Chameleon Breeder Podcast With Bill Strand

Through the Chameleon Academy I am pushing our chameleon husbandry forward and with that comes a number of transitions. Today I discuss the top five husbandry transitions we are in the middle of right now.

Today Dr. Rob Coke, Head of Veterinary Care at the San Antonio Zoo, comes on and helps expose us to vitamins A and D3 and the signs of overdose and deficiency.

Chameleon eyes are a great resource for us gauging the health status of our chameleons. Sunken eyes are a huge red flag and the chameleon needs immediate attention. But what kind of attention is needed? Yes, we need to figure out what it means! And today I discuss possibilities.

The chameleon's eyes are one of the most significant gauges of chameleon health - both physical and emotional. Today I discuss what closed eyes can mean.

When we are trying to figure out what is happening with a chameleon remotely (over social media) we need to ask important questions. Today I go over what to ask if some one has a chameleon that is gaping. It can mean many things and it is our job to come to the correct conclusion!

We are making progress in our drive to determine the feeding schedule and husbandry to maintain healthy female veiled chameleons through their lives - especially including egg laying. By controlling their diet and conditions we can reign in their body's enthusiasm for making eggs. By providing greater than ideal conditions their body creates more eggs than are healthy. Today I share progress made by Mari Joki from Finland.

The seasons are warming up for those of us in the Northern hemisphere and it is time to think about getting your chameleon some natural sunlight. I share some experience and advice to have that happen safely.

There are a number of issues to consider when answering the question about crossbreeding in the chameleon world. There are many strong opinions out there. I give my opinion, but also present the consideration so you can make your own decision.

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Mark Scherz as we get deep into the three newly described species that a team of scientists just described. Mark was part of that team and is giving us an insight into their findings. I invite you to sit back and get a guided tour of these species from one of the paper’s authors.

I am asked what I would share as I look back on my years of experience in the chameleon community. I talk about what I would tell people who are enthusiastic and are looking forward to what they could do in their chameleon future.

Your chameleon is showing signs of discontentment. It is walking the screen walls or top and seems to want to be somewhere else. What could be the problem? In today's episode I discuss various possibilities. In the end it is up to each one of us to unravel the mystery within our unique conditions and our unique chameleon. 

Where do you start when trying to figure out what plants to get for your chameleon cage? In today's episode I give you a starting point and some hints for making it work well!

We all get that question "should I get a glass or screen enclosure for my chameleon?" How we answer that says a lot about us as advisors. Today I talk about how to balance your experience, the community's biases, and the enthusiasm of the person asking the question. 

Today I answer a question posed by Suzanne Collins who was wondering what feelings chameleons have. She wanted to make sure the chameleon she got would be happy. This is a question we will be answering for a long time. We treat things we love with human love. But this is not chameleon love and we need to learn what they need!

We deal with chameleons refusing to eat anything but certain feeder insects to chameleons refusing to eat certain feeder insects to al out hunger strikes. Today I give an introduction to chameleon eating habits so we can understand how to work with these conditions!

Dr. Mark Scherz joins me today for the first of a two part series on species and a paper describing three newly described species of Madagascar Chameleon. Today we talk about what a species is and why that matters to us chameleon keepers.

Care sheets are a high level summary and should be treated as such! Today I talk about how beginners should view care sheets and then speak from the perspective of making a care sheet.

This episode is for people who are trying to understand vitamin D3 safe levels. I review the data we have and go over an exercise to translate that into real world supplement powder levels. There will be no quick answers here! Let's push for D3 from UVB, but let's also understand dietary D3 as much as we can.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy an excerpt from the forward of Jan Stipala's Mountain Dragons. Here we get a behind the scenes look at searching for chameleons in Kenya!

We in the chameleon community are working to uncover the needs of chameleons with respect to UVB. We are exploring the minimum levels necessary and the psychological effects of higher levels. Today I talk about the thought process in working out these UVB mysteries.