Words From the Editor

By Christopher V. Anderson


Citation:

Anderson, C.V. (2006). Words from the editor. Chameleons! Online E-Zine, May 2006. (http://www.chameleonnews.com/06MayAndersonWFTE.html)


Well, I guess I should start with a brief apology for the extended time between issues. This issue went through a number of focal changes throughout production process which significantly slowed its release. In addition, personal time constraints here at Cornell made it difficult for me to be as on top of getting the issue finished as I normally would like. The good news is that I think the issue is covering some excellent information and topics and in graduating this month, I shouldn't have as many constraints interfere with regular E-Zine releases.

As usual, I'd like to remind the readers that by clicking the "Contact" tab on the toolbar at the top of the page, you can submit your name to our email notification list so you know when future issues come out, to submit questions, article suggestions, etc. I'd encourage anyone who hasn't already signed up for the email notifications to do so!

To start this issue off, Kevin Stanford has provided us an excellent article outlining his experiences with the carpet chameleon, Furcifer lateralis lateralis. Having bred his colony out to multiple generations, I know we all can learn a great deal from Kevin's perspective.

I've provided another rant about the current status of captive chameleon breeding populations in the US. While panthers and a few other species are now being well bred in captivity, many other species are not gaining anywhere near the needed attention to maintain viable captive populations. With concerns over the future export status from Tanzania, Uganda, etc., I feel its time to start better establishing cooperative breeding groups between keepers who want to continue to see some of these species available if a repeat of Madagascar occurs in any of these markets.

Jason Descamps has provided an article outlining a few alternative feeders sources for those of us always looking to expand the food items we provide our chameleons. In this article he's included notes on feeders including camel crickets and katydids. His experience with these feeders should provide the rest of us with interesting ideas for our own insect feeder collections.

Allison Walker has provided us a story about her experiences trying to save a Jackson's chameleon. It helps to show the pitfalls of impulse purchases and the effort that can go into recovering from it. Her efforts to turn this chameleon around show just how much these animals can mean to a keeper and exemplify the efforts we should all put into our animals.

Steven Deckers has given us an article outlining a couple interesting observations he has made while breeding Furcifer species and working with Rhampholeon. With Furcifer species, he's provided us with notes on a new technique he's found to track receptivity and gravidity in females while with Rhampholeon, he discuses a way to detect gravidity stages and possibly parasite loads.

Jason Descamps is continuing to do the Q&A section. As usual, online submissions for this section can be sent via the online submission form in the Contact page or directly to Jason at Jason.Descamps@chameleonnews.com.

If you have articles or ideas you'd like to submit for this next or later issues, please contact me about them. Don't be shy, if you have something you'd like to share, I'd love to talk to you about it!



Christopher V. Anderson


Chris Anderson is a herpetologist currently working on his Ph.D. at the University of South Florida after receiving his B.S. from Cornell University. He has spent time in the jungles of South East Asia, among other areas, aiding in research for publication. He has previously traveled throughout Madagascar in search of, and conducting personal research on, the chameleons of the region. He has traveled to over 35 countries, including chameleon habitat in 6. Currently, Chris is the Editor and Webmaster of the Chameleons! Online E-Zine and is studying the kinematics and morphological basis of ballistic tongue projection and tongue retraction in chameleons for his dissertation. Chris Can be emailed at Chris.Anderson@chameleonnews.com or cvanders@mail.usf.edu.

 

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