Pygmy chameleon hatchlings

[Trace]

For those of you that have inquired over the last few months or have just been curious, yes, my first clutch of pygmy chameleons finally hatched earlier this week. Orion, did you hear me yelling? I'm currently working with a few different pygmy species and have several other clutches incubating, but these new little monsters are the Bearded Pygmy Chameleon (R. brevicaudatus) and I'm just plain tickled with them. I can not stress how small these guys are; and to give a size reference... well they fit quite nicely on a dime.

Without further ado, here is my new regiment of soldiers.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/405141-4127_-_r-med.jpg

And, of course, the typical family shot:

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/405141-4134_-_r-med.jpg

Enjoy. I know I am.

Cheers!

Trace

[dave68]

wow congrats those guys are too cute!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave

[kidchameleon]

ah, they look soooooooo cool. i really really like that family shot. good luck with them.

[nicola_boulton]

there so sweet as a family, like their on a day trip,lol. great guys Trace!

[panther_dude]

awsome hoping to get some of those guys myself soon nice to see what im looking forward to.
great pics!!!!!!!

[huhet]

congrats trace. are you keeping all of these guys in the family? what other pygmy species are you working with? i've got an empty 55 that's just screaming out for more.

my first clutch is at about 20 days. what have you been feeding them? freshly hatched crix? fruit flies? all of the above and more?

[672]

Wow awesome Trace! Good to see your still kicking around these forums, I know i'm still loving'em. You should drop by more often!

[CDN-Cresties]

Congrats on the hatchlings, the family shot is awesome!

[manville]

nice! congrats!

[hooked]

Hi Trace

Just wanted to thank you for the veiled chameleon my hubby got from you as a birthday gift. It is really sweet.... Beautiful animal

[DragnDrop]

Congrats!! They're soooo cute!!

[kidchameleon]

do those guys grow up fast, or will they stay small(like the baby size) for awhile?

[dank7oo]

Congrats :)

Call me when you have some for sale.

Jason

[Derrick]

thats too cute

[Trace]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! :D There was 5 eggs in this particular clutch and the last one hatched yesterday afternoon. I just transferred them to the "official" baby enclosure and gave them their first bugs so hopefully they will start eating soon.

Tyler: (or is that Leighton? Sorry about that.) This first clutch is definitely staying in the family! I have 3 others I'm incubating of the R. brevicaudatus and the first of those are due in mid-June and the rest will hatch at about 1 week intervals after that, plus all my females are gravid again. The other species I've got is the R. temporalis and I'm finding those are a little harder to keep, but so far everything is going good. I have 3 clutches of those and if I hatch them successfully, everyone will hear me screaming! Their incubation time is a little longer so I suspect my first hatchlings of them around the end of June.
As for feeding, I'm using the ubiquitous fruit flies and pinhead crickets for now. When yours hatch, you'll see how small they are and how impossible it is to find appropriate sized feeders for these boogers. Good luck with yours.

672: A personal thanks for the nice words.

Hooked: So you are Bacchanal Junior's new owner! I'm glad you like him and if you have any questions about your new kid, please don't hesitate to ask. He was one of my keepers from that clutch, but when I saw the palace that he was going to be living in, I had to let him go. As long as I get visitation rights, it's all good with me.

KidChameleon: Once they start eating, they will grow pretty fast. In fact, they are sexually mature at 3 or 4 months of age. Right now, they are still absorbing their egg sacs and haven't taken their first meals but I suspect they will within the next day or so.

Jason: Done. You have to come and see these guys, they are far too cute for words.

Cheers!

Trace

[K1LOS]

congrats trace! are those the pygmies that you were showing me last time i was over? The babies look really cute!

you should come see my little guy now, he's getting big!

Geoff

[dank7oo]

I wish I had time to get out Trace. I mean with exams and everything coming up, I dont know how I can even afford to go to school - LOL.

You should come here sometime. I'm sure I could squeeze in an hour this week if you want ... Leon is waiting :)

Jason

[latazyo]

huhet is tyler, I'm leighton...but I"m still anxiously awaiting the arrival of tyler's offspring

[ReptiliansDOTca]

Well congratulations Trace! I know you have been waiting for these buggers for quite a while now, I am thrilled that they finally decided to relieve a load off your back! Now, for the dang temporalis!

[huhet]

trace, another quesiton (like a 3 year old, i'm full of them): how many days did they incubate. i'm only at a month or so (i'll have to check my thread to verify the actual count), but i'd still like to know when i should be expecting my new friends. thank you once again.

-tyler

[Trace]

Heya!

Geoff: You betcha! These are the same pygmies that you held a few months ago. Well the parents anyways. And I'd LOVE to see Waldo now, I bet he's just HUGE.

Tyler: Average incubation time for the brevs is anywhere from 60 to 80 days depending on your temperatures. Warmer temps will make them hatch a little faster although I'm not sure that is good for the overall health of the offspring. For this particular clutch, my temps hovered around the 72 to 75 degree mark and they hatched in 77 days.

Cheers!

Trace

[wyz]

Ah ! congrats Trace :)

I'm still waiting on my first clutch ... one of the female is pretty huge, my fingers are crossed..

How long do they usualy keep the eggs ?


WYZ

[Trace]

Hi WYZ! :D How ya doing?

I've got pics and information on my computer, stuff written down in notebooks and scrap paper, thoughts in my head and post-it notes stuck to the tank and walls around my pygmy enclosures... what I really, REALLY need to do is sit down and compile all of these ideas into a cohesive paper on the Rhamphs that I can publish/post somewhere.

Anywho, by digging quickly through my piles of stuff, the gestation is approximately 25 days. I have mating pics taken on Dec 20 2003 and the follow-up egg-laying pics were taken on Jan 14 2004.

I'm not sure how accurate that is, but that seems to be what is going on here. Hope this helps and good luck with yours! Just make sure you've got some fruit fly cultures started in advance and access to teeny-weeny crickets.

Cheers!

Trace

[drewlowe]

A VERY big congrats to you Trace, and great to see your still kickin. LOL It's really great to have you posting again.

Jamie

[Tara Garratt]

Trace,
Those are awesome pictures! Thanks for posting them.

Tara Garratt

[JD@reptiles]

AWESOME TRACE! pigmys are amazing.

[Bighead]

Is there any chance that you will be at the BC show in July? I've been looking for pygmies for quite a while now.