New female Jacksons Chameleon! first time owner!

[nasi8one]

Hello everyone, I am excited to have purchased a female jacksons chameleon (Xantholopus??? she is hornless). She is 4" from the tip of her nose to where her tail begins. what is the average size for a female? I am currently feeding her meal worms, wax worms, and crickets. I will be dusting my crickets with "zoo med repti calcium w/ d3" every 5 weeks ( does this sound right?). I will be picking up multi vitamins, and calcium without d3 soon .At the moment I have her in a 24x 13x13 glass tank with a screen top. within a week, I will either be going to purchase an all screen enclosure or build one my self so she can be more comfortable in a larger home. I have a "exo terra solar glo 125w MV bulb" 1 foot away from her highest vine she can climb onto. I was wondering, should be lowered or raised more? I do have a "repti sun 5.0" but thought the all in one bulb was best. Any suggestions? I only handle her to take her out to the natural sun, and to clean her house. I mist the enclosure about 4-5 times a day for 2-3 minutes. She drinks and eats fine, does not sleep during the day, and roams her enclosure which I see as a sign of good health. Her fecal matter is good, and her urate is white but a little runny ( over hydration? is that possible?). Her day temps are between 70- 75 f and her basking spot is around 77- 82 f. Is that fine for a jacksons chameleon? i have included some pictures for everyone to see my little girl. Also can anyone estimate age? she was also housed with a male at the store so if anyone can see early stages of pregnancy please let me know. I want her to be as healthy as possible and live a long life. Another question I have is, do her colors look good? She shows tans, browns, blacks, reds, oranges, and brownish green colors. Around her eyes there is bright green. When will she start showing brighter colors? THANK YOU ALL! HOPE TO HEAR BACK FROM SOME OF YOU!

 

[TheBriMan23]

I keep jackson's at the moment i have one male and a female coming in a few days and im really excited and hoping to breed the two. Great job on the misting as Jackson's are a montane species and require high humidity. Your lighting is good too. You might, but this is just a suggestion not a must do, lower the temps in your cage a bit, but not much. In the 65-75F range would be good. Make sure you get that screen enclosure. Chameleons require great ventilation. Your supplementation is correct if you get the multivitamin and the calcium without D3 a good schedule for supplements is to rotate between all three each feeding. You are right her colors do look a little dull. Lets hope her greens start coming in soon!

 

[chamillionaire3]

while i do agree with you on the temps you do not supplement jacksons every feeding. the require a lot less supplementation than all other cham species. if you supplement too much with them it will cause kidney and liver damage. with my jackson i give him calcium without d3 every 2 weeks and multivitamins and calcium with d3 once a month. by the way you have one good looking female there. i would say she is about 7 to 8 months and no she isnt pregnant. you can start breeding her at about a year old. also i would go for the screen cage cause yes they do need very very good ventilation and really high humidity (70-80%). if your having trouble with humidity pm me and i can give you some pointers. but most importantly you really dont need to supplement every feeding cause it will hurt your jackson.

 

[nasi8one]

I am also thinking of purchasing a male just to have the pair if i ever decide to breed. Have you ever bred jacksons before? if so is her size normal or is she showing early signs of pregnancy? I will lower the temps a bit, thanks for the help. Im guessing her colors are dull from being introduced to her new habitat. Hopefully they do, i can not wait to see her show colors. Is a humidity of 70- 80 good?

 

[chamillionaire3]

if you do purchase a male make sure to keep them in seperate cages. if not the male will stress out the female cause he will always try to mate with her. and also he can make it so she wont eat as much. and yes 70-80 humidity is perfect. btw i have not bred jacksons before. i always wanted to cause they give live birth. and in my opinion i think she is a tad dull cause she has been moved to a new home. she will brighten up once she gets used to everything. just give her a few days

 

[nasi8one]

while i do agree with you on the temps you do not supplement jacksons every feeding. the require a lot less supplementation than all other cham species. if you supplement too much with them it will cause kidney and liver damage. with my jackson i give him calcium without d3 every 2 weeks and multivitamins and calcium with d3 once a month. by the way you have one good looking female there. i would say she is about 7 to 8 months and no she isnt pregnant. you can start breeding her at about a year old. also i would go for the screen cage cause yes they do need very very good ventilation and really high humidity (70-80%). if your having trouble with humidity pm me and i can give you some pointers. but most importantly you really dont need to supplement every feeding cause it will hurt your jackson.

just saw that you answered my humidity question. Ok, i was not ready to care for offspring just yet. I will definetly get a screen enclosure for her soon. Thank you, she really is beautiful. should she be showing brighter colors at her age? or are the dull colors normal? Thanks for your help

 

[chamillionaire3]

haha my bad we are in between responses. i answered the dullness question above. but the most important thing honestly is do not supplement too much. it will really hurt your jackson. im sure other people will chime in and agree with this

 

[nasi8one]

haha my bad we are in between responses. i answered the dullness question above. but the most important thing honestly is do not supplement too much. it will really hurt your jackson. im sure other people will chime in and agree with this

its all good, as long as i learn from asking questions. So am I on the right track dusting crickets with d3 every 5 weeks? Also what multivitamins are recommended? I am not trying to buy the wrong thing

 

[chamillionaire3]

yes your on the right track. make sure to get calcium without d3 also. and i use the exoterra multivitamin. it was like 15 bucks at my local pet store.

 

[Action Jackson]

Very nice female Xantholophus. I think your temperatures are fine. Good luck with her.

 

[nasi8one]

Very nice female Xantholophus. I think your temperatures are fine. Good luck with her.

any help on her colors? im so impatient to see her colors brighten up! its killing me softly.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

She will turn a brighter green when she's relaxed, which may take up to a few weeks after changing environments, but Jackson's aren't known for being really colorful.

 

[nasi8one]

She will turn a brighter green when she's relaxed, which may take up to a few weeks after changing environments, but Jackson's aren't known for being really colorful.

OK good to know. Ive been reading up and looking at images and see alot of females with bright green coloration. That is all im waiting for, her green colors. Thanks for the info. greatly appreciated! Maybe you can answer a question I have. I just noticed she climbs down and walks on the bottom of the cage. I assume she is looking for cooler temperatures. should i worry about this? she only stayed at the bottom for about 2 minutes then found a nice shaded spot away from the lights.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

If you just got her she is likely just exploring her whole environment. Give her a few days to settle in some more and see if she still does it. Make sure she has a good amount of foliage in her cage so she feels protected. If she doesn't feel safe she might be trying to find someplace she can go where she does feel safe. If she feels like she can easily hide from predators she might be more relaxed and show some nice greens sooner.

 

[nasi8one]

If you just got her she is likely just exploring her whole environment. Give her a few days to settle in some more and see if she still does it. Make sure she has a good amount of foliage in her cage so she feels protected. If she doesn't feel safe she might be trying to find someplace she can go where she does feel safe. If she feels like she can easily hide from predators she might be more relaxed and show some nice greens sooner.

Ok good to know, will buy her some more vines, and a few safe plants asap. I have been to my local home depot but the workers there did not know where to find any of the plants i was asking for. What are some smaller species of plants that are safe with chameleons? im no botanist and do not know where to begin. Thank you for your help

 

[chamillionaire3]

in my cages i use ficus and schefflera. as for a smaller plant the ficus is much smaller than my schefflera. but i dont go to home depot to get plants, i go to a small flower shop that has a huge year round greenhouse. not only do they have a huge selection but you can get the plant you want in different sizes. i would look around on google for a place that has a year round greenhouse cause they will have a wayyyy better selection. but i do live in colorado so when winter comes home depot and lowes have barely any selection. if you want a list of plants that are safe for your cham do a search for the safe plant list.

 

[deadhd5]

while i do agree with you on the temps you do not supplement jacksons every feeding. the require a lot less supplementation than all other cham species. if you supplement too much with them it will cause kidney and liver damage. with my jackson i give him calcium without d3 every 2 weeks and multivitamins and calcium with d3 once a month. by the way you have one good looking female there. i would say she is about 7 to 8 months and no she isnt pregnant. you can start breeding her at about a year old. also i would go for the screen cage cause yes they do need very very good ventilation and really high humidity (70-80%). if your having trouble with humidity pm me and i can give you some pointers. but most importantly you really dont need to supplement every feeding cause it will hurt your jackson.

Removed: see below

 

[deadhd5]

while i do agree with you on the temps you do not supplement jacksons every feeding. the require a lot less supplementation than all other cham species. if you supplement too much with them it will cause kidney and liver damage. with my jackson i give him calcium without d3 every 2 weeks and multivitamins and calcium with d3 once a month. by the way you have one good looking female there. i would say she is about 7 to 8 months and no she isnt pregnant. you can start breeding her at about a year old. also i would go for the screen cage cause yes they do need very very good ventilation and really high humidity (70-80%). if your having trouble with humidity pm me and i can give you some pointers. but most importantly you really dont need to supplement every feeding cause it will hurt your jackson.

According to conventional wisdom you are undersupplmenting plain calcium. I believe the generally accepted schedule is about every other day for plain calcium, d3 once a month, vitimins once a month (assuming normal UVB exposure).

 

[chamillionaire3]

According to conventional wisdom you are undersupplmenting plain calcium. I believe the generally accepted schedule is about every other day for plain calcium, d3 once a month, vitimins once a month (assuming normal UVB exposure).

okay thank you. i guess i was misinformed. im sorry for misinforming other people as well. i will now use this schedule

 

[deadhd5]

okay thank you. i guess i was misinformed. im sorry for misinforming other people as well. i will now use this schedule

No worries, you were certainly right to point out that Jackson's supplementation is much less than veilds or panthers.

While you do not want to overload a cham on plain calcium, too much in not toxic to chams like too much D3 or other vitamins such as Vit A.

Cool screen name by the way!