dark horns? xanth jackson

[alex arango]

i have a male xanth jacksons about a year and a half old.
my question is does the color of there horns tell you if they are sick or healthy? my chams horns are always dark twords the bottom and kinda see through/pinkish on the tips. i have seen some other male xanth and all 3 horns are pinkish from buttom to the tips. i have never seen my xanth horns like that. what does that mean when some have darker horns then others? could it be something to do with age?
i posted a pic i took today.

 

[coldbloodedAL]

I had a small discussion about this with another member... A thought was possibly over watering/not enough water determining the color of the horns but the truth is no one really knows. I have noticed that almost ALL wild caughts come in with darker horns, while a lot of cbb jacksons have the lighter pinkish horns.
Both my Mt. Merus came in with dark horns, the male was not with me long enough to notice any change but the females single rostral horn seemed to lighten up a bit before she passed.
None of this has been proven as far as I know, or any other information published about the color of the horns on chams to my knowledge.

 

[alex arango]

I had a small discussion about this with another member... A thought was possibly over watering/not enough water determining the color of the horns but the truth is no one really knows. I have noticed that almost ALL wild caughts come in with darker horns, while a lot of cbb jacksons have the lighter pinkish horns.
Both my Mt. Merus came in with dark horns, the male was not with me long enough to notice any change but the females single rostral horn seemed to lighten up a bit before she passed.
None of this has been proven as far as I know, or any other information published about the color of the horns on chams to my knowledge.

oh really well both of mine are cb. they both have a water source and they are sprayed 2-3 times a day. i think there watering perfect from what i have read.
thats very interseting that nobody really knows forsure what color means there healthy and what color means they are unhealthy or somthings wrong with there watering.
thanks for your feedback

 

[ChamomilleCame]

It could be genetics or something. It might just be like hair color is for us.

 

[Miss Lily]

My Monty's horns are quite pink at times. He is only 8 months old yet though. One thing I have noticed, it I though the horns would be hard, like fingernails, or animal hooves, but Monty sometimes bends his when he pushes past things!

 

[amanda509]

ive been wondering lately if calcium affects the horns? does anyone know?

 

[pssh]

I imagine calcium would effect the horns. My WC's horns were very hard and opaque but not dark.

 

[amanda509]

I imagine calcium would effect the horns. My WC's horns were very hard and opaque but not dark.

any guesses on what details of the horns it affects? the color, size, hardness, straightness? just curious if there was more research on it..we could improve their supplementation at an early age to get adult males with virtually perfect horns..just a dream lol.

 

[pssh]

No, I've only ever had one male jackson's so I don't have all that much experience. This is just me speculating, but the horns grow straight from their skull, so I was just thinking that maybe they would be affected the same way the bones would or at least similarly.

 

[amanda509]

No, I've only ever had one male jackson's so I don't have all that much experience. This is just me speculating, but the horns grow straight from their skull, so I was just thinking that maybe they would be affected the same way the bones would or at least similarly.

thats what i was thinking and jackson's are great..you should get more maybe when i get the extra money to get my breeding project underway, ill do some research and experimentation with it..maybe trying different brands of calcium with different babies and documenting how their horns develop...i could create a superbreed if i can crack this!! <-just me dreaming again, im poor, going to be along time before i start that -.-

 

[coldbloodedAL]

If at all I would suspect that it plays a role in growth(length, density).