The Titan has arrived, 19 years of waiting
- Thread starter OldChamKeeper
- Start date
OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'm going to miss the days of being able to feed him one food item, gut loaded and powdered with straight calcium, and he is full.
One picture of him eating a Dubia about 1 1/2" long. Then he's full. In the future I expect him to eat about 6 a feeding.... or a dozen
He's acclimating well. I was going to weigh him and dammed if the batteries didn't go out.
One picture of him eating a Dubia about 1 1/2" long. Then he's full. In the future I expect him to eat about 6 a feeding.... or a dozen
He's acclimating well. I was going to weigh him and dammed if the batteries didn't go out.
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jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'm going to miss the days of being able to feed him one food item, gut loaded and powdered with straight calcium, and he is full.
One picture of him eating a Dubia about 1 1/2" long. Then he's full. In the future I expect him to eat about 6 a feeding.... or a dozen
He's acclimating well. I was going to weigh him and dammed if the batteries didn't go out.
Atlas is looking sooooo cute!
Action Jackson
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'm going to miss the days of being able to feed him one food item, gut loaded and powdered with straight calcium, and he is full.
One picture of him eating a Dubia about 1 1/2" long. Then he's full. In the future I expect him to eat about 6 a feeding.... or a dozen
He's acclimating well. I was going to weigh him and dammed if the batteries didn't go out.
Come one Ralph, weigh him.
Mine were at 55G when they arrived.
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Come one Ralph, weigh him.
Mine were at 55G when they arrived.
Who could say he could eventually top the 900 gram mark? Similar to Chuck G's Hercules.
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
Come one Ralph, weigh him.
Mine were at 55G when they arrived.
I will! Now I just have to buy batteries next week for the dang scale. talk about bad luck
OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
900g Wow.
That is a frigging huge Parson. A monster. I should know since old Hormone weighed 1048 grams when he died in 1996. He could draw blood on my bare arms, I had to wear a sweatshirt to just hold him. Ate stupid amounts of food. Would suck down 60cc's of water at a sitting when I would hand water him. Ate a frigging day gecko, entertained my dad to no end when my dad snuck in not one but two hummingbirds (which he ate without issue) after blowing them out of the air with that cannon of a tongue.
Is it any wonder why I've wanted another for 19 years? No other reptile has ever left that much of an impression on me like that blue beast.
I have no real idea how old that lizard was when I got him, he was already close to 2lbs and didn't really grow at all over 8 years.
However in the case of Atlas, I know his hatch date, have his empty egg too courtesy of Garrett. I hope to find out the life span of this critter is well into the twenties.
I better start breeding day geckos again....
lovelychams
Member
Excellent picture….he's amazing! I love that you have his egg shell.
bobcochran
Chameleon Enthusiast
Ralph, you sound like a MIGHTY HAPPY old chamkeeper!!!!
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
900g Wow.
That is a Goliath pictures if you have got them!!
Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
reyesjoshuacruz
Established Member
Awesome
Congrats! No doubt you'll spoil him rotten
Congrats! No doubt you'll spoil him rotten
OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
I only have two pictures. Both are framed and not digital (were there even digital cameras in the early 90's? I think not) so not easily posted. One is just a black and white close up of his face, very artsy. The other is a huge framed picture that was meant to be life size but the photographer did it at an angle from above that didn't match his true length, it came out smaller than him. I'll try and take a picture of the picture with a scale in it, maybe that would be useful Jeremy but I doubt it. He was a sight to behold. A tad fat I think towards the end but a fat Parson is a happy Parson.
I thought of having him stuffed, but I was too upset over him passing and buried him instead.
On to Atlas. He's already taken to his feeding cups and will take Dubia from a cup I hold, He won't take it from my hand but since he gets handled about 2-3 mins a day that won't be a problem for long.
Anybody know of some affordable mantis feeders? Stick insects?
Eric Adrignola
Avid Member
I've missed quite a bit... Parson's? legal? Madagascar? open again? ?
It's pretty cool. I think one of the mistakes I made in my hobby, for years, was trying to keep it self-sustaining. I tried to breed a lot of veiled to finance the rest of the species. It worked, by the numbers, but I ended up spending so many resources and time on the sheer numbers, I didn't enjoy the hobby as much as I would have otherwise.
I've got a plan now, to semi-finish my basement. It stays nice and cool, so I shouldn't have any issues keeping melleri and such. Maybe I'll get a parson's when they're affordable!
Good to see some good changes. I wonder what BAD things I've missed...
It's pretty cool. I think one of the mistakes I made in my hobby, for years, was trying to keep it self-sustaining. I tried to breed a lot of veiled to finance the rest of the species. It worked, by the numbers, but I ended up spending so many resources and time on the sheer numbers, I didn't enjoy the hobby as much as I would have otherwise.
I've got a plan now, to semi-finish my basement. It stays nice and cool, so I shouldn't have any issues keeping melleri and such. Maybe I'll get a parson's when they're affordable!
Good to see some good changes. I wonder what BAD things I've missed...
OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
That's key. I never let my hobby get to the point it's a business. I chose to breed animals that are low maintenance yet in demand and yield a chunk of money. While my hobby is not self sustaining, it does help support itself which is the goal I try and help people understand when they wish to do something similar.
Also, Atlas is CBH (Captive bred and hatched) which is great. I would never spend the same amount of $$$$ on an import knowing what I know about the randomness involved in getting an import of any species. I'll roll the dice for $200, never for anything in the four digit category.
Not a lot of bad things have come to pass, if anything keeping chameleons has become more understood, better nutrition, better equipment, more Reptile vets, more sharing of info.
Maybe the only bad thing I can think of is that I see more people buying these animals without doing any homework and then they come here looking for help after the animal is in distress, the numbers are higher than usual imo. I'm glad people are looking for help, don't get me wrong, I'm just concerned at the numbers of people buying the animals and not getting the right info before they do.
deerharvester
Established Member
Congrats, glad to hear he arrived healthy and well. Can't wait to venture into parsons!
Scott
Scott
lovelychams
Member
Soooo, how is Atlas doing?
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
Man right before adult hood my oust was 350 grams and eating 4 dozen large crickets day, i could only imagine feeding something that is growing, and 2-3x that weight.
