News

Good morning Chameleon Wranglers! It is time for an update as to what is going on with the podcast! This isn’t an episode per se. It is just a short update to let you know I am working hard on season three! I haven’t just migrated to Madagascar for the winter! We have this break because I am substantially increasing what this podcast will offer. In season three I will have video companion episodes to the podcast. You will still get the podcast which can keep you company into work or during the cage cleaning days, but you will also be able to come home and see a companion video which gives a visual to the topic. I am estimating that the new season will launch in January. I have been having a great time recording interviews and video for this new season and look forward to sharing them with you. We are going to be taking a close look at handling your chameleons, the ecology of the veiled chameleon, and chameleon anatomy. We’ll get a better feel for supplements, plants in the chameleon cage, and even how we in the hobbyist community can effectively perform some citizen science to push our collective knowledge further. I intend for this new format to be well worth the wait.

Until then, I just want to throw out a notice that it is once again time to get ready for winter if you are in the northern latitudes. Some areas already have snow. Seriously consider starting that feeder breeding project just in case your mail delivery service gets interrupted. Healthy chameleons can go a week without eating and it should not cause a problem, but sometimes bitter cold weather can last weeks and you don’t need that feeling of helplessness as you beg the feeder company to send crickets at your risk and boxes of them continue to show up dead. Superworms are easy to breed. Dubia are easy to breed. Fruit flies are easy to breed. If you have chameleon eggs incubating or a live bearing species that could possibly have babies then get yourself breeding fruit flies now so you are in full production by time the hardest of winter hits. Adult chameleons can survive a week or even two without food (I am not saying they will be happy about it or that you should do this purposefully), but babies will not be so lucky. If you have ever experienced the frustration of finding fruit fly cultures that are “blooming” during summer, imagine the difficulty during winter when many companies just won’t ship due to the weather. Now is a GREAT time to get set for the winter! And if you are in the Southern latitudes then head to the beach and laugh into your umbrella drink at the poor slobs having white stuff falling on their heads!

Another fun project to put together you are part of the people that might be spending more time indoors is to put together a photo album of your chameleon. With smartphones we end up doing a great job documenting every flower that blooms, everything that your kid does, every coffee from Starbucks, and every stage of growth in our chameleons. You can sit down one afternoon and make a folder with all the stages of growth you have experienced with your friend. If you want to go a step further you can easily find an online service that will take those photos and make them into a print book for your coffee table. It is a very cool thing to be able to see the growth in colors or horns as your chameleon grows up. And it is a good way to judge people. If they look at the book and say “oh my gosh, how awesome” then they get to level up. If they scrunch their face and can’t figure out why you have a book about these weird things then you are able to show them the door and not waste time with that kind of undesirable element.

“You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here…”

So, while I am arranging simultaneous interviews across three continents, massaging those video transitions, and trying to coax the why out of these topics, enjoy the holidays, your family, and that mini-tree dragon that makes our lives border on the fantastic! I’ll have something special for you when 2018 plops itself on our doorstep! It will be a great year to learn, understand, and pass it on!