And the rest is history...

"Two-Lumps"

Brookesia antakaranas

"Mr Brookesia Antakarana"

Brookesia antakarana collage

Antakarana House

"Cammie"

"Elmer"

"Fifteen"

5-year-old WC quad

"Harry"

Baby hoehnelii

baby hoehnelii

baby hoes

"Shim"

"Under Construction"

A halfway picture.

Ta-da!

TwoLumps' wonky sailfin

"McRib"

"Ribby"

The "World Famous Sprocket" on a bad day

Silly cham

"Tailly Hoe"

This is "Twig".

We barely knew what they were.

And not having met one before we had no idea....

.. but this is how it started, in Madagascar.

"Oh, it's little feet!"

- Andy

And here is what the younger quads did when they saw old Hansel.

I was amazed - and disappointed. Fifteen I'll take on *anyone*... but he ran away.

This is "Two-Lumps". Those yukky colors.. Uuurgh!

- Andy

Ooh, and of course we do have the Brookesia antakaranas.(if that's what they really are - these brookesia are all starting to look the same to me). She has been looking very gravid for ages now, but still no eggs.

Here's "Mr Anta" keeping an eye on his girlfriend.

- Andy

Here is Mr Brookesia Antakarana having a well earned break from Mrs A just this morning.

Take a good look at this little chameleon, I'll be testing you all later...

- Andy

Here's a little collage of pics of the Brookesia antakarana. Note the long thin bodies (though from the look of the picture, I think the female is gravid), the little stick-like legs, the jaggy scale pattern down the back, and the little feet.

-Andy

Mrs Antakarana has been behaving a bit eggy lately - she skulks around the dirt and spends a lot of time lying on the floor hiding underneath low leaves. We wondered if she was just having problems finding a secluded enough place to lay as their home is much more open these days (easier to keep clean that way).

So... we made an antakarana house from a piece of cardboard tube so she would have some privacy if she wanted. So far she has inspected it a few times but has not laid any eggs anywhere at all that we can see and still looks very gravid. Well, today her husband Mr Anta found the house and decided to investigate for himself. Janette immediately grabbed the camera and emailed this to me at work.

- Andy

And here's a small picture of the new hopefully female quad "Cammie".

Unfortunately these "stick with little feet and and an eyeball" shots are the only kind of pictures you're likely to see of Cammie for a while. She is a brave little cham that always sleeps out in the open at the front of her cage. She is however rather frightened of the big black camera for some reason.

- Andy

Just this week our old panther Elmer (see attached photo "Uuuuh?" - he's even getting some colour again) ate by himself for the first time in four months! It seems like we've been force feeding him for years and we were almost resigned to slow decline from here. He's still a "cantakerous old fart" and I swear there are days that "no-one is home" but now there's a lot more hope.

-Andy

Here's "Fifteen".

I should try to get a head-shot of him as the intense blue on his casque is pretty stunning.

- Andy

5-year-old WC quad

Here's Hansel the old (5year) WC quad displaying back at the boys.

(we let him see them just once or twice a year just to check he is still alive).

- Andy

"Hello, Harry want one of these?"

"OOOH!"

Yes, I think he does.

- Andy

Here's a picture of one of the most colourful of the latest baby hoes.. just 1 month old and all 8 are doing great. This one is watching a curly winged fly on a leaf about three inches below him.

- Andy

and all 9 are in this 12" x 12" x 18" screen cage.

- Andy

Here's a small picture of Stefan's boy, our new pink hoehnelli "Shim".

- Andy

This time we're not taking any chances.

The new hoe babies are being separated at just over 1 month old.

But hoe-town is full- there's just no more room.

Here is our solution (part1)

Can you tell what it is yet?

- Andy

Nearly finished.

- Andy

"Hoetel Everard" is finished.

A deluxe multi-story Hoetel with running water and personal schefflera in every luxury apartment.

- Andy

McRib being colourful again. No reason (that I can see) - he just does this.

- Andy

Most of the girls don't have names - they can be tricky to tell apart. Here's the one that lives next door to little Alan.

- Andy

Here's "Ribby" (named after his broken rib) showing some of his best colours. Ribby has the best horns of the all the bunch of Sprocket's babies. Ribby likes sultanas... OK, so what he makes up for in looks he lacks in brains... and I certainly am not suggesting anyone tries offering sultanas to their chams. Don't ask me how we know he likes sukltanas - it's a long story.

-Andy

Hmmm, despite the colours I think this one is a boy. I think this is the chap that bit poor Tailly.

- Andy

"UP"

"SPROCKET GO UP"

"UP....?"

"UPPP!?"

"STUCK?"

"STUUUCK!"

- Andy

Silly cham

"NO!"

"NOT STUCK!"

"SPROCKET MEANT TO DO THIS!"

"NOT STUCK!"

- Sprocket

I just happened to be holding the camera and looked around to see this so I snapped a picture.

Tailly Hoe's typically daft response to "DRINK! DRINK!" time.

- Andy

This is "Twig".

This shows his horns nicely. I believe it is the two horns nearest the camera which have split from one horn bud. Both of those horns curve (the short one curves a lot, the longer one just a little) whereas the long horn on the other side is fairly straight.

-Andy