First Shed with my Jackson Female....

[Cassie6550]

Hi all!

I've posted a few times and everyone has taught me SO much, so thank you for that! I've got an enclosure, water system, feeding plan, and gutloading system that works!!

New line of questions- my little girl is shedding.This morning she was totally normal, ate, hung out under the dripper....even ate some small meal worms from the cup for the first time ever. Then when I came home from work I couldn't find her in her cage. She was hidden all the way at the bottom of the fake vines I have hung, shedding skin like crazy. I was happy to see this happen, but it was odd to see her in the bottom and back of the cage.

Just wondering if there was anything I should know about her shedding as it's our first go at it together. She's a baby... guessing around 4 months. Slightly plump in a healthy way! She's done well so far I'm guessing, because there are pieces of skin that she's shedded around the cage, but now she's been in hiding for a few hours. Certainly won't pull any skin off, just want to hear from the experts what I can do to help her or her surroundings.

Thanks all!!

 

[JaxyGirl]

Congrats on the shedding! I think It's always supper cute when they shed! Reminds me of an explosion of tissue paper. Just keep her hydrated with lots of mistings so the skin sheds off easily. Jacksons need lots of water. I would switch from small meal worms to small super worms. Supper worms are healthier and easier to digest.
Love to see some pics

 

[bobcochran]

Congrats on the shedding! I think It's always supper cute when they shed! Reminds me of an explosion of tissue paper. Just keep her hydrated with lots of mistings so the skin sheds off easily. Jacksons need lots of water. I would switch from small meal worms to small super worms. Supper worms are healthier and easier to digest.
Love to see some pics

Yeah, just try to keep the humidity up a bit, seems to help. Of course by the time you read this she'll probably be done shedding!

 

[Cassie6550]

I'm excited too! Her shedding, kind of feels like validation that I'm doing something right as a Cham Mom lol!!

I bumped up the humidity. My humidifier is a bonus to both her and the plants I keep in that room (outside of her mesh cage, the same room she is in, is where I keep my plants over the winter).

I grabbed small meal worms b/c she's pretty small. She had no interest in them (after 2 weeks of trying) until today when I got crafty with a cup to leave them in. Mind you, she normally gets free range crickets along with a combo of eating from my hand. I thought those worms were ideal for a change up from crickets, bc they seemed small. Aren't super worms big? I'm very open to getting her a more diverse diet, please school me!

She's hiding... maybe b/c she's vulnerable...but the funnier reason is b/c she isn't as pretty as normal. The up close pic is after I moved her (delicately) to the top of the cage.

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

They like it cool. It's pretty common to find them towards the bottom just hanging out. Mine will even sit on the bare bottom some days. They're weird lol Glad she's doing good!

 

[Cassie6550]

Really? Mine is hanging in a room that averages between 65-75, with basking spots up to 80+ during the day. At night it drops a bit, between her lights being off and me dropping the heat. She mostly sits in the dry spots at the middle of the cage, or the wet spots at the top of the cage. I've only seen her hang near the bottom one other day besides today (mind you she's only been with me a month or so).

I tried putting her AT the bottom one day b/c there were some crickets there and she was a giant baby about it! She was doing that flailing front leg thing (like PLEASE don't leave me here), then she proved she wasn't a sloth and hauled butt up the vines to the middle of the cage....lol

They really are funny!! Maybe she will get brave after this shed and remember there is a whole bottom half of her cage that she can explore!

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

Give it time and she'll be roaming around in no time!

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

She also could have been at the bottom in all the leaves and vines trying to rub it off, that's what my cham usually does. he goes in and out of the leaves trying to rub it off. Another thing to watch out is that she might become very stressed. When they shed it gets them very itchy and irritable, just keep up the misting and humidity and she should be fine!!

 

[Cassie6550]

Ohh good point about using the leaves to scratch herself with, I hadn't thought of that. She's been in a pretty decent mood, although I haven't been handling her while she's shedding. She comes right over when it's time to get fed, and has been very fast to get to the water side of the cage for her spray downs- Just now we went through 2 spray bottles full of water (with the dripper on)...lol

I'm thinking maybe a day or two more and she should be done.... although by the looks of her cage she's shed 4 times today alone haha!