My new Chameleons

[AaronK]

I never thought I would be venturing back into the world of chameleons. Its been about 15 years since I bred Panthers, Veilds, Jacksons, Quads and hoehnelii. My work schedule became way too chaotic to continue working with such delicate species of animals, so I ventured down the path of breeding boa morphs and did so for many years up to the present. The boas are great and I had great success, but they just couldn't captivate me like the chameleons could. It wasn't until I was asked for help with a Veild chameleon that I even thought about owning them again, though I have researched them since I was 3 years old. This Veild was not being cared for properly so I took the little fella home until I could find a perfect home for him. I dug out my old chameleon supplies that I surprisingly still had and purchased live plants for the set up. I housed him for several weeks to ensure he was healthy and ready for his new home. When the day came to say good bye to the little guy(approximately 6 months old at this point) it felt like something was missing. I knew exactly what it was, a chameleon of my very own, more particularly a species that I have been enthralled with since the age of 3. I thought there would be no way I would even be able to locate this species let alone if I could that it would be captive bred. Was I ever wrong! That day I visited a few reptile classified sites and was shocked to find the very species that started my fascination with reptiles and captive bred to boot. Introducing my new chameleons 1.1 Calumma parsonii. I do apologize I have a very poor point and shoot camera.

 

[kimmytheriault]

Stunning. It must feel so nice to be back at chameleon keeping - something it sounds like you were born to do! Your new friends are beautiful.

 

[AaronK]

Stunning. It must feel so nice to be back at chameleon keeping - something it sounds like you were born to do! Your new friends are beautiful.

It absolutely does. Thank you for your kind words. The pictures of the female are approximately 30 minutes before lights out, she returns to the same spot every night. She destroyed the ficus making herself a little cave inside the dense foliage and that is where she rests every night.

Further information these 2 have been in my care for approximately 2 months now.

 

[Duma]

congrats on your beautiful new additions!

 

[Decadancin]

Awesome! Congrats on the pair. As you likely have seen, there are a lot of parsons keepers on the forums, and tons of experience. Welcome back to the obsession!

 

[AaronK]

Thank you all I am stoked to be back in the chameleon world, I just have the 2 for now, but I can feel the obsession craving more lol.

 

[bobcochran]

Just jump back in with both feet!
Where did you get them?

 

[Remkon]

congrats! And nice chams!

 

[Twitchet]

Beautiful animals, congratulations, you must be extremely excited for the future with these two. Looking forward to more pics.

 

[AaronK]

Just jump back in with both feet!
Where did you get them?

They came from Bion Terrarium Center in Kyiv Ukraine.

 

[bobcochran]

I've seen those adds, made me nervous coming from there. So everything went smoothly? Animals look healthy. Let's hear about your experience dealing with them. How old are they?

 

[AaronK]

I've seen those adds, made me nervous coming from there. So everything went smoothly? Animals look healthy. Let's hear about your experience dealing with them. How old are they?

Everything went very smooth, though the white hairs I grew and my stress level through the roof would say other wise lol. I couldn't find anyone within the United States that had ordered from them previously, so I was very on edge throughout the whole transaction. Payment was via a wire transfer which made me even more nervous, but I had plenty of extra funds from selling a few boa morphs so I took the risk. Throughout they were very accommodating in providing specific picture requests which helped ease the nerves a little, but until they were in hand that tension was going no where. They readily provided me with their contact person who would receive the animals and then ship them to me and he was very quick to respond to every e-mail and answer all my questions as well. Any questions I had for BION more specifically Alexandra Antonyuk were answered in detail though with the time difference sometimes it would feel like days before receiving a response when in actuality I would always have my response the next morning. The animals came in and in my opinion a little on the thin side, but very healthy, they readily drank immediately upon removing them from the shipping container and to my surprise did not exhibit any stress colors right out of the shipping container. They ate for me with gusto the following day, 12 large crickets each. Currently the male is 13 months, I would say he is a little on the small side at 148 grams and the female is 15-16 months at 173 grams. Their diet in my care is dubia roaches, hornworms, butter worms, super worms, crickets and the occasional wax worm as a treat. They used to eat silkworms and that was going to be the staple feeder insect with variation with the others listed, but they are too good for silkworms now and wont even pay them any attention, they literally will walk on them and squish them with their ridiculously strong grip(yes, their grip breaks skin). Their cages are custom made at 6 feet tall x 3 feet x 3 feet and I am in the process of making them each a walk in enclosure to go into my giant addition with cathedral ceilings and sky lights. While in my care they have filled out more, but I would still consider them to have been in great health on arrival. All in all the transaction did go very smoothly, the animals are in great health(have already had a vet check) and I absolutely would do business with Bion again.

 

[bobcochran]

Thanks so much, that's great information! Keep us updated on their progress.

 

[deerhunter]

She's awesome!!! I am in the process of buying a male parsons right now and can not wait!!!!