Any Jackson Experts...?

[dindy]

Im thinkin about purchasing a 1.1 jackson pair and cant find any infor on the mara montanas..thats what i was told they were called....is that a real name...also what are the other locales of jacksons that exist.....i want to make sure i know what im getting before i do...any other info that u wanna throw out about them would be cool too.....what are the ones that the males have 3 horns and the female has 1 horn?

 

[dondeb562]

You have the large species(jacksonii xantholophus) males have 3 horns females have none, mt kenyan( jacksonii jacksonii) species male and females both have three horns, then the mt merus(jacksonii merumontana) which males have 3 horns females have one. None of them are called what you have stated.

 

[dindy]

thanks for clearing that up man cause i didnt think so either that what the guy told me buit it didnt sound right...sounds like a mt meru.....can you cross breed different jackson species?

 

[dondeb562]

Yeah looks like he did not quite get the latin name right for you there. I would guess by how close it is that is what they are...

 

[Trace]

No you can't breed the different sub-species together.

Ask "the guy" is those Meru's are WC specimens, then ask yourself if you have the experieince to deal with that. WC's should be avoided, no matter how cute or interesting the chameleons appear.

Trace

 

[Kent67]

Actually, during their trip in which they described the subspecies Ch. (T.) jacksonii xantholopus, Ferguson, et al. found intergrade hybrids of the two Kenyan subspecies where their ranges overlapped. Although I don't know anyone who has tried it in captivity, I'm guessing those two could be crossed. As a matter of fact, if I can't find a male Ch. (T.) j. jacksonii in the next year or so I may try it myself.

As for the Mt. Meru subspecies, to answer your question, the care will be about the same for any of the three although the Merus are the smallest. Mt Meru's are from Tanzania, where the government has just restricted the export of WC 3-horned chams for the near future at least. What you see available there may be the last time this subspecies is openly available.

 

[dondeb562]

I wondered the same thing about the two larger species being able to cross. Very intresting info there! Any pix or anything on the crossed animals produced? I would assume the females would have 3 horns just smaller then the mt kenyans right?

 

[Kent67]

The only pics I know of are unfortunately black and white and are published in The Vivarium Vol. 3 No. 1 (1991) In it the female has three rudimentary horns and the male has very thick, long horns, like the nominate subspecies, but otherwise the body looks larger and more robust like a xantholophus.

As for the populations, the nominate form, Ch. (T.) jacksonii jacksonii is a "lowland" form that can be found in the gardens of Nairobi to the southwest of Mt Kenya. I put lowland in quotes there because Nairobi itself is over a mile above sea level. The xantholophus subspecies comes from the eastern and southeastern slopes of Mt. Kenya and is thus considered the highland form.

Oh, and one last thing I wanted to add. When identifying females of the different subspecies I think the best thing to look at is the dorsal crest. How the spines look, how far apart, etc. The reason being that I've seen a few xanth females with small, rudimentary horns, although most lack anything more than a pinpoint. Most jacksonii jacksonii females have three full horns but some have just one also.

Know what this one is?

 

[dondeb562]

is that a mt meru baby? Very cute!!

 

[dondeb562]

you know the more I look at it the more I think it is a mt kenyan female baby....???
I should add I am not familiar with that sub species at all though. I am more leaning toward meru though! hahaha!

 

[Kent67]

Sorry, forgot to reply to this last night. She's a "lowland" Jackson's, Ch. (T.) j. jacksonii. Here's a more recent picture of her (or her sister.)

 

[dondeb562]

I thought that the mt merus only have the one horn and the j. jacksonii have all three? She is soooo cute!!

 

[Kent67]

Well, not that I've seen a ton of them, but it did seem like most of the j.j. females have 3 horns but the mother of mine had 1 horn also. Thanks for the compliments, they're one of my favorites now

 

[dondeb562]

She is sooooo cute! I love all three species of the jacksons. I have the mt merus and the jacksonii xantholopus. I would love to get a pair of the j. jacksoniis, but I have yet to see any available.