I'm getting a Jackson!!! have questions.

[SuperRad]

So i have two veiled chams. and love them to death. today at 4pm. i am getting a jackson cham that i saw on a local advertisement, apparently a local guy here is a breeder. the cham is about 1 year old. are there any differences from raising veileds and jacksons? or will exactly the same stuff apply? screen cage, lighting, food habits??

woo hoo. i'm so excited.

if anyones a jackson owner, how are they?

 

[Calavera]

I have both veiled and Jackson's chameleons. I have had every chameleon I own since they were neonates of about 2 weeks of age. You will find, based on my my experience, that these two species require some different approaches when it comes to husbandry. I found that unlike my veiled, my C. j xanthalophus thrived with an ambient temperature of about 72 degrees F, with a basking temperature of 85 degrees F. Basically, my Jackson's was kept about 5 degrees cooler then my veiled and had a cooler basking spot. What i find is that Humidity is the main aspect that separates Jackson husbandry from veiled husbandry. Jackson's LOVE to drink! In addition to providing a proper drip system, you should also mist a Jackson's enclosure about 5 times a day, (depending on how long your misting sessions are). I keep my Jackson at about 75 percent humidity. I find that my Jackson's chameleon loves to drink in the early mourning, so i mist him accordingly. Because you are purchasing a mature chameleon, i think you wont have as difficult of a time as you may anticipate. For the most part, based on my personal experience, i find Jackson's to not much more difficult then veiled; they simply need different temperatures and humidity gradients. Also, give your Jackson's plenty of outdoor opportunities, just avoid cats and overheating. As far as lighting and supplement goes, i use reptisun 5.0 for all of my chameleons as well as miner-all and Rep-cal.

 

[dectr6]

Hey, I'm also a veiled owner and am no expert on Jacksons, but I believe their requirements are quite a bit different. From what I've read and heard they almost have to have quite a bit of outside exposure. I think most Jacksons owners have an inside and an outside cage. I think the humidity requirements are much higher also and the temps lower. The experts on here I'm sure will inform you much better than I.
good luck. David

 

[SuperRad]

alright cool cool. i was looking up some care sheets after i posted the message. Right now in phoenix, az the temp is like 85 during the mid day so might be a perfect temp.

 

[Kent67]

Jackson's are a bit more difficult to raise from babies in captivity for some reason. It is very rare to see true captive bred Jackson's adults for sale. By saying the seller is a breeder, I'm assuming he's at the very least led you to believe this is a captive bred animal? I'll be the first to admit anything's possible, but I suspect unless you're paying more than $150 for him, what you're getting is most likely a WC jacksonii xanth from Hawai'i. Nothing wrong with that, they can be quite hardy once they're past the 5 or 6 month mark. Just letting you know.

They will really do best when kept outside as much as possible. In the wild they take temperatures down to almost freezing on a lot of nights. There are reports of the sympatric Von Hoehnel's chameleon active and walking around on snow covered branches! I only bring mine inside when the temps get down to the low 40's, and sometimes not even until the upper 30's. Mine are more than happy to eat and be active on days that only get up to 65F. During the summer, we had some days that got up to 85F here. At the hottest time of day I would go outside and find my Jackson's almost black and lateral basking at the end of an exposed branch. They do love the heat and basking too. Being in Arizona, when it gets above 90F outside, I'd make sure there's plenty of shade, a breeze, and if possible almost constant misting to keep him cool. This would be very different from your veileds which could take the high temps without ill effect.

 

[SuperRad]

My mistake, the cham is w/c but was raised in a friend of his orchards in northern california where there are tons of chameleons in the greenhouse. so i would say like half and half. i got him already, he is looking lovely, and will post pics tonight

 

[lonomac]

Thats the guy on craigslist your talking about I bet, was just looking at those

 

[SuperRad]

Thats the guy on craigslist your talking about I bet, was just looking at those

Yeah man, his chams are in healthy shape dude. I bought one and JimNphx who is also a member on here bought one.

 

[Duster619]

Wow , lots of heads in here from Az, glad im not the only cham lover here.