They grow up so fast...

[Remkon]

Today 4 months ago I bought my little Jacksonii from a reptile expo, little did I know that this tiny chameleon would have such an impact on my life...
After 15 years of keeping reptiles I felt like a novice all over again and I still learn about them every day.

I'm happy to be part of chameleonforums and thankful that such an active and informative site exists...
Thanks everyone for sharing your wisdom and experiences! I hope I can be part of this fine community for many years to come!

Here's some pics:

Wurma on his 2nd day in my care:

Wurma now:

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Judging by the title, I came to this thread assuming it was about hornworms.....



Nice chameleon you got there. Looks like a happy little fella!

 

[Remkon]

Thanks!

I don't think we have hornworms in the Netherlands...
Hornworms would be lill to big for him I think.
I do feed him the occasional phoenixworm as a treat and now I've found a site where I can order silkworms so I will try that as well.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

He will love you for that! Are hornworms illegal in the Netherlands, or are they just not available?

 

[Remkon]

I don't think they are illegal but they are probably just not available...
I have never seen them and we have quite some web-shops that offer a wide variety of feeder.

What I did just find out is that the Jamaican field crickets are less noisy, less jumpy and have more meat on them compared to the house cricket...
Guess who's not buying house crickets anymore?

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I don't think they are illegal but they are probably just not available...
I have never seen them and we have quite some web-shops that offer a wide variety of feeder.

You should have someone ship you some from out of country somehow, and start a breeding project. You will be the first person in the country selling hornworms. SO MUCH BUSINESS will come your way!

 

[Chachi]

Today 4 months ago I bought my little Jacksonii from a reptile expo, little did I know that this tiny chameleon would have such an impact on my life...
After 15 years of keeping reptiles I felt like a novice all over again and I still learn about them every day.

I'm happy to be part of chameleonforums and thankful that such an active and informative site exists...
Thanks everyone for sharing your wisdom and experiences! I hope I can be part of this fine community for many years to come!

Here's some pics:

Wurma on his 2nd day in my care:

Wurma now:

He has a beautiful horn structure. That middle one is placed perfectly and is growing up instead of straight out. He is a good looking boy. Lots and lots of humidity for him, k?

 

[Remkon]

You should have someone ship you some from out of country somehow, and start a breeding project. You will be the first person in the country selling hornworms. SO MUCH BUSINESS will come your way!

I'm not sure since it will require a lot of space to breed due to the size of the moth and there are a lot of alternatives...
I will probably give silkworms or phoenixworms a go in the future.

He has a beautiful horn structure. That middle one is placed perfectly and is growing up instead of straight out. He is a good looking boy. Lots and lots of humidity for him, k?

Yes, I'm happy about his horns... From what I could find he was a bit slow with growing them so maybe that's also part of the reason why they are well formed.

Misting him 5x 4 minutes during the day at the moment...
I'm still tweaking the schedule since I noticed there are times he's actually moving to a dry spot during the misting so maybe I can spray less times but for longer periods...
Humidity here is around 50-60% on average so that's good for the dry period.
I do have a humidifier that I can run for some hours at night to cool stuff down and to increase humidity, it also has a hygrostat so that's nice.

 

[Chachi]

I'm not sure since it will require a lot of space to breed due to the size of the moth and there are a lot of alternatives...
I will probably give silkworms or phoenixworms a go in the future.


Yes, I'm happy about his horns... From what I could find he was a bit slow with growing them so maybe that's also part of the reason why they are well formed.

Misting him 5x 4 minutes during the day at the moment...
I'm still tweaking the schedule since I noticed there are times he's actually moving to a dry spot during the misting so maybe I can spray less times but for longer periods...
Humidity here is around 50-60% on average so that's good for the dry period.
I do have a humidifier that I can run for some hours at night to cool stuff down and to increase humidity, it also has a hygrostat so that's nice.

 

[Chachi]

My jackson is 4. I have had him over 3 years. I misted him like the others. Everybody had mistings. I kept him cooler than everyone else but basically gutloaded and fed him the same. Ill show you what I gutload with. Anyway, everyone is fine and has been. Then, he started doing something wierd with his tongue. I took him for a blood test. Calcium and phos are the same. Thats the very beginning of mbd. Its supposed to be 2 to 1 cal/phos. I didn't do anything different with him then all the others but he needs more humidity. When I started giving him more humidity he started getting better. I got him a fogger and I keep that thing on all the time and he started getting so much better. Still not perfect; moves slowly around his cage still and his grip is a little weak. But he is getting better. I just didnt know.

 

[Remkon]

Any advise on how to keep my Wurma healthy and improve his live will be greatly appreciated!

Right now I gutload any feeder with whatever vegetables/fruits are available in my house, on top of that I use spinach or arugula since it's high in calcium.
I have a gutloading supplement as well that I mostly use to powder fruits with.
For my dubias I also have feeder pallets and a special dubia powder/porridge that's high in calcium too...
So if Wurma ever starts to like dubia roaches I think that be a good healthy feeder for him, now only my ackies benefit from that...

I will probably also get the Jelly food (the ones used for crested gecko's) as a gut load since it has a lot of good stuff in them too.

 

[Twitchet]

Wurma is soo handsome- my goodness he's changed so much - i saw your post a while back ( a discussion as to xanth or jacksonii?) and saw the pics of him - I have chameleon envy- I have a xanth - the age you got yours looks about the age I got mine, I am really amazed to see how wonderfully green Wurma is becoming- really lovely , looking at him when he was so little brings back memories of my guy too- baby pictures! oh I love them -so cute. I'm going to make a post with pics of mine and ask a question or two about mine - I didn't want to clog up your post.
Thanks for sharing the pictures- as you say it's amazing how they grow up- cna't wait to see the next pics. Q. What does Wurma mean?

 

[Remkon]

Wurma turned out to be a Xantholophus too, I managed to find the breeder a while back so I could ask...
I got that chameleon envy too... I would love to have a panther but my wife does not agree . I'm lucky she allows me to buy a female and to try and breed them.

I'll get that panther when my ackies have 'moved out'. (they are old), I'm going chameleon only for sure.

Oh and Wurma has no meaning that I know of, it's not even a real name ... I came home with this little guy and asked my 3yo daughter what we should name him, she looked at him 5seconds and said 'Wurma'... I love the name, I think it suits him.

 

[JaxyGirl]

Good job with your Jax he looks just beautiful and very healthy! I have a super fondness for them.
I had one for almost eight years and he was an amazing little guy! I still miss him! They are such awesome chams

 

[chamdan]

He looks awesome...he is going to have nice horns once he's an adult

 

[Twitchet]

Hi there, That's great you solved the mystery of xanth or not- I love ackies but as you say ' I'm going chameleon' too- I have day geckos as well but the chams hold everything for me- such incredible creatures in so many ways,
( You'v got to get a panther- I have one and he is the love of my life-totally- he is the most wonderful creature I have ever known - so easy going and relaxed and never a trouble )
I'm glad I know about 'Wurma' too- I wondered if it was dutch word.
Thanks again for the pics,- worthy of the photo competition?? He's a smashing little guy.

 

[Remkon]

Thanks again for the pics,- worthy of the photo competition??

Haha, thanks! I'll enter it and see what happens...

Good job with your Jax he looks just beautiful and very healthy! I have a super fondness for them.
I had one for almost eight years and he was an amazing little guy! I still miss him! They are such awesome chams

Let's hope Wurma gets to grow old in good health too!
Even with 15 years of keeping reptiles I was really unsure about taking this one in at the start due to all the stories about their difficulty and topics about MBD so it means a lot to me to hear that he looks healthy and beautiful!

 

[Remkon]

Entering the photo to the photocontest doesn't seem to work so I guess I'm to late

 

[Twitchet]

Remkon- I just read you were thinking of starting silkworm raising. I wanted to for ages- but put off when you read they can be tricky and die, I bought some a while ago and they were really easy, kept them in a room ( oops- the only room ..) without live foods or reptiles in it, cleaned my hands every time I had anything to do with them with antibacterial wash and they grew huge, everyone loves them and my xanth adores them, they are expensive to buy here and hearing how nutritious they are I was pleased to grow my own. Well worth it and I've just started another culture.

 

[Twitchet]

Noooo, what a shame- keep the pic for next time maybe- he's got my vote!