was able to purchase one of Craigs captive hatched female johnstoni. She is super nervous and timid right now. I'm hoping that she gets as tolerant of me as my first johnstoni was. She is a beautiful bright green with black dots. I can see myself flipping over this one.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Sorry to hear about that. Investing in WC animals is very hard on emotions most of the time, I feel your pain. Good luck with your male. I'm sure your new female will do great.

 

[biffle]

Yeah thank Mike. It's super frustrating to be so unsuccessful with WC johnstoni yet 100% successful with WC jacksonii.jacksonii. argh!

Sorry to hear about that. Investing in WC animals is very hard on emotions most of the time, I feel your pain. Good luck with your male. I'm sure your new female will do great.

 

[Dooley1]

Sorry to hear about that. Years ago when Susan James was working with them she reported them to be very difficult imports on her Yahoo group at the time.

They are beautiful chameleons, but mostly just a novelty with the small amount that have hatched. Maybe future imports will come in again to add to what is around now..?

 

[Mike Fisher]

mostly just a novelty with the small amount that have hatched.

My hope is that the few breeders that have hatched them are putting together a few small colonies to work with. Any CH or CB offspring will be much easier to work with. No matter how experienced the keeper/breeder is, some WC species are near impossible to acclimate to captivity while their offspring may thrive in captivity. The trick is getting enough unrelated offspring to move forward with.

 

[Masked Gecko]

Wow that sucks, sorry for your loss. I hope everything goes well for your male.

 

[Dooley1]

My hope is that the few breeders that have hatched them are putting together a few small colonies to work with. Any CH or CB offspring will be much easier to work with. No matter how experienced the keeper/breeder is, some WC species are near impossible to acclimate to captivity while their offspring may thrive in captivity. The trick is getting enough unrelated offspring to move forward with.

Mike-you're right. The key is getting hatchlings and going from there.

 

[Action Jackson]

My hope is that the few breeders that have hatched them are putting together a few small colonies to work with. Any CH or CB offspring will be much easier to work with. No matter how experienced the keeper/breeder is, some WC species are near impossible to acclimate to captivity while their offspring may thrive in captivity. The trick is getting enough unrelated offspring to move forward with.

I'm going to hang onto 4 pairs from the babies I've hatched out for future breeding. I've sold 3 females and have some males available.

 

[biffle]

The cancer damage to my male johnstoni's vertebrae has him paralyzed from the mid back down. He has little to no function in his rear legs. His right rear foot has good grip, his left rear has almost none. He can control his tail normally.

He is shooting crickets from my hand and drinking from syringe. I've seen a couple of nice fecals. He seems to be in good spirts moving around thermoregulating by using his front legs.
I think that I'm going to let him be until he tells me otherwise.

 

[FlChamMom]

These Johnstoni are such amazing creatures- it must be very hard to lose one. I applaud everyones efforts in establishing CB colonies and hope for success in the future!

 

[Lathis]

Poor little guy! What a trooper tho! If he is able to adjust to his disability, do you think there's any chance he might be able to breed with a very docile female? Or is he "out to pasture" for his own health now?