Meet Blue

[MyLittleBlue]

I'm a new Jackson owner so I joined the fourms for some help along the way.

My chameleon's name is Blue and I've had him since he was a baby. He's a little over a year old now. I got him from a friend when his Jackson had babies. After a month with their mothers, he gave some of the babies away.
I hold him often but not for too long. Don't want to stess him. He hangs out in his tall, wire cage outside on his Ficus tree. We live in Hawaii so the weather is pretty much always good for him to be out on the lani in the shade and gets sun a certain time of the day.

He mostly eats small crickets and occasionally, he'll have some mealworms (one or two). He has a waterfall fountain I got at petsmart and I also have a dripper for him. I found out later that the waterfall isn't the best for him but I've seen him drink from it once so I kept it. I spray his cage throughout the day and he gets a warm shower in the morning either before or after breakfast. He doesn't eat much; up to three in one sitting if he's interested. I offer more throughout the day but he's never eaten more than five of anyting I give him.

He got MBT a few months ago and he's getting a little better. Even started to shed again and he's more energetic. However, when he's in his cage, he no longer climbs his tree (his front legs were affected and it's hard for him to grip anything) and sits on his ladder I put screen over so he wouldn't fall. I know this can't be reversed, but I'm hoping in the future he can at least grip small tree branchs.

 

[Remkon]

That's sad... I wonder how he got MBT with him being outside most of the year...
Maybe to much shade, to little sun?

Does he have a UVB-light when he's inside? Do you add supplements to his diet?
Crickets and mealworms only is not alot of variation, Jacksonii is a species that demands a variety of food... Maybe try to mix in waxworms, grasshoppes or (dubai) roaches....

 

[MyLittleBlue]

That's sad... I wonder how he got MBT with him being outside most of the year...
Maybe to much shade, to little sun?

Does he have a UVB-light when he's inside? Do you add supplements to his diet?
Crickets and mealworms only is not alot of variation, Jacksonii is a species that demands a variety of food... Maybe try to mix in waxworms, grasshoppes or (dubai) roaches....

He's only inside for a few while I hold him. I figured it was due to lack of sun. It comes in but he might need longer basking times. The pet stores don't have much for reptiles and the roaches don't ship to HI. I powder the crickets with ReptoCal Vitamin D3.

 

[Remkon]

Yea, it could be that the UVI is not high enough anymore in early or late day.
So maybe you can relocate him (if you did not already) to a place where it's more sunny but still offer him shade to hide away from the sun by covering off half of his enclosure with a towel or something.
He should be able to recover from MTB to some extend if the damage is not to great, but maybe you want to ask a vet's opinion about that...

You can try catching whatever crawls in nature in Hawaii and feed or even breed that...
If it doesn't sting or bite it should be ok as food.
I've read that Jacksonii loves snails so maybe you can catch and feed em if you see it.
You can also get worms from the ground and cut them up to feed them.
Or just go to your local bait-store and buy the maggots for fishing...
You can keep the maggots in the fridge and they should not turn into flies for quite some time... You can also let some of the maggots turn into flies and feed those... You may want to damage the wings since Blue isn't that mobile.
Just be creative I guess, Blue will appreciate the variation in his diet!

You should not give vitamins on daily basis but more like once a week instead of calcium.
Get calcium without D3 and dust the food with that lightly on a daily basis.
You can supplement calcium with D3 twice a month instead of calcium.
Odds are an overdose in supplements will do more harm than good so you want to lightly dust the food. Additionally you can gut-load the crickets with fruits dusted with a gut-loading supplement.

 

[MyLittleBlue]

Yea, it could be that the UVI is not high enough anymore in early or late day.
So maybe you can relocate him (if you did not already) to a place where it's more sunny but still offer him shade to hide away from the sun by covering off half of his enclosure with a towel or something.
He should be able to recover from MTB to some extend if the damage is not to great, but maybe you want to ask a vet's opinion about that...

You can try catching whatever crawls in nature in Hawaii and feed or even breed that...
If it doesn't sting or bite it should be ok as food.
I've read that Jacksonii loves snails so maybe you can catch and feed em if you see it.
You can also get worms from the ground and cut them up to feed them.
Or just go to your local bait-store and buy the maggots for fishing...
You can keep the maggots in the fridge and they should not turn into flies for quite some time... You can also let some of the maggots turn into flies and feed those... You may want to damage the wings since Blue isn't that mobile.
Just be creative I guess, Blue will appreciate the variation in his diet!

You should not give vitamins on daily basis but more like once a week instead of calcium.
Get calcium without D3 and dust the food with that lightly on a daily basis.
You can supplement calcium with D3 twice a month instead of calcium.
Odds are an overdose in supplements will do more harm than good so you want to lightly dust the food. Additionally you can gut-load the crickets with fruits dusted with a gut-loading supplement.

Awesome thanks! Ill try some of those. Ill look for other supplements.

 

[MyLittleBlue]

Update:
Got him a better cage. It's bigger for more climbing space.
I found Grasshoppers at Petco, but unfortunatly, they're from a can. I bought them anyway to try. He ate one because I put one in his mouth. He didn't seem to hate it but he refuses to eat anymore. I dont blame him. Disappointed in not finding any more live bugs besides mealworms and crickets but I'll keep looking around. Did more research and, like said above, I did over powder with the D3. The bottle says 1 to 2 times a week and I should have done less with that power.
Eventhough he lives outside, he doesn't get sun when it rains so we're going to test out a small UVB light. We're doing physical therapy everyday. I know he's in a lot of pain so I just have him walk on his stick about a foot and then he goes back on his screen covered ladder to rest. He's starting to walk better and he's using his tail again. I usually have to hold him up so he can balance but today he did it on his own. Now I'm just there to catch him when he tips a little.
He's also been shedding more often so that's good news.

 

[TheMusicalCham]

Jackson Chameleons are one of the harder species to care for. Always do extensive research before purchasing any animal especially a cham. I'm glad you're on the right path now. Take a look at the care sheets and always do more research!

 

[Vincentuanluu]

I'm a new Jackson owner so I joined the fourms for some help along the way.
View attachment 160305 My chameleon's name is Blue and I've had him since he was a baby. He's a little over a year old now. I got him from a friend when his Jackson had babies. After a month with their mothers, he gave some of the babies away.
I hold him often but not for too long. Don't want to stess him. He hangs out in his tall, wire cage outside on his Ficus tree. We live in Hawaii so the weather is pretty much always good for him to be out on the lani in the shade and gets sun a certain time of the day.
View attachment 160306
He mostly eats small crickets and occasionally, he'll have some mealworms (one or two). He has a waterfall fountain I got at petsmart and I also have a dripper for him. I found out later that the waterfall isn't the best for him but I've seen him drink from it once so I kept it. I spray his cage throughout the day and he gets a warm shower in the morning either before or after breakfast. He doesn't eat much; up to three in one sitting if he's interested. I offer more throughout the day but he's never eaten more than five of anyting I give him.
View attachment 160310
He got MBT a few months ago and he's getting a little better. Even started to shed again and he's more energetic. However, when he's in his cage, he no longer climbs his tree (his front legs were affected and it's hard for him to grip anything) and sits on his ladder I put screen over so he wouldn't fall. I know this can't be reversed, but I'm hoping in the future he can at least grip small tree branchs.
View attachment 160314

He's a cute guy, hope his recovery is doing a lot better. Good luck