Jackson’s chameleon need sub species identification!!

[Action Jackson]

Wow wow wow thank you so much for this confirmation! I’m actually really happy to know I have a female and so excited to see how this differs from owning males. anything I should know about their care please share! Thank you again!

You’re welcome.
You have received some great advice from elizaann2. She has a beautiful Jackson’s which show how good her care parameters are.

I live in Southern California and kept my Jackson’s outdoors. The weather here is perfect for them. I think one of the most important things is to keep them on the cooler side. They do like to bask a bit but they really seem to thrive when they have cool and night temperatures. High humidity at night is also beneficial.

 

[leedragon]

I see how the coloring could lead you to think xanth. To illustrate my point about the spines I have two images.

First is a xanth. Note the close spacing and the double or triple points on the spines. Sorry it's a little blurry.
View attachment 362579

Second is a jacksonii. Note the distance between spines and the single smoother spine.
View attachment 362580



I'm saying female because jacksonii jacksonii females can have 1-3 horns that are in general more delicate than the males. The OP chameleon doesn't have a penal bulge near the underside of the tail base that I would expect to see in an animal with that much horn development.

On another note these females from uncertain origin are frequently pregnant.

not all xantho have the dubble spines, the first picture looks like a xantho by the colors but the others as a jacksonii jacksonii

 

[JacksJill]

not all xantho have the dubble spines,

The only xanth I have seen without obvious double spines have been older wild caught specimens that have worn the spines down to nubs. I’d love to see pics if you have any. I’ve been using the spacing between spines primarily as an identifier because of the wear factor but the double spine is hard to ignore. Occasionally a jack jack will have a double spine but only just behind the head. I learned the spacing clue from an article by Manchen.

 

[leedragon]

Hey cham fam! I went to a reptile show this past weekend and in the excitement of it all found myself under ownership of a young jacksons chameleon. Shortly after the excitement of my purchase I then realized I know nothing about this animal and started to panic. I was hoping some Jackson’s lovers could take a look at him and possibly identify his sub species. Not sure if they need to mature more to tell but I figured it couldn’t hurt to reach out to the community. Also any advice for their care is welcomed as I have no experience with Jackson’s and am just going off my research and watching a lot of chameleon academy thanks bill! Here are some photos of a little guy. He also needs a name!

I am worry about several of its scales, do test it with a reptile veterinarian for irinovirus if you can, mine displayed some similiar ones that increased in numbers.

The only xanth I have seen without obvious double spines have been older wild caught specimens that have worn the spines down to nubs. I’d love to see pics if you have any. I’ve been using the spacing between spines primarily as an identifier because of the wear factor but the double spine is hard to ignore. Occasionally a jack jack will have a double spine but only just behind the head. I learned the spacing clue from an article by Manchen.

I actually looked into that before writting. I thought I read it in chameleons news but couldnt find the nr. Perhaps it was in addcham. But you are right about the colors.

 

[leedragon]

wasnt there. but I post the link when I find it.

 

[kinyonga]

Don’t know if this will help or not…
https://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chjacksoniijacks.html
https://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chjacksonixanth.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/10JulManchen.html

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Don’t know if this will help or not…
https://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chjacksoniijacks.html
https://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chjacksonixanth.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/10JulManchen.html

Woww! Thanks for the links. You posted two ADCham articles and a Kent Manchen article. Three prizes of chameleon literature. I have not got to read these articles for about a decade now. I have not heard anyone talk about Trioceros jacksonii jacksonii as Trioceros jacksonii willegensis in ages. That local of Trioceros jacksonii jacksonii are I think now called Machako's Hills Trioceros jacksonii jacksonii. Trioceros jacksonii willegensis is old school nomanclature.

I have kept all three species of Trioceros jacksonii ssp. That including Trioceros jacksonii jacksonii, Tricoeros jacksonii xantholophus and Trioceros jacksonii merumontanus. I have bred Trioceros jacksonii jacksonnii and Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus. Maybe I am going to breed the third Trioceros jacksonii merumontanus someday.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[kinyonga]

You said…”Trioceros jacksonii willegensis is old school nomanclature”…was it Susan James who coined that name?

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

You said…”Trioceros jacksonii willegensis is old school nomanclature”…was it Susan James who coined that name?

Possibly. I heard the name from "West Coast Chameleon Farms" from Santa Cruz, CA during the 1990's who was supposed to bring in an import shipment of Trioceros jacksonii willegensis and never did. However West Coast Chameleon Farms did bring in some great imports.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[kinyonga]

@laurynholly you might like this, if you haven’t seen it already…

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

That is an interesting video about Trioceros jacksonii ssp. I am flipping through my "Mountain Dragons" book by Jan Stipala. I heard that Trioceros werneri was going to be split into multiple species rather than the one species. However I did not hear about Trioceros jacksonii jacksonii being split into multiple species. Going through my "Mountain Dragons" book the pictures of the Trioceros jacksonii jacksonii look to have multiple species worthy amount of variation. Interesting!

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[leedragon]

https://www.adcham.com/html/ecology/hawaii-ko.html

Found it!!!