Jacksons... as of big as a pain as they say?

I was curious for future keeping sake, if Jackson's were as hard to keep as they say? Some people say if u sneeze a Jackson will get sick and stuff like that.

Whats the facts behind the fiction on keeping these?

jackons are one of the 3 easyest chams to keep. veiled, panthers and jackson. i am not saying that those speacies are easy to keep but they are more hardy that othere speacies.

Id guess I sold about 1000 Jacksons in the last 2 years and they were no trouble at all. Since they were imports I kept them at least 6 weeks while I treated them for possible parasites before selling them and still have 1 male that I kept as a pet.

The main thing is if they are wild caught imports to make sure they are parasite free, the seller should treat them for parasites but the buyer should also take them for a prelim vet exam $25 to make sure they are parasite free. YOu may even be able to just get the fecal done for less than $10, some vets will others will not.

This does not mean that captives do not get parasites, its just less likely that a captive will than a wild caught which normalyl does haev parasites, so in my opinion you should take them either way or treat them with a natural parastie removal like para-zap or worm guard as directed on package insert to be safe.

Then make sure they are in an all screen cage, teh larger the better, I haev my 1 male is a 260 gallon reptarium but a 65 gallon would be fine, with lots of branches to climb around on, you can either use live or fake plants, I prefer live plants, others prefer fake.

With live plants you can take the plant out every 2-3 days, put it in the bathtub and spray off any feces, with fake plants I have found them harder to take out since you usually need to attach them to the branches.

Make sure to have proper humidity, they needs quite a bit of humidty, 80% is a good level and proper basking of about 100 with a range of 80-100 day and 70 or so at night

Do not use vitamins but 3-4 times a month, with jacksons, too many vitaimins are worse than not enough.

Use UVB, mercury vapor or active UVB, these will provide the heat and UVB all in one bulb and replace it every 6 months. Or you can use a florscent and a ceramic heater, I prefer the mercury vapor

As long as you keep the UVB, humidty, and tons of crix they are truly wonderful animals, Im guessing my adult male male eats abotu 1 dozen crickets a day

But do not think its a reptile to be played with or handled, although some will tolerate being handled, they do not like it and some will stress form it.

They are a wonderful cham to look at esp when its eating time, they are a joy to watch!

Originally posted by codyremmyloo

Make sure to have proper humidity, they needs quite a bit of humidty, 80% is a good level and proper basking of about 100 with a range of 80-100 day and 70 or so at night

Use UVB, mercury vapor or active UVB, these will provide the heat and UVB all in one bulb and replace it every 6 months. Or you can use a florscent and a ceramic heater, I prefer the mercury vapor

That's pretty warm for a jacksonii. A basking temp much over 85 and you are just overheating them. These are highland chameleons and rarely are exposed to temps that high. Utilizing a mercury vapor bulb for montane chams is hit or miss at best. these bulbs produce a tremoendous amount of heat and can increase the cage temps to dangerously high temps in minutes. It has also been theorized recently that the high amounts of UVB produced by these bulbs can actually be too high for chameleons. In the wild chams regulate their exposure to UVB much the same way the regulate their temps. With the high concentrations of UVB and the lack of a gradient in a cage this can be a bad situation.

With all that being said, jacksonii are not difficult to keep as long as you go in with the proper information. No chameleon species is "easy", but jacksons can be more forgiving than other mantane species. Your best bet would be to pick up a good book like, "Chameleons, Their care and breeding" by Linda Davidson, and read as much info as you can on them before purchasing one. Sites like www.chameleonnews.com, adcham.com, and www.chamresearch.com are great places to get information and speak with experienced keepers and breeders.

Originally posted by JasonDescamps
That's pretty warm for a jacksonii. A basking temp much over 85 and you are just overheating them. These are highland chameleons and rarely are exposed to temps that high. Utilizing a mercury vapor bulb for montane chams is hit or miss at best. these bulbs produce a tremoendous amount of heat and can increase the cage temps to dangerously high temps in minutes. It has also been theorized recently that the high amounts of UVB produced by these bulbs can actually be too high for chameleons. In the wild chams regulate their exposure to UVB much the same way the regulate their temps. With the high concentrations of UVB and the lack of a gradient in a cage this can be a bad situation.

With all that being said, jacksonii are not difficult to keep as long as you go in with the proper information. No chameleon species is "easy", but jacksons can be more forgiving than other mantane species. Your best bet would be to pick up a good book like, "Chameleons, Their care and breeding" by Linda Davidson, and read as much info as you can on them before purchasing one. Sites like www.chameleonnews.com, adcham.com, and www.chamresearch.com are great places to get information and speak with experienced keepers and breeders.

My jax are in 260 gallon with the utmost top being HOT of 100 is at the top left and the right side hot is about 80 and the bottom being somewhat cooler, they can choose where they want to be in the heat area within a 6' tall cage

And yes with a small cage that amount of a high would not be too hot, wasn't really thinking of smaller cages as much as I was thinking of mine being 30X30X72

Originally posted by codyremmyloo


And yes with a small cage that amount of a high would not be too hot, wasn't really thinking of smaller cages as much as I was thinking of mine being 30X30X72

TYPO in a smaller cage that WOULD be too hot, you would need lower highs of about 80 HIGH not 100 if you have a shorter cage the high is not able to be a significant amount lower at the bottom so your high would need to be much lower than mine to provide a good low temp

100 is too high even if it is a 6' high cage. You are essentially taking away the upper part of the cage with these high temps.

I curently have some veileds (1 male, 3 babies) so I have some experience. I was just curious of the about the jacksons as a next possible expansion. Are male and female cohabitable or only during breeding like most?

No chams should be housed together without a lot of experience. Stress can be subtle and very hard to identify without a lot of experience working with several species of chameleons. Many new people will tell you it is okay and many try it and fail. You will be hard pressed to find any experienced keeper that will tell you it is okay. Keep them seperate and you'll be better off.

Originally posted by JasonDescamps
100 is too high even if it is a 6' high cage. You are essentially taking away the upper part of the cage with these high temps.

The left back corner hits 100 at the tip top while the upper right hits about 80 at the tip top, they have a wide range of temps to chose from! If they want an 80 max, they haev it and if they want to get warmer or cooler they can!