Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

herplover212 · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:23 pm Post subject: Shelby and her story . . .

Well, I am pretty new here, so I won't elaborate too much. I just wanted to share my Yemen cham and some info about her. She was a rescue. Literally, she was laying on the bottom of a 10 gallon tank with no substrate or foliage at all, NONE .... just a log and a fog machine. The pictures below show her over the last year. The one is her a couple weeks after I got her home and somewhat back to life. She still looked horrible, so forgive me and please don't get mad. Smile

The other pics are over the past 8-10 months. She is now a fat, sassy and healthy girl. She is quite feisty, and will take any moment of weakness I show to nail me if she could. She gapes, hisses and lunges every single time I go to her cage! But, as I was once told, "A mean cham is a happy and healthy cham." Uhm, yeah. Smile

I do believe that no with all my heart.

She is in a 7x4x2 foot cage FULL of foliage, bamboo, etc complete with an automatic misting machine and humidifier. She seems to be more then happy - she is always a neon green and very seldom gets stress marks. She eats like a horse - she was started with small crickets when I got her, then I got her onto silks for a few months and then went to roaches. She is now getting mainly crickets and roaches, with silks now and then. She does get superworms now and again for treats, as do the dragons.

Anyways, sorry to ramble on. Please PM me or leave a reply if you want to know more.

And now, here she is: (She is now about 14 months old. She was so malnourished that I cannot say for sure how old she was when I got her, but she was only 3 inches and a few grams, so not very old at all. She is now about 10 inches long and 300 grams. I say that liberally, as I cannot and will not stress her enough to get exacts. Anyone wanna try?! Smile

haha Just kiddin'!

-Shanna[/u][/i]
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*Yes, I am the chick in the pic!" ;)

Rickeezee · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:44 pm Post subject:

Shanna; Shelby looks terrific, you have done a great job with her, well done! Worth all the effort. Nice big viv that you have her in, nice to see.

Very Happy

Rick
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

herplover212 · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject: :) Thanks Rick!

Thanks Rick! She sure seems to be happy at least. I agree, it was certainly worth ALL the effort, time and money. The only thing I do regret -and would never do again - is to bring home an animal I know NOTHING about. I have always been in love with chams, but knew nothing about them as far as husbandry. I had only worked with leos and royals up until then.

I literally had a spare tank at home and a free weekend ahead when I saw her. I couldn't let her remain there and die in pain. I seriously never expected her to live. I was only going to give her a good home (maybe a proper home would work better here) and lots of love for the remaining time she had left.

Boy did she show me! Smile

Now, a year and hundreds of dollars later, she's one great story! Smile

She came to life within days, and I gave her a larger cage and in the meantime, I built her one.
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*Yes, I am the chick in the pic!" ;)

Rickeezee · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:27 pm Post subject:

Well it obviously worked out well for Shelby and for you by the sounds of it. The conditions you discovered her in sound appalling to me.
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

Stuart · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject:

Well done!..you should be very proud you've done a great job.Look forward to seeing more pics from you..
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herplover212 · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks! Shelby certainly got the better end of the situation she was facing .... is it wrong that I talk about my herps like I had kids of my own?! Smile

GO NIKON! ha ha
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*Yes, I am the chick in the pic!" ;)

Rickeezee · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:35 pm Post subject:

herplover212 · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:42 pm Post subject:

I dunno about floating my boat, but it certainly seems natural to me.

I just seem to get really funny reactions from the non-herp world. Some good, some not so good. The best is when someone who knows little to nothing about reptiles actually asks me to elaborate. I LOVE seeing the looks in their eyes when they actually are given correct information, and a better way to understand herps in general. We all fear the unknown and I think if more people were able to have the chance we all have as herp owners, I think there would be more herps in the world that would soon be looked at like cats and dogs! Smile

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*Yes, I am the chick in the pic!" ;)

Rickeezee · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:03 pm Post subject:

Information is what it is all about, there is still a fairly large public misconception about herpetology in general. Mind you I am not to sure I would want them treated like some cats and dogs that are made to wear coats and be carried about in handbags, yukkkkkkkkkkk.

Would be nice to see herps to be as well known as cats n dogs and yes I know that's what you meant! Very Happy

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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

beardie barmy · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:25 pm Post subject:

awwwwwww shanna what a lovely story she sure looks a happy cham now hows all the other herps doing?