Jacksons chameleon

[ChamoNate]

Hello everyone, I am a new chameleon owner in a few days and my first one will be a jacksons chameleon. I have so many questions my head is about to explode, ive read several books and done my research and i am not concerned about starting out with a xanth. What i am concerned with is the soil, i use eco earth as a substrate to help with humidity because arkansas is not a humid state but ive heard peoplw complain about impaction from soil but i dont believe that is a real thing just a bothersome worry because i use sand for my leopard gecko for seven years and he has never once got impacted, its just natural to give these animals what they would be living in in the wild imo. Next i will mostly be feeding him a diet of dubia roaches and mealworms and occasional hornworms, i am just curious how to set uo a feeder cup him and if anyone had any ideas? Also what to use as a hide? Just let them hide in the bush or actually build a hide? And lastly i first bought a screen cage for him and set it up but then i also boughr a dragonstrand breeder cage with pvc siding and backing because as i said its not humid in arkansas and this will help increase humidity but i would just like to hear other opinions on these topics. I gladly will appreciate your responses.

 

[Kaden]

Impaction is a real thing and is a very serious concern with reptiles. Going off of the Jacksons topic for a second, you need to get your Leo off of sand asap if you just drop the insects in the cage. Leopard geckos are from a desert but not a desert like the Sahara. They are on rocky terrain in the wild NOT a loose sand. Some people do keep chameleons in a bioactive type setup but I'm not sure exactly what precautions are taken with that. Most have paper towels as the substrate. Chameleons bite things to figure out what they are. Our job as chameleon keepers is to ensure they can't ingest anything harmful to them i.e. the substrate. It is suggested you put large river rocks over the soil of the plants so the cham can't eat the dirt. There are other ways to deal with humidity other than using a dirt substrate. A fogger is almost a necessity with Jacksons. You can also install a misting system which will keep up the humidity and take the place of you needing to mist the cage for five minutes multiple times a day. Mealworms are also pretty much pointless to feed to chams. They have a very minimal nutritional value and you would need to fed 30 or so a feeding for it to satisfy your cham. Also you can't just plop one out of the fridge and feed it to your cham. Jacksons especially need their feeders to be properly gutloaded, so you would need to gutloaded the mealworms for about a week before you fed it to your cham. Chameleons don't use the commercial hides you see at pet stores. As long as their enclosure is filled with foliage which it should be, that is where they will retreate to, to feel safe. Chameleons don't have to be housed in screen cages. If it is only possible to keep up the proper humidity in the pvc cage then that would be your best bet. Also, just a disclaimer, I am no expert with chams and do not even own one yet. I've been looking into Jacksons for a while myself and this is just what I have acquired from my research. If anything I have said is incorrect I would appreciate it if the more experienced members here could correct me.

 

[ChamoNate]

I already gutload my insects, its only a 24 hr process in general because that is all ive read that is required, but maybe for mealworms it is different. i use both a fogger and a mister from zoo med but i am about to recieve a high quality mistking and will be replacing the zoo med with that mister but keeping the fogger because it works on an alarm system with my zoo med hygrotherm to continually keep up the humidity because i am generally not home for nearly 12 hrs a day so i wont have time to constantly spray him myself, plus its jist more beneficial to have a constant fog and mist. I will also check on different substrate for my leopard gecko and do more research on their actual habitat, but as for the eco earth i have read that that is a great choice for chameleons because it will not cause impaction because it isnt real dirt it is coconut fiber which is fine to consume, but as for the soil in the schefflera i will cover it with some rocks, and when you say river rocks what specifically do you mean? Plain rocks will not do? Whay exactly are we calling river rocks

 

[NickTide]

Do we need to worry about constantly wet Ecco earth molding?

 

[ChamoNate]

As long as you have a good drainage system the eco earth will be fine from what i have read, a more semi moist substrate is better anyway to help maintain humidity