Furcifer viridis offspring in the AG

Furcifer viridis offspring in the AG

by Alex Negro Nachzuchten

AG member David Prötzel has successfully incubated and hatched a clutch of Furcifer viridis. Congratulations!

Furcifer viridis is a small species of chameleon found in western Madagascar. It was long thought that the species belonged to the carpet chameleon Furcifer lateralis – but since 2012 it has been clear that it is a separate species. David incubated the eggs for around 50 days at 20-22°C (room temperature), then a further 50 days at 24-25°C in an incubator. From day 100 until hatching, the eggs were at 28 to 29°C. The total incubation period was 142 days. David used fine vermiculite as a substrate, which was moistened once.

Rhampholeon acuminatus offspring at Citizen Conservation

Rhampholeon acuminatus offspring at Citizen Conservation

by Alex Negro AG Interna Nachzuchten

AG member Falk Eckhardt recently had a great success: His Rhampholeon acuminatus have successfully produced their first clutch of eggs. Congratulations!

The Nguru Spiny Pigmy Chameleon occurs in the wild exclusively in the small Mingu Nature Reserve in the eponymous Nguru Mountains in Tanzania. The IUCN classifies the species as critically endangered on the Red List of Threatened Species. Rhampholeon acuminatus is the first chameleon species for which a professional breeding programme has been set up as part of Citizen Conservation. The original animals come from Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna (Austria). So far, there have only been F1 offspring (= offspring of wild-caught animals). Falk’s offspring, if they hopefully hatch, would be the first F2 offspring of the Nguru Spiny Pigmy Chameleon in the Citizen Conservation project. We keep our fingers crossed!

Picture: The eggs

Chamaeleo arabicus juveniles in the AG

Chamaeleo arabicus juveniles in the AG

by Alex Negro Nachzuchten

The Arabian chameleon, Chamaeleo arabicus, is hardly ever bred in Europe at the moment. So it is all the more pleasing that this week a whole clutch of chameleons hatched successfully in Switzerland and Germany! Congratulations to Franziska von Ballmoos-Gasser, where the pictured hatchlings live. Franziska had given the parents to Rolf Attinger in winter 2021, where they successfully mated in 2022. After Rolf died unexpectedly, Franziska took back the animals and several eggs. Some of the eggs were given to a good friend of Rolf in Germany, the rest remained in Switzerland. Now 9 agile, good-looking youngsters have hatched in Switzerland and 14 in Germany. The aim is to join Rolf’s success with the species and to continue breeding the species with the same joy. At some point in the future, legal offspring of Chamaeleo arabicus should be offered in Europe. We sincerely hope that everything will continue to work out and that many more keepers will be able to enjoy the species!

Twins in Veiled Chameleons in Latvia

Twins in Veiled Chameleons in Latvia

by Alex Negro Short messages Nachzuchten

The hatching of two pairs of twins of Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) in Latvia has been reported from Riga. The parents live at Riga Zoo and the young hatched in March 2022. The twins were two male and two female Veiled Chameleons, each pair in one egg. They came from a clutch of 85 eggs, of which 48 eventually hatched. All four young animals were active at first and accepted food. At the age of two months, one of the juveniles died, the remaining three were still alive in February 2023.

The article also gives a brief overview of cases of twins in reptiles from the existing literature.

A review of twinning in lizards and a report of Veiled Chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus) twin births
Alessandro di Marzio, Elza Birbele, Lucia Puchades, Andris Lazdiņš
Herpetology Notes 16: 471-476, 2023
DOI:

Photo: One of the twin pairs at hatching

Chamaeleo namaquensis offspring in the AG

Chamaeleo namaquensis offspring in the AG

by Alex Negro AG Interna Nachzuchten

A great breeding success was achieved by AG-member and former AG-speaker Timo Weiß this week: His Chamaeleo namaquensis offspring hatched successfully. Congratulations!

The Namaqua chameleon is one of the few existing chameleons that actually occur in real deserts. It lives in the wild in Namibia, South Africa and Angola on the African continent. Unlike many other chameleon species, it inhabits mainly the ground and low shrubs.

Photo: One-day-old juvenile on the hand of the successful keeper