Hatchling Jackson Chameleon Questions

[Iguanagirl8662]

A lady bought a Jackson Chameleon from my work and it ended up laying eggs and now she brought back two babies which I am going to adopt. From what I've read they need a 5.0 UV light and a basking spot of 85 F but someone told me today that babies need less UV light and heat. They said they only need UV light once a week and heat for 10 minutes after eating. I don't really believe that but I wanted to check. Also should I feed them fruit flies or can they eat small crickets as hatchlings?

If you have anything else to add or any good sites on care that would be great. Thanks for any help.

 

[porkchop48]

Jacksons dont lay eggs?


As hatchlings I do believe they eat fruit flies or pinheads.

Have you checked out www.chameleonforum.com.

Lots of good information over there as well. Sorry I was not much help.

 

[angie.h]

Jackson's are live-bearers so ask her if she's sure that was the type of chameleon she means. It could have " dropped" [ that's what they do to break open the membrane sack ] the babies when she wasn't home , so she thinks eggs were hidden somewhere and hatched. Temps. should not exceed 80, and this just at the basking spot, and feed them pinhead crickets and fruitflies, like Christy said. They DO need UVB....and a note about the crickets, if you do buy some, many stores sell 1/4 inch crickets as " pinheads", they are not true pinheads but are WAY too large. Be sure to get TRUE pinheads which are tiny, as the name suggests, like the end tip of a lead pencil. I'm sure you will find more info on the site that Porkchop recommended. Set them up with fake plants all around for them to climb and feel safe.You will need to spray the cage at least twice a day, too, they will not drink standing water.

 

[rjarosek]

Jackson's are live-bearers so ask her if she's sure that was the type of chameleon she means. It could have " dropped" [ that's what they do to break open the membrane sack ] the babies when she wasn't home , so she thinks eggs were hidden somewhere and hatched. Temps. should not exceed 80, and this just at the basking spot, and feed them pinhead crickets and fruitflies, like Christy said. They DO need UVB....and a note about the crickets, if you do buy some, many stores sell 1/4 inch crickets as " pinheads", they are not true pinheads but are WAY too large. Be sure to get TRUE pinheads which are tiny, as the name suggests, like the end tip of a lead pencil. I'm sure you will find more info on the site that Porkchop recommended. Set them up with fake plants all around for them to climb and feel safe.You will need to spray the cage at least twice a day, too, they will not drink standing water.

I agree except 1/8 in crickets would be better. Pinheads are a waste and are too small. They will eat them and are not bad but you would be better off with 1wk aka 1/8 in crickets.

Try to get a night drop into the 50's . There is a high mortality rate with Jacksons and in my experience a night drop was crucial to their survival along with lots of water and not that much food. Overfeeding plays a lot into montains deaths. I would feed twice a day as much as they will eat for 15 min then remove the feeders. I would also recomend skipping feeding 2 days a week.

 

[angie.h]

True about the size...just be careful if you buy a large quantity, they will grow quickly, and it's better for them to be a bit too small than to be too large. Every company seems to have different sizes too, I can order 1/4 inchers from one company that are way bigger than another company's " 1/4 ". But you are right that the slightly larger size is ideal.

 

[rjarosek]

True about the size...just be careful if you buy a large quantity, they will grow quickly, and it's better for them to be a bit too small than to be too large. Every company seems to have different sizes too, I can order 1/4 inchers from one company that are way bigger than another company's " 1/4 ". But you are right that the slightly larger size is ideal.

Very good point I tend to forget because I go through crickets so fast.

 

[Iguanagirl8662]

Thanks for the info everyone. The mother is a Jackson and I did not see the eggs I just assumed they laid eggs. The stores around here are all out of fruit flies and most of their "small crickets" are to big so I will have to try and order them.

 

[LauraB]

Jackson's are a montane species, so care will have to be taken to keep temps lower than tropical chams would require - especially with hatchlings. They will overheat and dehydrate very quickly. Personally, I would keep the basking temp no higher than 78 degrees, using a regular low-wattage household bulb.

They need UVB AND heat at least 10-12 hours a day, and total darkness at night, with a temp drop if possible (as has been mentioned). Whoever gave you the info re: UVB once a week and heat 10 mins. after eating obviously knows absolutely nothing about chams, unfortunately. Certainly hope they are not giving that info to prospective cham buyers/customers!

A 5.0% UVB linear tube lamp is the best. Stay away from compact or MV bulbs. You will also have to provide a lot of water, both for humidity and for drinking. Generally, chams have to see moving water to stimulate their instinct to drink. It may take several minutes of heavy misting before hatchlings actually get the idea to drink. Make certain you actually see them lapping water, don't just assume they will - hatchlings can fool ya every time.
Misting will have to be done often - 3-4 heavy mistings daily.

If you see one cham bullying the other or signs of aggression, stress or loss of appetite, you should separate them. Chams are solitary, private and stress really easily. As they mature they must be separated. Don't handle them.

Make sure they have plenty of foliage for cover and for moving about the cate, either cham-safe real plants or artificial and NO substrate at the bottom of the enclosure. A screen enclosure is best for the ventilation they require.

Good luck! I'm sure they are darling little things

 

[LauraB]

PS ... they will also need supplements, but you probably already know all that ... sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know. Just want to be sure the little dudes or dudettes get the best possible start

 

[Iguanagirl8662]

Jackson's are a montane species, so care will have to be taken to keep temps lower than tropical chams would require - especially with hatchlings. They will overheat and dehydrate very quickly. Personally, I would keep the basking temp no higher than 78 degrees, using a regular low-wattage household bulb.

They need UVB AND heat at least 10-12 hours a day, and total darkness at night, with a temp drop if possible (as has been mentioned). Whoever gave you the info re: UVB once a week and heat 10 mins. after eating obviously knows absolutely nothing about chams, unfortunately. Certainly hope they are not giving that info to prospective cham buyers/customers!

A 5.0% UVB linear tube lamp is the best. Stay away from compact or MV bulbs. You will also have to provide a lot of water, both for humidity and for drinking. Generally, chams have to see moving water to stimulate their instinct to drink. It may take several minutes of heavy misting before hatchlings actually get the idea to drink. Make certain you actually see them lapping water, don't just assume they will - hatchlings can fool ya every time.
Misting will have to be done often - 3-4 heavy mistings daily.

If you see one cham bullying the other or signs of aggression, stress or loss of appetite, you should separate them. Chams are solitary, private and stress really easily. As they mature they must be separated. Don't handle them.

Make sure they have plenty of foliage for cover and for moving about the cate, either cham-safe real plants or artificial and NO substrate at the bottom of the enclosure. A screen enclosure is best for the ventilation they require.

Good luck! I'm sure they are darling little things

Thanks so much, I did buy the 5.0 flourescent tube. I have other herps and refuse to use the compact bulbs because of all the bad stuff I've read about them. I also got 25 watt basking lights and lots of plants and vines. We built their cages today, they are each getting their own cage. Now all we have to do is get a spray bottle and we will be bringing them home tomorrow.

PS ... they will also need supplements, but you probably already know all that ... sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know. Just want to be sure the little dudes or dudettes get the best possible start

It's all right the more info the better. I want these little ones to do well. They are just so tiny it's scary.

 

[BigTattoo]

Baby Jackson's

I use to raise Jackson's and the baby are delicate and stress very easily. Too large a cage can stress them. I made 1' square by 18" tall individual cages for mine I came by this size through trial and error and it seemed most effective until they are well started. Pothos vine wrapped around branches or dowel rod structures to provide lots of hiding spots. In addition to misting several times a day I made a simple gravity feed drip system. I would do the first misting before lights came on and would mist very heavily. Once lights are on mist enough to have water dripping off leaves and go away.

A clean 1 gallon jug with a hole drilled near the bottom to accept 1/8" airline tubing. Silicone the outside where the tubing goes into the jug. Run the tubing across the tops of the cages and drill a small hole or two so the water will slowly drip into the cage. They quickly learn to drink from this. I put the cages on top of a sweater tub that had hardware cloth to act as a catch basin for the dripping water. I would screw pieces of 1x2 flush with the top of the sweater tub to help support the weight of the cages resting on the hardware cloth.

3 times a day I would put tubes of fruit flies in each cage for 20-30 minutes then remove, recap and put in the fridge. Remove tubes from fridge about 30 minutes before putting them in their cages so the fruit flies become active. Put the tubes in quietly in the same location each time. They will quickly learn to come down to the tubes to eat the fruit flies. You can sprinkle supplements like Minerall into the tubes before placing in cages. Sprinkle lightly once a day. Once you put the fruit flies in the cages go away they will not come down to eat with you watching. The problem with crickets is if they don't eat all of them the remaining will climb on and chew on your babies causing them unbelieveable stress. After they reach about 1 month old you can put small crix in the empty tubes you had fruit flies in then place these in the cage. Since they learned these tubes are a source of food they will come down and pick off the crix as they climb out of the tubes.

It's important they be in a low traffic area, preferably above eye level to reduce stress levels. A visual barrier between cages, I used small panels of 1/4" plywood. If they can see each other even in separate cages it can stress them to death. Try to do housekeeping before or after lights go on or off. Best done when the cages are pretty dark to minimize stress.

If you can get them past the 3 month mark they most likely will survive. Getting them to 3 months is not easy. Feed, low heat, strong UVB for 12 hours/day or more and leave them alone as much as possible. If you get past the 3 months they can then go into larger cages but still not too large. I moved them up to 18" square by 2' tall cages until they were 6 months old.

Hope this helps and best of luck with them.

 

[Iguanagirl8662]

Thanks for all the help everyone. They both were doing very well till a couple of weeks ago the cat got up where they were and knocked the one cage down and he either ate the baby or it escaped. I am heart broken it was my favorite one. I think we had a male and female and the male was getting nice horns but now he is gone, poor little guy.

 

[angie.h]

Oh, that's a real shame !! I'm really sorry to hear about that. Poor little guy.