New Pygmy Arrival

[pufferpuggirl]

First of all, I want to say that I blame kilofey totally and completely 100% for getting me into these .... it's entirely her fault (just kidding of course

I got some new arrivals today that I ordered last week, and hadn't planned on getting for a couple of months or more. I have never seen anything this cute in all of my life.
These are bearded pygmy chameleons, or Rhampoleon brevicaudatus. They only get to be about 2", and are almost just like the big ones only not as colourful and the tails aren't as long (but that wasn't why I wanted them). I've never owned any sort of reptile, although the husband has a snake (that I'm currently trying to find a new home for because it never gets to come out of it's viv) .... but I just had to have these when I seen them.

I've named the female "Kitty", and the male is "Burt".


Here's Kitty, she's a bit bigger and fatter.

Kitty out of cup.jpg

and another of Kitty coming out of the cup they came in

Kitty emerging.jpg

this is where they will be living

Pygmy terrarium.jpg

And this is the male, "Burt"

[L!$A]

Looks awesome Suzanne!!

[lesleyanndunn]

they are soo small!
super cute as well!

[J-P]

LOL!!! yea blame another member

Very cute!!!

[PolishPuff]

Great

I'm happy for you.

[JoseDepacos]

Omg how freakin adorable is that! I have considered a chameleon in the past but was quickly talked out of it by folks saying they were very difficult to care for. Where did you order them from?

[autophotos]

wohhoo sweet -

[pufferpuggirl]

Omg how freakin adorable is that! I have considered a chameleon in the past but was quickly talked out of it by folks saying they were very difficult to care for. Where did you order them from?

They really are adorable .... so small and yet so much like the big ones. And I can't see where they're hard to care for, it's pretty much put them in their terrarium or viv, keep them misted, fed and keep the humidity up, that's about it. Although I don't think they'd be good some place where it's very hot unless they were kept in air conditioning, they can't take heat above 80F.

I ordered them from a man here in the UK that has a breeding farm in Africa, where they come from. I've researched these and this man has a very good reputation, and I'm certainly happy with what I received.

[Hilly]

Nice!

[diverchic]

very cute!

[kilofey]

EEEEEEEKKKKK! i LOVE them!!!!! im so happy you like them im happy to take the blame for this one btw, your viv looks amazing. looks absolutely perfect! i bet they will be very happy in it.

one of the main reasons people say they are hard to care for (at least for the bigger guys, but im sure the little ones are no different) if you handle them too much, they can get very stressed and stop eating. then you have to force feed them, which means you have to handle them more... then you end up with a viscious cycle that is very hard to break. also if they get sick, it can get VERY expensive if you are a dedicated owner because most vets dont do exotic pets, and the ones that do, dont know chams... and the ones that actually do know chams are outrageous. picasso, my veiled cham has already cost me almost 1000 in vet bills but, like i said, everything kind of snowballs and you end up dumping a ton of money into them if something happens, provided you are a dedicated owner... which you probably are... they steal peoples hearts quite quickly... i really wouldnt worry too much about them getting sick as long as their cage is kept in prestine conditions, theres really no reason for them to get sick. the only reason picasso is having problems is because his previous owner couldnt be doing any more things wrong... like everything in the book was wrong about his environment... so he got sick and im trying to get him back in good health again.

have they eaten yet? sometimes it takes a few days for them to settle in, but if they have eaten already it would show you have some very healthy, well adjusted pygmys. if they havent eaten yet tho, dont freak out. i know for the bigger guys, its not uncommon for them to go like a week without eating when in a new environment.

good luck! im so happy for you pufferpuggirl, we look forward to more pix! ill take one of picasso and post it... just to brag a little lol

[kilofey]

heres my boy this is picasso




"im ready for my close up!" haha he grabbed the camera when i was taking his picture

[xrayjeeper83]

Me and my exgf almost got a full size one about a year ago. She even bought a cage and everything. Still love em and want one one day

[pufferpuggirl]

Your guy is absolutely beautiful kilofey, really pretty. My husband is just a little bit disappointed with the little guys because they don't have those beautiful colours like the bigger ones, but I didn't get them for their colours, I got them for their size. They are just so cute.
I was told not to handle them for the first 2 weeks. We let them climb onto our hands when we first got them, just to get them out of the shipping container, but otherwise, I've just let them hang out in their terrarium. I really don't intend on handling them much because for one thing, I have the 3 dogs and I don't want the chams to be freaked out by the dogs, and I'm sure the dogs would want to see them if I had them out. I think, with the pygmies, they are more the sort of pet you have to admire from inside their terrarium, and that's what I will do mostly. I don't want to stress them at all.
I believe ours have eaten, at least the food has disappeared. We've given them 2 lots of small crickets since we got them on Friday, and I am going to give them a few more today. I want to get some fruit flies because I think they would like having something they can get from up in the plant they hang out in, instead of having to go down to get the crickets as they do now. In fact, I will probably try and get them as much variety as I possibly can. Thankfully there's a few places near us that sell reptiles and reptile foods, actually more available for reptiles than there is for my puffers.
Ultimately I am hoping that these two breed and that I end up with babies. I would love to see how small they are! Supposedly, the ones I got, Bearded pygmy chams (Rhampoleon brevicaudatus) are the easiest ones to breed, and many people have gotten babies. I was just a little disappointed to hear that they only live about 2 years though, poor things. But I will give them the best 2 years they could have in captivity. I also think the ones I've received are captive bred, which is better than being wild caught, as I've heard the wild caught ones don't live very long.
But I have to say, I am VERY happy with them, and thank you for getting me interested. My husband is very pleased as well and I was hoping that he might get involved with these the way I've gotten involved with puffers. We are already talking about possibly getting more pygmies, but a different species than the beardies. Thanks again kilofey for pointing me in the right direction and allowing me to bring something so darn cute and interesting into my life. Cheers!

[kilofey]

thats so good to hear! and you sound like you are really going to pamper them like crazy. unfortunately there isnt much food here for picasso, my cham, so he is on pretty much just crickets and super worms. i hate not being able to give him variety but everyone at chameleonforums.com says if thats all i can find he should be good.

oh, and i learned the hard way to put only the ammount of crickets your chams can eat in one sitting, otherwise the crickets will bite your cham. i had a bitewound about 1/4" on picasso one day. i was horrified until i found out what it was. after that tho, it was really no big deal, i just learned not to put too many in.

as for babies, i bet the little eggs would be like half the size of a tic tac! i cant even imagine how itty bitty those little ones would be... maybe like this long? || crazy

aww okay, well have fun with them! and enjoy them for me lol