New Jackson’s chameleon owner.

[Isaac_562_]

Hello, I’m new to keeping chameleons and I was hoping I could get some pointers from people with more experience. As far as the lighting goes I’m using a small halogen bulb for heat and I have a UVb build that’s on at least 9 hours a day. I’m feeding them both a few mealworms a day along with what they hunt down in the cage. I have two Jackson’s chameleons that I house together. The shop owner said that it would be fine because they were “used to each other”. I’m not sure how accurate this is and I’m ready to get a separate enclosure if necessary. Is my setup missing anything important? Also can anyone tell me if both my chams look healthy?? Thanks a ton in advance.

 

[Paige21. Chameleon]

Hello! The second picture of your Jackson's chameleon, your buddy is looking stressed. When you see him with a brownish blackish coloring that's a sign of stress. Your little friend with the darkish coloring might be stressed because it's a new home, or because he or she doesn't like the habitat or the other chameleon in it.

 

[Thehippie]

no do not house together, that is very bad for them and will stress them out. I used to have a male jacksons and they are pretty hardy chams.
do not feed meal worms either they are too hard to digest for chameleons a can cause impaction
could you will out the how to ask for help form in my signature so we can make sure your care is in tip top shape

 

[Thehippie]

I also see that you have a male and female, she looks to be at the age where she can become gravid, make sure she is separated from that male asap, if she becomes gravid she will be a live bearer you just have to wait

 

[Repti]

Pet shops shouldn’t own/sell animals they don’t know anything about, but I am glad you went to this fourm to ask for help.

 

[Isaac_562_]

Hello! The second picture of your Jackson's chameleon, your buddy is looking stressed. When you see him with a brownish blackish coloring that's a sign of stress. little friend with the darkish coloring might be stressed because it's a new home, or because he or she doesn't like the habitat or the other chameleon in it.

Thank you for replying! I just got home now and the female is now the same color as the male maybe just a slight darker shade of green. I thought her black bands were part of her natural coloration but im glad to say she is looking better now.

 

[Isaac_562_]

no do not house together, that is very bad for them and will stress them out. I used to have a male jacksons and they are pretty hardy chams.
do not feed meal worms either they are too hard to digest for chameleons a can cause impaction
could you will out the how to ask for help form in my signature so we can make sure your care is in tip top shape

• Your Chameleon - i have 2 Jacksons chameleons the male being roughly 9 months old and the female is around 7 months as far as i know. ive had them for 5 days now.
• Handling - i handle both of them a few times a week. the last owner told me they were used to being handled every day but i read that is very stressful for them.
• Feeding - i work at a feed store so i buy the gut loaded crickets we carry and i let them roam in the enclosure so they eat them throught the day. i also attempt to give them mealworms everyday i get home from work the most i will give them is 2. we gutload them with a brand called total bites.
• Supplements - im dusting crickets with a calcium dust without d3. i asked the owner if a needed one with d3 and he told me no the uvb bulb would take care of it. i still need to get a multivitamin which i will be giving them every other week.
• Watering -i have a drip system which i leave hanging while im gone. but both chams love to drink when i get home and give them water threw the drippers tube.
• Fecal Description - dark brown\white and a few dropping have some orange in it.
• History- i bought the cham at a local reptile shop and he told me they were both healthy which is relatively true but i do suspect that my female has a burn mark which i will be taking her to the vet tomorrow for. he also told me the female was naturally black and green as he had never seen her change color but today i found that she is a lime color with no black bands.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type- i have a screen cage that is 36"x18x18 that has a plastic door on the front. it is the zoo med deluxe cage.
• Lighting - im using a compact uvb bulb and a small halogen bulb as a heat source. both are made by zilla. i keep both on for at least 9 hours a day 13 Max.
• Temperature - Right now the basking spot is 85 and the bottom is about 70. the temerature never drops below 60 at night.
• Humidity -As of right now i dont have a humidity gauge but i will be getting one tomorrow after i get paid tonight. i have a dripper that i setup so the water falls down the leaves in the enclosure so there are drops of water available at all times. and i mist twice daily.
• Plants - all the foliage is plastic i bought with them besides some veggies i give them from time to time.
• Placement - The cage is on top of my dresser which is as high as my shoulders. It is placed next to the door of my bedroom so the only traffic is me coming in and out for the most part.
• Location - im located in southern CA.

Current Problem - I just want to make sure im doing things right from the get go so both my chams can live a long and happy life.

 

[JoshD49]

Make sure you read the care sheets for Jackson's on this forum.

I believe your temps are a bit off and according to the chameleon breeder podcasts Jackson's need the night temp to go pretty cool and high humidity. @JacksJill is the person I refer to for Jackson's questions and would be able to give you advice for these.

For sure though you need to separate them. That cage is small for 1 let alone 2.

Where in socal are you? I live in Anaheim and aside from this rain the last few days it's been pretty dry so make sure you pick up a humidity gauge.

 

[Isaac_562_]

Make sure you read the care sheets for Jackson's on this forum.

I believe your temps are a bit off and according to the chameleon breeder podcasts Jackson's need the night temp to go pretty cool and high humidity. @JacksJill is the person I refer to for Jackson's questions and would be able to give you advice for these.

For sure though you need to separate them. That cage is small for 1 let alone 2.

Where in socal are you? I live in Anaheim and aside from this rain the last few days it's been pretty dry so make sure you pick up a humidity gauge.

Yeah i figured i might need to seperate them . Ill see what i can find tomorrow, im over in Lakewood lol. Ill definitely buy a humidity gauge tomorrow.

 

[Thehippie]

they are definitely old enough to breed now so they should be separated asap and the female should be monitored
handling should only be when the chameleon wants it, for the most part if they do not crawl onto you then they shouldnt be forced out of their enclosure i handle about once every week or two
feed bsf bsfl bbf mantids roaches silk worms and hornworms for a varied diet
you need to dust no d3 every feeding, with d3 every other week and multivitamin every other week
with the dripper system you also need to mist 3 times a day for at least 2-3 mins each, the orange in their poop means they're really dehydrated
the cage is too small, you should have the zoo med extra large
you need a linear uvb bulb, compact doesnt emit enough light for a chameleon
also jacksons shouldnt be eating plants, maybe some hibiscus here and there but for the most part its veileds who will eat the plants

 

[Isaac_562_]

they are definitely old enough to breed now so they should be separated asap and the female should be monitored
handling should only be when the chameleon wants it, for the most part if they do not crawl onto you then they shouldnt be forced out of their enclosure i handle about once every week or two
feed bsf bsfl bbf mantids roaches silk worms and hornworms for a varied diet
you need to dust no d3 every feeding, with d3 every other week and multivitamin every other week
with the dripper system you also need to mist 3 times a day for at least 2-3 mins each, the orange in their poop means they're really dehydrated
the cage is too small, you should have the zoo med extra large
you need a linear uvb bulb, compact doesnt emit enough light for a chameleon
also jacksons shouldnt be eating plants, maybe some hibiscus here and there but for the most part its veileds who will eat the plants

Alright I just picked up the zoo led large and I’ll be putting the male in their later today after I set it up. It is okay if I put the cages side by side if they can’t see each other??also Besides using the dripper is there any other way of providing more water for them? I’ve read you can use a glass cup or something similar but I don’t think chams drink from standing water right??as far as their diet goes I will stop giving them veggies then. Right now I have waxworms that I feed as a treat and mealworms and crickets daily but I’m planning on replacing the mealworms for something else soon. For supplements I bought rep-cals herptivite and calcium with d3 (no phosphorus). And I’m gutloading my crickets with flunkers high calcium diet and cricket quencher.

 

[Thehippie]

ok well for starters yes they can be next to eachother if they cant see eachother, you can get a hand or automatic mister for water, chams do not drink from standing water, waxworms are no good either, theyre too fatty, try silk worms or roaches for starters, try gutloading with fruits and veggies, the powder doesn't really provide much nutrition for chams

 

[JacksJill]

^^agreed wax worms can be a treat but not a staple.

 

[Isaac_562_]

ok well for starters yes they can be next to eachother if they cant see eachother, you can get a hand or automatic mister for water, chams do not drink from standing water, waxworms are no good either, theyre too fatty, try silk worms or roaches for starters, try gutloading with fruits and veggies, the powder doesn't really provide much nutrition for chams

Okay I’m looking into getting a hand mister in the near future. I’ll be going back to where I got bought them to buy some silk worms and horn worms I know they carry the smaller ones. Thank you for all your help!! I still can’t believe the worker at the reptile shop misinformed me so much. If the female is already gravid hopefully I can sell the babies. I would love to have 30 Jackson’s but I don’t think I could afford it lmao

 

[JoshD49]

I have always been into Jackson's and they we're actually the first species I held which was a wild one in Hawaii. I was so in love. I was worried about their needs being so different from panthers and veild I never gave them a shot. The horns are darn sexy though.

Welcome to the forums and I hope this is the last time you are misinformed by a shop. Keep learning here and you can teach them haha.

 

[JacksJill]

There is no way any one employee can know the proper care of every reptile, fish, amphibian and mammal that they might have in a store. You've come to the right place to fill in the gaps.

 

[Repti]

There is no way any one employee can know the proper care of every reptile, fish, amphibian and mammal that they might have in a store. You've come to the right place to fill in the gaps.

Agree, but if they don’t know the proper care for an animal then just ask another employer that does know, but they just guess and giving out wrong information.

 

[Isaac_562_]

I have always been into Jackson's and they we're actually the first species I held which was a wild one in Hawaii. I was so in love. I was worried about their needs being so different from panthers and veild I never gave them a shot. The horns are darn sexy though.

Welcome to the forums and I hope this is the last time you are misinformed by a shop. Keep learning here and you can teach them haha.

Honestly they’re so fascinating! I’ve had reptiles since I was young but I these guys might be my favorites aha. When I went into the shop I was fixed on getting a veiled but when they let me hold the male Jackson chameleon there wasn’t any turning back.im really glad this forum it seems like a great community.

 

[Isaac_562_]

Agree, but if they don’t know the proper care for an animal then just ask another employer that does know, but they just guess and giving out wrong information.

Working at a feed/pet store I know first hand there’s no way you can know everything about all the animals you carry in stock, but he shouldn’t have told me to house both chams together if it could be detrimental to their health that’s the only thing that bugged me.lol

 

[jagmom98]

they are definitely old enough to breed now so they should be separated asap and the female should be monitored
handling should only be when the chameleon wants it, for the most part if they do not crawl onto you then they shouldnt be forced out of their enclosure i handle about once every week or two
feed bsf bsfl bbf mantids roaches silk worms and hornworms for a varied diet
you need to dust no d3 every feeding, with d3 every other week and multivitamin every other week
with the dripper system you also need to mist 3 times a day for at least 2-3 mins each, the orange in their poop means they're really dehydrated
the cage is too small, you should have the zoo med extra large
you need a linear uvb bulb, compact doesnt emit enough light for a chameleon
also jacksons shouldnt be eating plants, maybe some hibiscus here and there but for the most part its veileds who will eat the plants

I think that jacksons have a different supplement schedule. Try looking it up in the caresheets for jacksons