Newborn Jacksons out of NOWHERE! PLS HELP

[Zaraa26]

I got a female Jackson about 5 months ago. I woke up from a nap and went to check on her yesterday afternoon and found babies basking in her lamp and she was in the corner still popping out eggs!. I immediately took the basking babies out and put them into a separate enclosure. 5 out of the 9 that hatched lived and I have them set up in a good-sized glass enclosure with a heat lamp and vines and plants.
Now I have never cared for newborn chameleons and I do have questions that I can't seem to find the answers for. I was these babies to live and be as healthy as possible I know I will have to separate them as they grow also and I have things ready for that. I also mist their cage everytime I see it has dried up and fog it about 3 times a day. here are my questions:
1.) At what temperature should I keep the babies?
2.) At night should I keep the light on or are they going to be okay? (it gets about low 70's high 60's at night)
3.) I bought flightless fruit flies, when should I feed the babies? right now they don't look interested in the ones in there.
4.) should I give them vitamins when they do start eating?
if you have ANY suggestions I am totally welcome to them I just want to keep them happy and healthy and alive. I'm worried because most people at the pet store told me they are most likely going to die, which I know it can happen so I'm not too upset but obviously they had no education on these animals if the one I got was pregnant.
Thank You!

 

[blue_cham]

I have no experience, but this 30min podcast episode by Bill Strand is literally about Jackson's having surprise babies. Bill is super reliable for info and it should have everything you need. Good luck and keep us posted!

https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/episode-002-surprise-chameleon-babies-yay-yikes/

 

[Zaraa26]

I have no experience, but this 30min podcast episode by Bill Strand is literally about Jackson's having surprise babies. Bill is super reliable for info and it should have everything you need. Good luck and keep us posted!

https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/episode-002-surprise-chameleon-babies-yay-yikes/

Thank you! I will listen right now! Here’s the babies in their cage. It’s been about 29 hours and they’re doing good to me but I have no experience with babies.

 

[blue_cham]

I have only boy panthers, lol. (I'm hoping to get a Jackson in the future... ) But I've listened to all of Bill's podcasts, and remembered this one from forever ago.

I hate that the pet store would tell you that they would die, but I'm not surprised either. They tend to be unreliable for information. They have a good chance if given what they need. They look adorable, I wish you the best. And if you need any help the community is here for you don't be afraid to ask

 

[JoshD49]

Congrats and good luck at the same time. I have wanted a male Jackson's for a long time. Such a happy and scary moment. I hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Zaraa26]

I have only boy panthers, lol. (I'm hoping to get a Jackson in the future... ) But I've listened to all of Bill's podcasts, and remembered this one from forever ago.

I hate that the pet store would tell you that they would die, but I'm not surprised either. They tend to be unreliable for information. They have a good chance if given what they need. They look adorable, I wish you the best. And if you need any help the community is here for you don't be afraid to ask

I absolutely love Jackson’s but I’ve been looking into getting a panther to add but now that’s postponed until these little things find homes. Thank you again!

 

[Zaraa26]

Congrats and good luck at the same time. I have wanted a male Jackson's for a long time. Such a happy and scary moment. I hope everything turns out ok.

Thank you! I panicked for a good hour when I noticed she was giving birth. It’s been a couple nights of me being scared to fall asleep also so yes, very happy but very scary.

 

[DeremensisBlue]

@Zaraa26 Welcome to the joys of Jackson's Chameleon ownership! You have now been initiated. I'll discuss some of your questions, but, here is a page I put together that will be a good reference for care of Jackson's Chameleon baby care:
Jackson's Chameleon.org Baby Care

Humidity/hydration
I am going to suggest you switch that fogging from day to night. Although baby chameleons in the wild might stay closer to the ground where the humidity might be a bit higher than in the trees, the natural ebb and flow of humidity is that it gets high at night and then dries out during the day. This is going to be critically important for you because you have the babies in the glass cage. A glass cage is fine, but it absolutely needs to dry out during the day. There is a perception that Jackson's Chameleons need high humidity and that really isn't the case standard humidity levels that are comfortable for humans (30-50%) are enough during the day. But they will gain immense benefit from having that fogging and humidity during the night. Fogging during the night will help them retain hydration and if you can spray the surfaces down in the morning before the lights come on then they can wake up to a blanket of dew - which is what they were designed to live off of.
This podcast describes the 24 hour hydration cycle if you happen to have time in all this chaos to listen to another podcast This will explain why you want to fog during the night instead of the day
Ep 89: Naturalistic Hydration for Chameleons

And this video has a graphical representation of that humidity cycle right around time stamp 16:25. The reason why I am making a big deal about this is that keeping the cage with such high humidity during the day could cause problems in itself.
Video on first chameleons with a section on daily humidity cycles


Temperatures
Definitely let them cool down at night. 60s is great. Do not worry about them until you start heading into the low 50s at night. Offer a basking bulb so they can warm up, but be very careful that it does not overheat your cage. Overheating is one of the biggest killers of Jackson's Chameleons. Avoid getting their ambient temperature above 80. You can easily determine how much basking they need by how long they stay under the lamp. Err on the side of cool rather than hot. These are cooler temperature chameleons than our typical veiled or panthers.

Feeding
flightless fruit flies are perfect. You can supplement them just like you do the adults. Though this is a good time to review your supplementation schedule if you would like!

UVB
UVB needs are like adults, but you are doing it in much smaller quarters so be very careful of those T5s unless you have a way to suspend them higher above the cages. Small baby cages are a good use for T8 5.0s. What is your UVB situation?

Cage
You will need thick plant cover to allow the babies to get out of the UVB and out of sight of each other. Ideally you would separate them into their own cages, but this is usually not practical advice for someone that was just surprised by a new dragon horde! So give them as much space as you can and as much plant live so they can get away from each other. They will soon seek each other out to cause trouble, but let's get your brood stabilized first before going to the next steps! So - lots of plant cover and lots of thin branches for them to perch on.

That podcast on surprise Jackson's Chameleon babies referenced above was put together exactly for this situation. Go ahead, give it a listen, and come back with questions. Raising up your first bunch of babies is a crazy experience, but it can be done successfully with a little bit of help. You are at the right place to get that help!

Bill

 

[blue_cham]

I absolutely love Jackson’s but I’ve been looking into getting a panther to add but now that’s postponed until these little things find homes. Thank you again!

I love my Panthers! As for rehoming, when they are off age, let the community know, there may be members living near you interested

 

[ChamChamChangeForMe]

Congrats!!

 

[Zaraa26]

@Zaraa26 Welcome to the joys of Jackson's Chameleon ownership! You have now been initiated. I'll discuss some of your questions, but, here is a page I put together that will be a good reference for care of Jackson's Chameleon baby care:
Jackson's Chameleon.org Baby Care

Humidity/hydration
I am going to suggest you switch that fogging from day to night. Although baby chameleons in the wild might stay closer to the ground where the humidity might be a bit higher than in the trees, the natural ebb and flow of humidity is that it gets high at night and then dries out during the day. This is going to be critically important for you because you have the babies in the glass cage. A glass cage is fine, but it absolutely needs to dry out during the day. There is a perception that Jackson's Chameleons need high humidity and that really isn't the case standard humidity levels that are comfortable for humans (30-50%) are enough during the day. But they will gain immense benefit from having that fogging and humidity during the night. Fogging during the night will help them retain hydration and if you can spray the surfaces down in the morning before the lights come on then they can wake up to a blanket of dew - which is what they were designed to live off of.
This podcast describes the 24 hour hydration cycle if you happen to have time in all this chaos to listen to another podcast This will explain why you want to fog during the night instead of the day
Ep 89: Naturalistic Hydration for Chameleons

And this video has a graphical representation of that humidity cycle right around time stamp 16:25. The reason why I am making a big deal about this is that keeping the cage with such high humidity during the day could cause problems in itself.
Video on first chameleons with a section on daily humidity cycles


Temperatures
Definitely let them cool down at night. 60s is great. Do not worry about them until you start heading into the low 50s at night. Offer a basking bulb so they can warm up, but be very careful that it does not overheat your cage. Overheating is one of the biggest killers of Jackson's Chameleons. Avoid getting their ambient temperature above 80. You can easily determine how much basking they need by how long they stay under the lamp. Err on the side of cool rather than hot. These are cooler temperature chameleons than our typical veiled or panthers.

Feeding
flightless fruit flies are perfect. You can supplement them just like you do the adults. Though this is a good time to review your supplementation schedule if you would like!

UVB
UVB needs are like adults, but you are doing it in much smaller quarters so be very careful of those T5s unless you have a way to suspend them higher above the cages. Small baby cages are a good use for T8 5.0s. What is your UVB situation?

Cage
You will need thick plant cover to allow the babies to get out of the UVB and out of sight of each other. Ideally you would separate them into their own cages, but this is usually not practical advice for someone that was just surprised by a new dragon horde! So give them as much space as you can and as much plant live so they can get away from each other. They will soon seek each other out to cause trouble, but let's get your brood stabilized first before going to the next steps! So - lots of plant cover and lots of thin branches for them to perch on.

That podcast on surprise Jackson's Chameleon babies referenced above was put together exactly for this situation. Go ahead, give it a listen, and come back with questions. Raising up your first bunch of babies is a crazy experience, but it can be done successfully with a little bit of help. You are at the right place to get that help!

Bill

Thank you so much! This helps a lot I did listen to the podcast and took many notes. As for the uvb I’ve been switching between momma and babies because I only have one. I ordered more recently and they should be here tomorrow!

 

[pmdaggett79]

That’s pretty cool that this happened. I was just telling my wife about the little babies and she said, “so what do you feed them? Milk”. Lmao I said not quite and she said,”oh so their not like normal babies.” Lol I just had to share this. Congratulations and I hope they grow healthy and strong

 

[ChamChamChangeForMe]

That’s pretty cool that this happened. I was just telling my wife about the little babies and she said, “so what do you feed them? Milk”. Lmao I said not quite and she said,”oh so their not like normal babies.” Lol I just had to share this. Congratulations and I hope they grow healthy and strong

 

[Zaraa26]

That’s pretty cool that this happened. I was just telling my wife about the little babies and she said, “so what do you feed them? Milk”. Lmao I said not quite and she said,”oh so their not like normal babies.” Lol I just had to share this. Congratulations and I hope they grow healthy and strong

Sounds like me when I was in my initial panic of seeing her have babies Thank you!

 

[iMi]

Congrats. This is way cool. Let me know where you are located. I would be interested in one of the offsprings!

 

[Zaraa26]

I am located in the Seattle area of Washington state

 

[Zaraa26]

Congrats. This is way cool. Let me know where you are located. I would be interested in one of the offsprings!

Thanks! I am located in the Seattle area of Washington state

 

[iMi]

Bummer... I'm in the Chicago area.

 

[JacksJill]

How are they doing?

 

[CJ's Exotics]

What is the supplementation schedule of the mother?