Ambilobe male & female chamemeons

[troy]

 

[troy]

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Beautiful critters Troy. What's the lowest temperature you keep them? Got any males for breeding?

When I was a kid I was in love with chameleons, but that was the old days when most were imported and looked half dead when you got them. We managed to keep one female for about 6 months, but all the males perished quickly. They look like a fun challenge to breed. BTW, we had Jackson's chameleon. Looking back, we didn't know about its requirements and may have kept them too warm.

 

[troy]

Thanks!! I wanted to have a hobby thats more family friendly, so I picked up 4 ambilobe baby chamelions last year 2 males & 2 females unrelated for breeding, my kids love helping feeding and watering and observing, they don't like tending the insect colonies though, the females are 9 months old and the males are a year now, the female in the lower picture I just bred last week, with the male in the upper picture the colors she has are gravid colors, which means she is or will be with eggs soon, so will no longer be receptive to mating, I love these guys, they are so interesting, I am lucky to have so much support from other breeders, having orchids for all the years has helped out with the temp, light and humidity regulation these I keep at 85- 87 day 60 night year round, some other cham species have different requirements, I like panther ambilobes because they are the most colorful

 

[Wendy]

Very pretty with those colours. I’m looking forward to baby photos.

 

[troy]

Thanks!! The male is very special, he is so colorful!! The females dad had alot of red and yellow, so I'm very excited to see what the babies are going to look like!!

 

[NYEric]

Good luck.

 

[Duck Slipper]

I kept chameleons for a couple years. I have come really close to pulling the trigger on a greenhouse and might still in the near future, but with that said, a greenhouse environment, so suits...chameleon's....

 

[troy]

Yes, the only downside is chameleons require consistant day and night duration, where quite a few orchid species require a variation to bloom, from summer to winter I only change my duration by 1 hour, I use artificial lighting 6500k bulbs and 10.0 uv bulbs for my chams, I use 2 4 foot fixtures per cage with 1 uv bulb, I take my orchids out to fertilize, or fertilize after they go to sleep, I don't free range them, if I had the space I would, though they are solitary animals and are very territorial, so it is not good if they can see each other as it would spark a territory battle, I keep them the same temp. as my plants 80 - 87 day 60 night all year

 

[troy]

Here is another male of mine (clove) he is almost a year now, I just mated him

 

[troy]

Here is another picture

 

[Wendy]

He looks like he’s smiling for the camera in the second photo. Love his colours!

Do their colours change or are they a set pattern?

 

[troy]

He changes his colors according to his mood, they communicate through color, panther chams are almost deaf

 

[naoki]

They are so cool, I wish I could keep them!

 

[Rockbend]

The hardest part of Old World Chameleons is the 'bug farming' - the better you feed your bugs, the better food they are for your chams. That and the misting/dripping water - they won't drink from a dish.

Great work Troy!

 

[Linus_Cello]

The hardest part of Old World Chameleons is the 'bug farming' - the better you feed your bugs, the better food they are for your chams. That and the misting/dripping water - they won't drink from a dish.

Great work Troy!

No super mealworms?

 

[troy]

Thanks!! the bug farming... yes.. I breed my own, silkworms, crickets, bsfl and dubias, dubias are the worst, the adults are creepy, I mist them every afternoon with my bulbos, they drink then. Linus I do not feed supers or mealworms, some people feed supers, I don't. Mealworms for chams are a no no

 

[Linus_Cello]

Thanks!! the bug farming... yes.. I breed my own, silkworms, crickets, bsfl and dubias, dubias are the worst, the adults are creepy, I mist them every afternoon with my bulbos, they drink then. Linus I do not feed supers or mealworms, some people feed supers, I don't. Mealworms for chams are a no no

At least One can easily get crickets at a store. I’ve been toying with keeping poison dart frogs, and the bug culture is the hardest thing too. Fruit fly cultures often crash.

 

[troy]

I'm breeding crickets, I have a whole bin full of pinheads, it is very easy, I can give you my method if you want, most crickets bought from stores are too big for frogs, small bsfl and fruit flies are a good manageable frog food

 

[Rockbend]

Fruit fly cultures often crash.

Fruit flies are easy - you just have to be a 'FF factory'!

All the components are available on Amazon or Josh's Frogs: containers, excelsior, Repashy food mix. Cultures start producing in 2-3 weeks depending on melanogaster/hydei, and only produce for 2-3 weeks - so you have to make new cultures every 1-2 weeks. Keep it all clean and you are in the FF business.