CARING FOR NEW BABY PYGMY'S
I thought it time to add a page dedicated to baby pygmy care now that my first baby of the season has hatched.
this page will cover the following:
baby housing
feeding
misting schedules
proper handling for inspections
I WILL BE WORKING ON MATERIAL FOR THIS PAGE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK 7/12/08
to get your interest, here are some pics of a newly hatched R. Brevicaudatus baby:
emerging from the substrate..
closer up view of new baby and yet to hatch eggs. these should hatch out within the next day or so.
INFORMATION AND PICTURES WILL BE UPLOADED TOMORROW, 7/13/08
BABY PYGMY CHAMELEON HOUSING:
for housing, all that is needed for the first 1-2 months of life is either a medium sized sterilite container or a medium sized "critter keeper".
Materials that are used in the containers should consist of;
paper towel ( as the substrate )
climbing vined ( either store bought or collected from pesticide free areas and treated accordingly)
Live or Fake plants. ( i find that fabric plants and plastic plants work better over live. )
here is an example of a bare baby cage ( without plants).
the cork bark piece allows for an area where the baby pygmy can climb around on. they have no traction on the bare container bottom. a small clump of moss in the right corner helps maintain humidity.
here is an example of a "live planted" baby cage:
***NOTE***
animal cages should NEVER be left near a window. the enclosures can become very hot VERY quickly and can kill or severely neurologically damage these animals. This cage was placed near a window for a quick picture only and was returned to its original place.
Closer inside view of baby house.
these baby pygmy's are climbing around on a brom pup. as well as fake bendy vines that were purchased at a pet shop.
hatchling pygmy on a Begonia plant leaf...
it is VERY important to keep humidity at a constant when raising baby pygmy's. humidity in a neonate enclosure should read between 70 -80% at all times.
FEEDING BABY PYGMY CHAMELEONS:
food for baby pygmy's should consist of a variety of things.
mini mealworms
mini waworms
micro crickets
wingless fruit flies / curly winged flies
small roach nymphs ( lobster or dubia )
My hatchlings are fed fruit flies for a good portion of the first month of their lives. they don't seem to be interested in crickets or waxworms.. 
i keep anywhere from 5-8 fruit fly cultures going at one time.. you never know when one might crash and then you are out of luck if there aren't more to feed from..
MISTING SCHEDULES:
The importance of keeping pygmy chameleons ( especially young ones ) properly hydrated cannot be stressed enough..
they require a fairly high humidity when at a young age, because they do not intake very much water..
as a personal rule, i never spray enclosures of baby pygmy's more then once a day.. i do, however keep the substrate moist. this will help keep humidity consistent.
no water bowls are provided as baby pgymy's have a risk of drowning..
LATEST BABY PYGMY UPDATES:
I have had a streak of good luck this past week. all of the four original eggs that were incubating a few months ago hatched out.. 4 males and 0 females.
It was then that i decided to clean out all of my enclosures and replant them. upon my removing plants and disturbing the soils i came across this:
(15) eggs total. all in different stages of development. the larger ones on the outside rim are just about full term.. the reason i know this is bacause i had these appear 2 days after i dug these eggs up:
If you look closely, there are (3) baby's piled up here.. (5) of the (15) eggs that i dug up hatched out so far.. (4) are male and (1) is female.
To give you an idea of a size reference on pygmy chameleon eggs ( that are full term ):
this is a full term pygmy chameleon egg ( that had recently hatched out ) on the tip of my finger with room to spare...
( and then there is my fat cat in the background )
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Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
10 of the 15 eggs that i had incubating have hatched.. all but 3 are males ( or seem to be males at this point ).
Pictures of the little one's will be up tonight/tomorrow evening.
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Friday, August 8th, 2008
i had to upgrade the neo nate caging today to accomodate all of these growing babies,
here is a pic of one of the two new cages:
there are (5) babies to a sterilite container with plenty of mopani/grapevine to climb around on..
I also introduced some of the larger babies to lobster roach nymphs today, which they LOVED!
:)
