May be worried for nothing but I want to be sure

daveo

daveo

Established Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male jacksons, he is approximately 6 months old. I have had him for about a month
Handling - never
Feeding - crickets about 5 or 6, 3/4 inch everyday
Supplements - ExoTerra Calcium once a week no D3 at all
Watering - I have a mist king that runs for three minutes at a time three times a day. I also have an ultra sonic humidifier that runs for 2 hours in the morning and twos hours in the evening. The cage dries for three hours before lights out
Fecal Description - He has never been tested for Parasites in my care. the person i got him from said that he has seen a vet and is in good health. Poop is white and dark brown kind of moist but formed
History - I think he is wild caught from Hawaii

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Cage is screen on all four sides and the top. The bottom is plywood covered with vinyl tiles. It is 24x24x36 sitting on a 4 foot tall stand.
Lighting - 60 watt baking bulb in an exoterra dome. 18 inch reptile 5.0 UVB and a full spectrum 5500k grow light
Temperature - Basking area is 88F away from light is around 73F. I have a zoomed thermometer/hygrometer with a remote sensor
Humidity - Humidity is around 60% I use a mist king and ultra sonic humidifier and have live plants for humidity
Plants - I have a money tree and a pothos
Placement - Cage is in the corner of the dinning room it is a medium traffic area as people have to go through there to get to the kitchen and family room. the cage is about seven feet off the floor at the top
Location - Southeastern Wi. On the shores of Lake Michigan

Current Problem - He seems pretty lethargic and is sitting with his mouth opened a lot. I am perfectly willing to find a vet, but i just want to make sure I am not just being an overly protective Daddy
 
chameleons tend to have their mouth open alot during basking time. if she's moving with her mouth open thats a little more severe.
do you hear crackling or bubbling?
any residue from the eyes other than regular salt deposit? (little white dot)
if he/she is "sneezing" it's a little more serious. my veiled female did this and she got over it.
it's probably just her trying to lower her temp while basking. it was a sign (in my experience) that she's trying to shed some skin.

but dont take it too lightly, it could be a small symptom to something slightly bigger.
 
if she is constantly gaping while basking, then I would bring the temp down some. If she is gaping while not basking, then there might be something else going on there. How come no d3 supplementing at all? And never a mutlivitamin either?
 
As has been suggested, the basking temperature could be in the low 80'sF.

I would dust lightly with calcium at most feedings.
Here's the story on supplements and the reasoning that goes along with them..
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it. At that size you only need to feed it every two or three days. Feed it enough that it doesn't get fat (and, of course, doesn't get thin either).

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
 
Last edited:
Ok, I will lower the basking temp, but the supplementation thing has me confused. I heard that over supplementation of Jacksons is a problem. i looked on the forum and found most people recommended calcium once a week and no d3 at all. Nothing did I find mention a Multi vitamin. So that being said should I still add to his supplementation? I am not opposed to it, I just don't want anything to happen to him. I don't hear any crackling and when he moves he closes his mouth. He just got done shedding and he seems to be eating ok. I am just a worry wart!
 
If/since the insects like crickets, etc. "always" have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. why would they only be dusted sometimes?? Doesn't that still leave an imbalance??

Doing D3 lightly twice a month IMHO ensures that the chameleon gets some d3 and leaves it to produce whatever else it needs through its exposure to the UVB so IMHO it shouldn't be overdoing it.

With multivitamins, the ones to watch are the ones that can build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A, D3, etc. The rest of them should pass through the chameleon when they are only being given them twice a month.

All I can tell you is that I have had dwarf Jackson's quite a few times in the last 20 years, deremensis, once in a while quads. and have never had a problem with the supplements causing gular edema, etc. so I can only assume that what I've been doing has been okay.

I hope others who keep the Jackson's xanths will chime in.
 
I've always read on here that with Jackson's, it's always better to dust very very little with D3 because they're very sensitive to supplements. They always suggested once every 6 weeks or so, and I actually didn't supplement with D3 at all either but mine got regular sunlight for several hours every day, if not all day long.
 
Olimpia said:
I've always read on here that with Jackson's, it's always better to dust very very little with D3 because they're very sensitive to supplements. They always suggested once every 6 weeks or so, and I actually didn't supplement with D3 at all either but mine got regular sunlight for several hours every day, if not all day long.
Click to expand...

See the over supplementing thing is what I had heard as well so I was afraid to do calcium every day. I am however understanding now that over supplementing is more about D3 than calcium.
 
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