Jackson chameleon and stress

[lucmyers]

Hello, I am a student at a community college in Southern California. We have an amazing program for Bio majors that offers students a paid job to take care of several aquariums and a run a herpetarium. I recently found out there are about 4 separate established populations of jackson chameleons in Southern California. I spoke to my teacher and he thought it would be a great idea to possibly get some and set up some enclosure in the herpetarium room. However before I start planning a budget or even asked to get it approved I have one question for those who have kept Jacksons.
How do they handle stress? If we do decided to get them they would be in kept in a class room... luckily it is college students so I'm sure most people would be respect but I am still worried that it might be to much traffic for a wild caught animal. I would hate to spend money and time to set up a few enclosure and then once we get the animals have them dead in a week.
Any advice or personal experience in a similar situation would be very helpful.

 

[jajeanpierre]

@lucmyers If the cage is well planted I think it would be fine. Chameleons don't handle a lot of human traffic if they feel exposed and vulnerable.Set up the cage so they feel they can retreat and I think you will be okay. I imagine their exposure to people will be only one front of the cage. Give them lots of cover on the other three sides.

I don't know what kind of habitat Jacksons live in. Research that and make it as close to where they are found as possible. All chameleons don't like the same habitat.

 

[Turkenheimer]

I do not have a jacksons but I do know that they will get very stressed out. If all of you are calm and peaceful they might be fine.

 

[Andee]

With a college group I wouldn't be worried. I would be more worried about the individuals being wildcaught. Certain Jackson's that are wildcaught do not do well with 24 hour caging. I would look into rather large caging for them if possible so research the minimum for the species you have there and go a cage size bigger at least. I definitely agree with @jajeanpierre invest in lots of plants and definitely a misting system... Look into drainage as well. I would also look into a good lighting system as well so that your plants keep growing.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I do not have a jacksons but I do know that they will get very stressed out. If all of you are calm and peaceful they might be fine.

Why do you say that?

Animals in the wild are always on the alert for predators. Always. Predators pass close to them all the time. If you don't actually go in and chase them and give them the proper cage with lots of space and cover so they feel safe, they will just observe the predator (humans) and then get on with their life.

 

[AZChamFan]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere else but it will also help greatly if your cage is elevated so that the animal is at eye level at least when it is in the upper areas of the cage. They feel far more vulnerable when you are looking down on them. I have a jacksons in my kitchen where there is a fair amount of traffic and he's quite comfortable. He doesn't even mind the Doberman going through the dog door quite often right close to his cage, but that's because he (the Cham)is much higher. I would agree with the others that with an appropriate cage it should be fine.

 

[JacksJill]

Since you plan on using wild caught animals that you are catching yourself, you should do some extra research on acclimating wild caught specimens. There are several threads here on the topic you could read.

 

[AZChamFan]

One more thing that I didn't see mentioned is that you should not keep more than one per cage, even if it is a male and female. If anything will stress them out, this will.

 

[ChamLB]

If you are going with wild caught keep in mind any females maybe pregnant. You will need to keep checking their cage for babies since the don't lay eggs.

 

[Jnuman85]

@lucmyers I would be very interested in finding out where some of these colonies are.. I know there used to be some in Laguna Beach/Dana Point area but that was prior to the years of drought. I can't see any surviving that long with how dry it was for so long. But if they're making a comeback I would love to know where! Hope you don't mind sharing!

 

[Tattersb]

I have a Jackson's, and two of your biggest concerns are going to be temperature and humidity. They like cooler temperatures and higher humidity. That being said, if you catch them from your area, I would think you would want to imitate the climate in your area.

One other major consideration would be their lighting. Specifically, they like to shut down at night. Most keepers I've seen use timers and keep them on a 12hr light/12hr dark schedule. If you have night classes in that room, you are going to need to keep them covered and dark at night. They are likely to get stressed if they have a lot of light and activity during their sleeping hours.