how to identify different species of jackson chameleons

[daveo]

Just like the title of the thread says. How can you tell C. j. jacksonii, C. j. merumontanus, C. j. xantholophus apart? I think I have a C. j. xantholophus, but he seems small which makes me think it could be the dwarf sub-species C. j. merumontanus, but I am not sure how to tell them apart.

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Daveo

 

[Bradycham]

Just like the title of the thread says. How can you tell C. j. jacksonii, C. j. merumontanus, C. j. xantholophus apart? I think I have a C. j. xantholophus, but he seems small which makes me think it could be the dwarf sub-species C. j. merumontanus, but I am not sure how to tell them apart.

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Daveo

I'm pretty sure that is a xanth, merus are even smaller and quite colorful.

 

[kinyonga]

This might help a bit....
http://web.archive.org/web/20060221...m/html/taxonomy/species/chjacksoniijacks.html

 

[jdog1027]

That is a Triceros xantholophus. Merumontanus has a powder blue ground color and eye turret with a yellow area around were the horns project. Jacksonii jacksonii also have a bluish-green overtone and usually a large splash of yellow along the side of the body.

 

[daveo]

Thanks for all of the help. Does he seem small in the picture? He eats well and seems healthy, I feed him dubias and crickets and the occasional horn worm. I sprinkle with calcium ate every feeding and calcium with d3 once a month. Along with multivitamin once a month. Is there anything I should be doing differently?

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Daveo

 

[jdog1027]

If he is feeding well on Dubis and crickets, feed those feeders lots of turnip greens. That is a good source of calcium and is better than dusting. Cut the dusting of calcium back to about once a week and the D-3 every 6 weeks. If you give the crickets a good supply of turnip greens (mustard and collard greens are good too, I just prefer turnips), he will be getting a good natural source of calcium. You can try Phoenix worms as well for calcium. Jacksons and other montane chameleons can be very sensitive to over supplementation. Multivitamin once a month is O.K., just be sure not to dust then until they look like ghosts, a very light coat will work. Good luck.

 

[Kent67]

To me, and he is a xanth, he looks big for the "young" size of his horns. There's another *cough reference here: http://www.chameleonnews.com/10JulManchen.html

Edit: Actually going back and looking at the hand for size reference, he looks normal. Fat, healthy, and still young.

 

[daveo]

Thanks everyone. I had a bad experience with a Senegal when I was young so i am always worried. Usually worried for nothing!

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Daveo