Making a Jacksons Happy

[Dylan.Wallace]

Need help figuring out how to make my new baby Jacksons cham relax. I have had him for two weeks now and I believe he's around 4 months old. When I first got him he was pretty much black and the lightest I have seen him is a golden brown. I keep the temp good and humidity is comfortable. Hes eating good but just stays about the same color all day. Is this normal? Any advice would be great! In one of the pictures he looks green but its the camera. That gold is the brightest I have seen him.

 

[GreenChameleons]

Need help figuring out how to make my new baby Jacksons cham relax. I have had him for two weeks now and I believe he's around 4 months old. When I first got him he was pretty much black and the lightest I have seen him is a golden brown. I keep the temp good and humidity is comfortable. Hes eating good but just stays about the same color all day. Is this normal? Any advice would be great! In one of the pictures he looks green but its the camera. That gold is the brightest I have seen him.

Jackson’s start forming their color at 4 months but it will continue to develop just so you know...
First off let me know what you are working with...
What is your basting temperature?
What are the measurements of the enclosure?
How many lights do you have and what type/ power as in wattage?
What is the humidity consistently on percentage wise? How many times are you misting and how long of a duration? To much humidity and to much uv light can cause eye infections just a heads up...your enclosure looks good by the way. If I was you I’d put a umbrella plant and some ivy or a ficus tree later on but in doing so you have to remove all the dirt to bare roots and clean the leaves and repot the plant with dirt from the pet store or organic soil no fertilizer at all is a must! Real plants make them settle and there is more places to hid in a real plant rather than plastic but there’s nothing wrong with plastic plants don’t get me wrong.

 

[GreenChameleons]

You shouldn’t see your chameleon all the time while in the cage and is there a dog or cat or another lizard of any type where it can visualibly see?

 

[Dylan.Wallace]

Awesome Help!! Thank you. I believe it may be the dogs. I have two. The cage is tall enough so they cant touch or get to it but im sure he can see them. And i didnt thing about the potting soil. Thanks for the heads up!
Temp: 60-65 at night, 70-78 during the day
Humidity: Varies from 70% to 82%
Enclosure: Starter kit for now. I think its a 3.5 or 4 foot by 2 or 2.5. I plan on getting a pretty large cage in the near future. This is all temp.
Lighting: The starter lamp that consists of a 50w heat bulb and not sure of the white light. Also have a 100w sunlight basking bulb because im in Ohio and its about to be cold. Have a 75w red heat bulb i turn on at night if needed.
Misting: every 3 hrs for 30 seconds because its not the best mister. i enjoy hand misting a lot more so if it looks dry i will hit it
Plants: All artificial for now with real sticks i baked in the oven. I want to get away from artificial but everything is out of season in stores around here and dont know if i trust buying online.

 

[GreenChameleons]

You said you mist every 3 hours make sure the enclosure completely dries but the humidity stays consistent at 60%-80% though. Over misting drops the temperature rapidly. I know I’m the summer here in NC it gets hot I usually keep a sharp eye out on my Jacksons and put in the natural sunlight for 4-5 hours but It is highly monitored when I do that. And I remember you saying that the humidity is 80% that’s perfect

 

[Goose502]

No light at night. This species can handle pretty drastic temp drops at night, I highly doubt your house gets below 55-60 degrees at night. If for some odd reason it is really that cold, use a ceramic heat emitter, these are great for providing some heat, and they won’t disrupt sleep patterns.

 

[GreenChameleons]

I would get I timer for the light so it’s it comes on at specific time and goes off at a specific time to have routine like it does in the wild but what do I know

 

[Dylan.Wallace]

Thanks! I'm gonna get rid of the red heat lamp. The thought crossed my mind about a timer but my wife gets up early and turns em on and i get home late and turn em off. So i really don't need one.

 

[Dylan.Wallace]

Oh one more thing. If you look at the very first picture you can notice a black spot on him. Is this something to get looked at? Kinda looks like dead pigment or something.

 

[GreenChameleons]

I’d take it to get checked out by Vet?