Trioceros pfefferi (Pfeffer's Chameleon)

[Chris Anderson]

I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and post pics of my Trioceros pfefferi (Pfeffer's Chameleons) that I got from EcoRegional. This has been a species I've wanted to work with for some time and I'm glad to finally get the chance.

This species is quite interesting. The species was described in 1900 but the female was not known at the time. The species then eluded scientists for the next 90 years, during which time there was speculation that the species may have actually been a hybrid between T. quadricornis and T. montium. In a 1990 expedition, however, the species was rediscovered. In the subsequent paper talking about the species' rediscovery, published 3 years later, the female was described for the first time.

Going back to the theory about the species being a hybrid between T. quadricornis and T. montium, you can understand why this may have been thought. Many of the morphological features of this species are somewhat intermediates between the two species. It is also interesting that T. pfefferi itself is found at an intermediate elevation on Mt. Kupe overlapping both T. montium and T. quadricornis, neither of which overlap in elevation themselves.

Anyway, kind of an interesting species. Here are a couple pics of my pair:

Male:

Female:

Chris

 

[beeze]

What a beautiful species! They look great!!!

 

[adamkwas]

Chris, they look great!



Adam

 

[Damaranum]

very nice chams chris!

Good luck with them, I hope you can enjoy them for a long time!

 

[jack29]

Thank you for posting your beautiful pair and for the interesting news about this species!!
I imagine their care is similar to T.Montium and T. Quadricornis or not?

 

[franklin]

i had work whit this species,and I love them!
Chris,they are very sensible at all kind of integration,whit them use only calcium carbonate 3-4time/month...for gravid female,i used calcium gluconate too.
unfortunately they have short lifespan:female often dead after 1 or 2 cloutch and male live for 2-2,5 years.

 

[AJA]

Interesting article Chris, maybe the T pfeffer is a missing link between the T montium and T quadricornis. I got to see Sandy's pair as well this past weekend, I was suprised at how small they are.

 

[hallenhe]

Very nice, and beautiful pictures (as always!). The dark background really sets them off. Is the more-or-less horizontal band across the eye turret a characteristic feature?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Thank you for the information and photos Chris. How much do your's weigh?

Ours seem to be doing well.

Yes, AJA, even though I read about their size it was still a shock to see how small they actually are. They are similar in size to the Mt. Meru Jacksons. Maybe even a little smaller.

I still need to get more plants for mine, and plan to do that today so I can make a very very dense area in their cages. My Pfefferi are already hard to find in their little jungles. We finally put batteries in our mini scale so I can get weights, too.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The male started to shed today so I'm excited to see how his colors look once he's finished.

Thank you for posting your beautiful pair and for the interesting news about this species!!
I imagine their care is similar to T.Montium and T. Quadricornis or not?

Yeah, I'm keeping them the same way as T. montium and T. quadricornis.

i had work whit this species,and I love them!
Chris,they are very sensible at all kind of integration,whit them use only calcium carbonate 3-4time/month...for gravid female,i used calcium gluconate too.
unfortunately they have short lifespan:female often dead after 1 or 2 cloutch and male live for 2-2,5 years.

Thanks for the information. Shame they are short lived. I'll have to get on breeding them once they settle in. Hopefully enough of us have them that we can get a couple bloodlines out of them!

Very nice, and beautiful pictures (as always!). The dark background really sets them off. Is the more-or-less horizontal band across the eye turret a characteristic feature?

All the photos I've seen of this species do seem to have the band across the eye turret.

Thank you for the information and photos Chris. How much do your's weigh?

I'll need to weigh them. I didn't do it when I got them. I'll let you know though.

Chris

 

[Chris Anderson]

Thank you for the information and photos Chris. How much do your's weigh?

Male: 12.5g
Female: 8.4g

How about yours?

Chris

 

[Fearaffect]

any chance we/I can get a pic of one on your hand for size comparison??
I might get one or 2 if they arent that big. Andy is only an hour away, so I'll beable to hand pick mine out......these look sooooo cool.

 

[Kent67]

I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon....
This species is quite interesting. The species was described in 1900

Hey Chris, nice animals! Sounds like you were reading up on that Hofer, et al. article recently. Reading that again is going to be on my to do list this weekend, for sure! So fun being nerdy with a new species! I believe I have a couple CiN articles and, I believe, one from a European magazine on this species also, if either you or Sandy want me to pdf them. As for the bandwagon, who else got these? Have I missed anyone else on here getting them? It would be really cool to trade bloodlines in the future. I've always thought the Cameroon species were relatively easy to hatch and raise so hopefully Pfeffer's will be the same? I remember John Uhern having a bunch of babies at a show once back in the 90's. Anyway, fingers crossed for all these....

I think he's only got a few pairs left....

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Kent, I would love to have any info you've got.

Here are my weights:
female that appears quite gravid: 9.6g
smaller female, also now looking quite round 7.2g
larger male 12.9g
smaller male that was shedding when shipped 8.6g

One pair is still in cage together. The other male and female (the quite gravid one) are in their own densely planted cages now. Tomorrow I will finish 4th cage and move the larger male into his own digs.

For anyone interested, here are some comparison weights: gravid Mt. Meru Jackson female 24.4g. Mt. Meru Jackson male 18g. I expected the Pfefferi to be about their size, but they are about 1/2 their size!

 

[Fearaffect]

Kent, I would love to have any info you've got.

Here are my weights:
female that appears quite gravid: 9.6g
smaller female, also now looking quite round 7.2g
larger male 12.9g
smaller male that was shedding when shipped 8.6g

One pair is still in cage together. The other male and female (the quite gravid one) are in their own densely planted cages now. Tomorrow I will finish 4th cage and move the larger male into his own digs.

For anyone interested, here are some comparison weights: gravid Mt. Meru Jackson female 24.4g. Mt. Meru Jackson male 18g. I expected the Pfefferi to be about their size, but they are about 1/2 their size!

Sandy, could u email me some pics with u holding them.....PALLLEEEAAASSSEEEE!!!!

 

[Chris Anderson]

Kent,

Just you, Sandy and I that I know of. We definitely will have to trade bloodlines once we get offspring. I'm hopeful we'll be able to get some.

Yeah, I was reading over Hofer et al. 2003 as well as Klaver & Boehme, 1992 and Wild, 1993 (let me know if you need that one). Some good info in them. I'm pretty sure I have the CIN article you're talking about but if you can pdf the European article, I'd appreciate it!

Chris

 

[Chris Anderson]

Fearaffect - Kent's post had a pic of the male on the hand (https://www.chameleonforums.com/pfurbee-michelle-pfeffer-rh-31743/). I think Andy may have only had 2.1 left as of Friday. Not sure what he has now.

Chris

 

[franklin]

mine was around 10 grams.
at end of gestation female was 18 grams.
here some pics
http://www.sanguefreddo.net/camaleonti/34962-c-tr-pfefferi.html

 

[Kent67]

Chris,

Well, hopefully a few more besides ours will pop up. When was the last time you were aware of this species coming in? As for articles, do you know which I was referring to before? There IS actually an article about them in Reptilia, right? I seem to recall the issue having some tarantula articles as well? Anyway, I couldn't find it when I went through my stuff last night. It's got to be here, but after my last move finding things can be difficult sometimes. The CiN had two articles on them in one issue ( species profile and report from the field). Do you happen to have those in .pdf for Sandy?

Bummer about their short lifespan....

 

[Kent67]

There IS actually an article about them in Reptilia, right? I seem to recall the issue having some tarantula articles as well?

Ha! I was afraid I was starting to make things up! I'll look for it again today. http://www.reptilia.net/html_english/ultimo_numero.asp?num=25