OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
If any of you that live in Southern California felt a small earthquake this morning and actually noticed it, that wasn't a quake.
That was a Titan.
After 19 years since my last Male Parson passed away (June 1996) my wait is over. This morning the Fed Ex ship center at the Ontario airport had a suspicious person pacing outside. Airport police were dispatched to deal with the possibly psychotic individual not knowing what threat if any he might pose. Apparently he was seen licking the glass doors saying "I know it's in there!"
However after deploying a Taser and having the twitching subject stammer out the word "P P P P P Parson!" the authorities were determined I was harmless. Thus began my morning.
Humor aside. I eagerly picked up my package and drove home like a bat outta hell.
My wife had only heard of the mythical animal that eats hummingbirds, seen some pictures, and really had no idea what the big deal was. However she was also quite excited. The animal was purchased from Garrett up in Washington state. I would rather spend money on a breeder working with these animals in captivity than spend the money on an import and the risks that comes with one. There are too many importers looking to make a fast profit right now.
The animal was packed well.
Inside a small paper bag that was inside the larger package I pulled forth............ a little curled up ball of blue with a couple of eyes staring back at me. Not quite a mighty entrance. The wife looked at it, puzzled. Then it un-curled itself and behold, there was a chameleon.
Absolutely perfect. Every limb was checked, the tail, toes, eyes, mouth. After seeing so many imports from back in the 80's and 90's and working around so many reptiles in general over my lifetime, here was as perfect a reptile as a person could want. Not a single flaw. After saving up the cash for so long the last thing anybody could stand would be an animal with issues, in this case the money was well spent.
Into the shower he went, actually more like into the ficus tree that was in the shower and a soaking commenced. See attached picture.
30 mins later the water was turned off and he was left alone in the ficus for a few hours. I'm sure he was creeped out by the pair of eyes peeking over the top of the shower door at him about every 30 mins.
A few hours later he was taken to his new home. I feared he would disappear into the foliage like most species of chameleons. Instead he decided to go bask a little under that Tropic Blaze light system I picked up from lightyourreptiles.com. Closing the cage I left him alone. However it didn't help when the wife caught me later peeking in on him as she said "how about I get you a chair for the reptile room so you can just sit in there?" The evil wench.......
Hours later (no there was no chair) I figured let's see if he's hungry. Usually I like to give them a day to settle in, in this case.... no. Parson's tend to be ravenous.
So 8 large crickets, one 3" long tomato worm, and a dubia roach about an inch plus long later, he was full. He just about ate more than all four of my medium size Quads in a day. The wife was surprised, I responded with "He's just a baby now, he'll eat your cat later"
So, now he's sleeping. 19 years of waiting is over. Security system is operational, Dogs trained, booby traps set. All is good.
His name is Atlas.
That was a Titan.
After 19 years since my last Male Parson passed away (June 1996) my wait is over. This morning the Fed Ex ship center at the Ontario airport had a suspicious person pacing outside. Airport police were dispatched to deal with the possibly psychotic individual not knowing what threat if any he might pose. Apparently he was seen licking the glass doors saying "I know it's in there!"
However after deploying a Taser and having the twitching subject stammer out the word "P P P P P Parson!" the authorities were determined I was harmless. Thus began my morning.
Humor aside. I eagerly picked up my package and drove home like a bat outta hell.
My wife had only heard of the mythical animal that eats hummingbirds, seen some pictures, and really had no idea what the big deal was. However she was also quite excited. The animal was purchased from Garrett up in Washington state. I would rather spend money on a breeder working with these animals in captivity than spend the money on an import and the risks that comes with one. There are too many importers looking to make a fast profit right now.
The animal was packed well.
Inside a small paper bag that was inside the larger package I pulled forth............ a little curled up ball of blue with a couple of eyes staring back at me. Not quite a mighty entrance. The wife looked at it, puzzled. Then it un-curled itself and behold, there was a chameleon.
Absolutely perfect. Every limb was checked, the tail, toes, eyes, mouth. After seeing so many imports from back in the 80's and 90's and working around so many reptiles in general over my lifetime, here was as perfect a reptile as a person could want. Not a single flaw. After saving up the cash for so long the last thing anybody could stand would be an animal with issues, in this case the money was well spent.
Into the shower he went, actually more like into the ficus tree that was in the shower and a soaking commenced. See attached picture.
30 mins later the water was turned off and he was left alone in the ficus for a few hours. I'm sure he was creeped out by the pair of eyes peeking over the top of the shower door at him about every 30 mins.
A few hours later he was taken to his new home. I feared he would disappear into the foliage like most species of chameleons. Instead he decided to go bask a little under that Tropic Blaze light system I picked up from lightyourreptiles.com. Closing the cage I left him alone. However it didn't help when the wife caught me later peeking in on him as she said "how about I get you a chair for the reptile room so you can just sit in there?" The evil wench.......
Hours later (no there was no chair) I figured let's see if he's hungry. Usually I like to give them a day to settle in, in this case.... no. Parson's tend to be ravenous.
So 8 large crickets, one 3" long tomato worm, and a dubia roach about an inch plus long later, he was full. He just about ate more than all four of my medium size Quads in a day. The wife was surprised, I responded with "He's just a baby now, he'll eat your cat later"
So, now he's sleeping. 19 years of waiting is over. Security system is operational, Dogs trained, booby traps set. All is good.
His name is Atlas.
Atlas is beautiful ! Thank you for sharing your story and I look forward to seeing Atlas grow up !
