mis-indentification

[pantherchameleonpal]

Don't know if this has ever happened to anyone, but has anyone ever ordered a cham, and it came in as the wrong one? I have a healthy two (+) year old male Oustalet's that I was planning on finding a mate for. So I ordered a healthy female for him. Turns out that female was a verrucosus or Fucifer verrucosus. Of course the company denies making the mistake and insures that it is an oustalet's - it simply is not. Even though she wasn't what I was hoping for, I honestly can't say that I'm too mad about it. The female came in very sick, and though it has pushed back plans for breeding, I'm very happy to be nursing her back to health. Currently right now she is the favorite of the house. She gets plenty of attention, and care. We've had her for over a month, and there is no doubt that she is in better condition than when we first got her. I feel bad though. She doesn't have a proper name. We were so scared of losing her that we didn't name her. She just has the nickname of "Baby girl." if anyone has a better name, I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Wyatt345]

Mis-identification

How about Missy...mis-identification...just a thought! Good luck with her! It's hard not to fall in love with them

 

[Chase]

It happens quite often. A lot of places can't correctly ID the species and think they're all the same. I've seen it happen here with Fischer's and Pygmy species.

Good luck with her!

Chase

 

[Chris Anderson]

It happens quite a bit unfortunately. If you post photos, I'd be happy to make an official identification with morphological explanation as to why.

Chris

 

[junglefries]

wrong id

Here is the perfect idiot example of it. My male blue bar was completely red, white, and green. If you look really carefully, you can make out his blue bars. I told the store i sold some babies to what they are and even showed them my purchase order for sire. He was a kammer baby, so we know he is correctly secondly id'ed. Even a regular employee confirmed my identification to them. A month later, the last two are still labeled red bar ambilobe. WRONG! I shutter to think of the happy customers waiting to possibly breed or wait for coloring to come in. Something an experienced keeper will be upset at down the road. Even if unknowingly, cross breeding down the line. Needless to say, i unfortunately cannot in good faith continue to stock them. I lose out, they lose out, and most importantly, the customer misses out. Just thought i would share this experience. Always make sure to your best ability what you are getting. Forrest's mom said it best.

 

[pantherchameleonpal]

These are both two pictures of the same female. I did say that we were nursing her, but she isn't back to complete health. She has a lot of fluid still surrounding her eyes that we hope to completely clear up soon. I can see how they might be mistaken, but verro's have the large cheek scales and half of the dorsal crest showing that female oustalet's don't have.

 

[Chris Anderson]

You are correct, that is a female Furcifer verrucosus, and as you said, she does not look great. Hopefully you'll be able to rehabilitate her and get her going well again.

Furcifer verrucosus do have enlarged, plate-like (tubercular) scales in the temporal region of the head (side of the head behind the eyes and mouth). F. oustaleti also tend to have a much more rounded parietal crest (as opposed to the straighter crest in F. verrucosus). The color and patterns are quite different as well.

Chris

 

[pantherchameleonpal]

I'm happy to announce that today the little female opened her eyes and kept them open. The gunk that was in them successfully washed out, and she immediately perked up.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Great news! Keep us updated