Jackson Males' Appetites

[Miss Lily]

Monty is now 9 months old and for the last couple f months his appetite has dropped right off. He will only eat one or two feeders every day or so. More often now he will only eat every other day. I have spoken to other owners that also have males of the same age and they also eat very little compared to females of the same age. This is somewhat comforting. Having not had Jacksons before everything is very new and I'm still learning about them. He seems very healthy - he is a nice colour all the time and doesn't look thin at all, yet he doesn't have much appetite! I weighed him last week and he is still at 27g. He has neither gained nor lost weight in the last month. Does anyone who has raised Jacksons from babies have any ideas or input for me? I am probably just being overprotective of the l'il booger, but he is very special to me. I just wondered if anyone else has found the same appetite variances between the sexes with Jacksons.

 

[Jbab]

No advice as I'm really new to all this! Just wanted to say excellent name - I have a Yemen called monty !

 

[chameleonkev]

il bump this up the list for you, I'm interested I'm this two my two baby's are growing so slow, you really helped with the list of weight gain you sent but it would be nice to no what to expect later on

 

[cocoachams]

ahhh yes here is the deal and dont worry its very common. as babies they are growing and need a lot of food and well they will eat it all almost it seams but once they grow so much they do start to slow down a lot my jackson went from 7 a day to 7 every other day after a few days of a hunger strike in middle of it and when i started breeding my hold back did the same thing. the females how ever idk why but i think its to do with the eggs but they seem to keep a healthy apatite and well my female was much larger then my male but it was no problem for them in the long run. idk if thats the same for others but a lot of reptiles will slow after they hit a certain asge

 

[Miss Lily]

No advice as I'm really new to all this! Just wanted to say excellent name - I have a Yemen called monty !

Great name! I had a whole list of possible names, like I do for all the pets, and always end up caing them something else that wasn't on the list!

il bump this up the list for you, I'm interested I'm this two my two baby's are growing so slow, you really helped with the list of weight gain you sent but it would be nice to no what to expect later on

Thanks, I am glad you found that blog useful.

ahhh yes here is the deal and dont worry its very common. as babies they are growing and need a lot of food and well they will eat it all almost it seams but once they grow so much they do start to slow down a lot my jackson went from 7 a day to 7 every other day after a few days of a hunger strike in middle of it and when i started breeding my hold back did the same thing. the females how ever idk why but i think its to do with the eggs but they seem to keep a healthy apatite and well my female was much larger then my male but it was no problem for them in the long run. idk if thats the same for others but a lot of reptiles will slow after they hit a certain asge

Thanks, yes the females from the same clutch are right little piggys and the males are not. The females are also much bigger, as you have found. I keep n touch with my friend who I got him from and she still has a male and two females and has found exactly the same thing. Also another friend has two more sibling females from Monty's clutch and they eat much better than his male too.

I was thinking about this more this morning, and it occured to me that maybe it is me that has the problem and not Monty. I am so used to the bigger Veileds and even my big male didn't ever eat more than 2 feeders every 2 or 3 days. It's just that Monty is so small still that I am having trouble getting my head to think differently with him. I suppose it's what all ChameleMum's do - worry about the cham babies.

 

[coldbloodedAL]

Dont worry Tiff, my boy did the same thing, and still reached the point where he rapidly gained weight while eating smaller amounts. My boy is approaching 1.5 years and is now 110g!
Heres the most recent pic of him, he was being ornery due to shedding and just wouldnt cooperate for a pic!

 

[jdog1027]

They start to drop feeding frequently at about this time. My male only eats a few feeders a week and is otherwise doing great. By the way, Monty is looking great himself. I see your updates on Photobucket and you've done a great job with him. He's a lucky guy!

 

[Psychobunny]

Sounds like my male, about a year old, maybe 2 or 3 cricks every other day.

If I put in more then that, they will not get eaten and either drown or escape, or they just hide somewhere for a few days.
Then of course, they are worthless, since by then they will have lost there gutload and dusting!!

 

[Miss Lily]

They start to drop feeding frequently at about this time. My male only eats a few feeders a week and is otherwise doing great. By the way, Monty is looking great himself. I see your updates on Photobucket and you've done a great job with him. He's a lucky guy!

Dont worry Tiff, my boy did the same thing, and still reached the point where he rapidly gained weight while eating smaller amounts. My boy is approaching 1.5 years and is now 110g!
Heres the most recent pic of him, he was being ornery due to shedding and just wouldnt cooperate for a pic!

Thanks - I guess it's just down to me being over-protective! It took so long to get him and I have been so determined that he would make it to adulthood, that sometimes I worry way too much about the l'il booger! Wouldn't have it any other way though!

Sounds like my male, about a year old, maybe 2 or 3 cricks every other day.

If I put in more then that, they will not get eaten and either drown or escape, or they just hide somewhere for a few days.
Then of course, they are worthless, since by then they will have lost there gutload and dusting!!

Thank you for your input. Since hearing that others have experienced the same I feel a little better! I figured that Jacksons would naturally eat less once they near maturity, but he still seems so small to me! I keep a few of each feeder separately with gutload and water so that they are always ready for feeding so that he is getting nutrients in whatever he decides he's going to eat. Now I just need to keep telling myself he is not going to get huge, he is not a Veiled, and therefore he won't grow like one! Easier said than done though!