New Jackson's Xantholophus

[elizaann2]

Quick question @Beman , @MissSkittles , @kinyonga I set up his wellness appointment with the vet for August 11th and to start getting his poop checked for parasites. Do you guys think this is too soon due to him being so young and still getting used to his environment?

 

[MissSkittles]

I don’t think that he’s too young. If he’s old/ big enough to go to his new home, he’s old/big enough for a vet visit.

 

[Beman]

Did you ask your breeder if he by chance does fecals on his babies? I know he runs a very very clean set up since he breeds quite a few different species of chams and other reptiles.

 

[elizaann2]

Did you ask your breeder if he by chance does fecals on his babies? I know he runs a very very clean set up since he breeds quite a few different species of chams and other reptiles.

I didn't but I will ask. Just with my previous experience with my panther, I decided to do 3 consecutive fecal tests before assuming they are parasite free regardless of where they came from as well as keep everything separate including in separate rooms until I have all three results in. It might be over kill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry I think. I dunno... is that crazy? I tend to go overboard on things occasionally.

 

[Beman]

I didn't but I will ask. Just with my previous experience with my panther, I decided to do 3 consecutive fecal tests before assuming they are parasite free regardless of where they came from as well as keep everything separate including in separate rooms until I have all three results in. It might be over kill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry I think. I dunno... is that crazy? I tend to go overboard on things occasionally.

Its up to you... What ever makes you feel most comfortable. I think with his age it would be best if they would allow you to drop of fecals rather than bringing him in. Might ask them if that is an option. Let him get some size on him before his first wellness check.

 

[elizaann2]

Its up to you... What ever makes you feel most comfortable. I think with his age it would be best if they would allow you to drop of fecals rather than bringing him in. Might ask them if that is an option. Let him get some size on him before his first wellness check.

I don’t think they will do fecals without seeing him first since I asked if I could start the process with a gecko I got not too long ago. Maybe I’ll just wait until he gets a little bigger and just be extra careful until then.

 

[Beman]

I don’t think they will do fecals without seeing him first since I asked if I could start the process with a gecko I got not too long ago. Maybe I’ll just wait until he gets a little bigger and just be extra careful until then.

Ask them to ask the vet that you see... Let them know how tiny he is and you do not want to cause stress to just get the fecal sample checked. Sometimes the vet if they are asked will say yes.

 

[elizaann2]

Ask them to ask the vet that you see... Let them know how tiny he is and you do not want to cause stress to just get the fecal sample checked. Sometimes the vet if they are asked will say yes.

Oh awesome thanks for the feedback I’ll call again and explain and see how it goes. If not I’ll push his appointment back a few more months.

 

[Beman]

Oh awesome thanks for the feedback I’ll call again and explain and see how it goes. If not I’ll push his appointment back a few more months.

Just make sure your getting your feeders from a reputable breeder. Don't bring anything home from the pet store.

 

[elizaann2]

Just make sure your getting your feeders from a reputable breeder. Don't bring anything home from the pet store.

I only order from costal silks and dubia.com.

 

[Lindasjackson]

Hi there and welcome! Little Bilbo is so darn adorable!! I have a jacksons xanth as well and I’ve had him for a little over 2 years and he’ll be 3 in October! They are a little more complicated species to keep but they are so awesome!! Congratulations on your new little one!

 

[Lindasjackson]

Hows his day and night humidity been?

 

[elizaann2]

Hi there and welcome! Little Bilbo is so darn adorable!! I have a jacksons xanth as well and I’ve had him for a little over 2 years and he’ll be 3 in October! They are a little more complicated species to keep but they are so awesome!! Congratulations on your new little one!

Thank you! I hope I can keep him alive and thriving for years to come! I am aware they are a more difficult species to keep healthy. I am hoping to get support and help through here and through the breeder I purchased him from to help me learn how to take care of this montane species. If you have any good tips or anything I am all ears! I do have a female veiled and a male panther so I would say I am level 'padawan' in chameleon care.

Right now he is on a 12 hour day time cycle 8 am to 8 pm. He is in a room to himself in my basement which is pretty cool naturally as is. I let his room cool naturally from 8 pm to 10 pm. At that point the temps in his enclosure are about 68-67 degrees. Then at 10 I'll turn on the room AC I purchased for him to maintain a maximum temp of 65 until 6 am at which point the AC turns off and the room naturally warms up to about 67-68 degrees again before lights turn on at 8 am. His fog machine starts around 10 pm. The fog machine runs for 1 hour on, thirty minutes off from 10 t 6 am. The humidity levels get to about 80%, however some spots in his enclosure get to the 90s. He is in a hybrid enclosure with the window cover stuff on the front door. The service panel on the bottom of the enclosure and the top are both still open screens to allow the chimney effect. Unfortunately I am unable to get to a higher humidity level than the 80s to 90 in some spots... I am not sure why but I'll keep messing with my set up until I can figure it out.

I currently hand mist all my cham enclosures at 7 am before lights turn on at 8 and again at night around 9 pm about an hour before the fog machines turn on.

Please let me know what I could be doing better! I love this hobby and these animals and I truly do want to do my absolute best by them.

 

[Lindasjackson]

Well I’ll tell you what I do for humidity. My jacksons is in an all screen enclosure, 24x24x48 inches and I have it covered on three sides with a shower curtain cut to size and Velcroed on. At night there is a piece that Velcro’s onto the door and leaves the service door uncovered. I have a mist king that mists his enclosure at 7 pm right after lights out and at 7 am right before lights on. I also have the pets pioneer fogger that fogs constantly from 12 midnight until 5 am. it mimics the fog rolling in off the ocean in Africa up in the mountains where they are from. I can get the humidity up to 80-90% this way. He is in my living room because I live in a small one bedroom Apt. I have a window ac unit right beside him that I run at night from about 6 pm to 7 am to get his enclosure temp to about 65 degrees. At 7 am his lights come on so he can warm up enough to digest his food. If you have any questions or need help, jacksjill or I can help. Jacksjill has more experience than I do though. There are also a couple other guys here that pop on sometimes but I haven’t seen them in awhile. One is Kaizen and the other is Mendez. They both have lots of experience with Jackson’s. I do hope your little one does well!

 

[elizaann2]

Well I’ll tell you what I do for humidity. My jacksons is in an all screen enclosure, 24x24x48 inches and I have it covered on three sides with a shower curtain cut to size and Velcroed on. At night there is a piece that Velcro’s onto the door and leaves the service door uncovered. I have a mist king that mists his enclosure at 7 pm right after lights out and at 7 am right before lights on. I also have the pets pioneer fogger that fogs constantly from 12 midnight until 5 am. it mimics the fog rolling in off the ocean in Africa up in the mountains where they are from. I can get the humidity up to 80-90% this way. He is in my living room because I live in a small one bedroom Apt. I have a window ac unit right beside him that I run at night from about 6 pm to 7 am to get his enclosure temp to about 65 degrees. At 7 am his lights come on so he can warm up enough to digest his food. If you have any questions or need help, jacksjill or I can help. Jacksjill has more experience than I do though. There are also a couple other guys here that pop on sometimes but I haven’t seen them in awhile. One is Kaizen and the other is Mendez. They both have lots of experience with Jackson’s. I do hope your little one does well!

Thank you so much for the support!! I am sure I will have a lot of questions as time goes on. He is such a cute little bug I really hope I do well with him!

 

[elizaann2]

He hasn't eaten much since I got him. I am currently feeding him a mix of bsfl, dubia roaches, silk worms, wax worms, supers and like 4 bsf. I got him on Wednesday, at what point do I need to worry?

 

[Beman]

@JacksJill ^^^^ What are your thoughts on the lack of eating?

 

[elizaann2]

@JacksJill ^^^^ What are your thoughts on the lack of eating?

He is getting something but just not a lot or at least not as much as I am expecting him to eat. He did poop this morning (photo attached) so I am hoping I am just paranoid. This is my current feeding station (photo attached), I added one more and split 20 bugs between the two cups. Cups are in separate parts of the enclosure. I currently have 4 bsf free range in there and put 3 silkworms freerange on sticks. I did see him eat a silkworm this morning so I am hoping the issue is the feeding station doesn't work for him and that is the issue.

When I get back from work today I am going to make a homemade feeder run cup that Chameleon Academy teaches and see how that goes. If that works well I will order a good one for him rather than have a milk jug feeder .

I also ordered him some crickets in case that is what he is used to eating.

I am also tracking everything via spreadsheet should I need to provide information to anyone or my vet (also attached).

As a 4 month old how much about should he be eating? I was expecting 10ish but maybe he is too small for that many feeders daily?

 

[JacksJill]

I would expect 12 tiny feeders of the size of a week above pinheads. I think you will see he does better when the crickets arrive. Many breeders use them only because they are easier to work with in large numbers.

 

[elizaann2]

I would expect 12 tiny feeders of the size of a week above pinheads. I think you will see he does better when the crickets arrive. Many breeders use them only because they are easier to work with in large numbers.

Thank you so much! I ordered some this morning so they should arrive in about 2 days. Until then I’ll keep up with free range with what I can and a few feeding stations.