I bought a breeding pair of jacksons from the pet store this weekend and they said she's due anytime now. Should I seperate him now before she has the babies? And do I seperate her and the babies? And what kind of plants live plants can I put in the cage? Last but not least where's the best place to get fake plants or vines for the cage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Pregnant jackson, need help...
- Thread starter JC1983
- Start date
I would separate them. She would likely be less stressed and the babies would have a better chance. Also...you do need to remove the babies once she has laid them all.
Pothos, scheflura (sp?), hibiscus, etc are good plants for the cage. As for artificial flowers and vines...can't tell you....don't know where you live.
Pothos, scheflura (sp?), hibiscus, etc are good plants for the cage. As for artificial flowers and vines...can't tell you....don't know where you live.
heather89
New Member
Hey there, I got your pm and decided it would be easier to reply to this thread. Unfortunately, it sounds like the shop was very irresponsible to keep them together long-term and to sell someone without experience a far along preggo female. Oh well.
Make sure you have hydei (flightless) fruit fly cultures ready for after the babies are born. They might not eat the first 24 hours and might sleep most of that as they are recovering from birth. Egg born species tend to eat more quickly and be heartier than live bearing species (like Jackson's). I break of the end of a ripe banana and stand it on end in a shallow petri dish in the baby cage and then dump the fruit flies on it. If the banana is ripe then the flies will tend to stay on it and the light color provides good contrast for the babies to see the flies. Be sure to replace the banana often to prevent mold.
1 week old silkworms are also a great feeder. Be aware though that if you order eggs from somewhere they won't hatch for about 10 days after shipping and are then too small for atleast a week to be of any use. I feed silkworms the cooked powder food, but to put them in with the babies I place a decent size mulberry leaf on top of them and then after it has a bunch on it then put it in the baby enclosure.
I had a hard time finding pinheads that weren't 12 cents each (which is ridiculous), and when I did buy some my babies weren't as interested as with the flies. Don't get the melangaster (sp.) fruit flies, also called wingless. They have different behavior than the hydei and tend to swarm the babies and not stay on the fruit. Plus they are so tiny that they are useless.
Put a warm/cool mist humidifier next to your baby enclosure and keep it running 24/7. At night turn it to low warm and during the day (depending on your temps) you can use it on warm or cool. This will keep the humidity up, your babies hydrated, and will also provide them a source of drinking water where it condensates on the screen.
Do not use a heat bulb. Use only a UVB bulb. The babies are so small that they have a hard time regulating their body temperature. Make sure that your nighttime temp. is no lower than 68 and your daytime temp is no higher than 76. Adults like more of a range, but for babies I would try to stay within these ranges.
Make sure you immediately separate babies from the mother. Use wet q-tips to clean, stimulate any babies that might have not made it out of their sacs on their own. Although, I think that every single one we helped ended up dying. If they aren't strong enough or responsive enough to get out on their own then there's a good chance they might not make it at all. But I had to atleast try.
Make sure you have hydei (flightless) fruit fly cultures ready for after the babies are born. They might not eat the first 24 hours and might sleep most of that as they are recovering from birth. Egg born species tend to eat more quickly and be heartier than live bearing species (like Jackson's). I break of the end of a ripe banana and stand it on end in a shallow petri dish in the baby cage and then dump the fruit flies on it. If the banana is ripe then the flies will tend to stay on it and the light color provides good contrast for the babies to see the flies. Be sure to replace the banana often to prevent mold.
1 week old silkworms are also a great feeder. Be aware though that if you order eggs from somewhere they won't hatch for about 10 days after shipping and are then too small for atleast a week to be of any use. I feed silkworms the cooked powder food, but to put them in with the babies I place a decent size mulberry leaf on top of them and then after it has a bunch on it then put it in the baby enclosure.
I had a hard time finding pinheads that weren't 12 cents each (which is ridiculous), and when I did buy some my babies weren't as interested as with the flies. Don't get the melangaster (sp.) fruit flies, also called wingless. They have different behavior than the hydei and tend to swarm the babies and not stay on the fruit. Plus they are so tiny that they are useless.
Put a warm/cool mist humidifier next to your baby enclosure and keep it running 24/7. At night turn it to low warm and during the day (depending on your temps) you can use it on warm or cool. This will keep the humidity up, your babies hydrated, and will also provide them a source of drinking water where it condensates on the screen.
Do not use a heat bulb. Use only a UVB bulb. The babies are so small that they have a hard time regulating their body temperature. Make sure that your nighttime temp. is no lower than 68 and your daytime temp is no higher than 76. Adults like more of a range, but for babies I would try to stay within these ranges.
Make sure you immediately separate babies from the mother. Use wet q-tips to clean, stimulate any babies that might have not made it out of their sacs on their own. Although, I think that every single one we helped ended up dying. If they aren't strong enough or responsive enough to get out on their own then there's a good chance they might not make it at all. But I had to atleast try.
heather89
New Member
Baby bin
Here is a link to a post that someone posted about a baby bin set-up. Might be easier than buying another screen cage, since you will need to get one for your male too. https://www.chameleonforums.com/first-baby-bin-what-do-you-think-132950/
Here is a link to a post that someone posted about a baby bin set-up. Might be easier than buying another screen cage, since you will need to get one for your male too. https://www.chameleonforums.com/first-baby-bin-what-do-you-think-132950/
heather89
New Member
Mother aftercare
For the mother's care: Be sure you are dusting all her food with regular calcium (without d3). I would not use wax or meal worms regularly. Stick to gut loaded crickets (not regular empty calorie crickets) or silkworms (my favorite).
My female was also very, very thirsty. To the point that I put a small container of water in her enclosure with fake plastic leaves in it and she immediately went down to it and drank and drank. Poor babies took a lot out of her!
I also give her the chance to eat more than my other adults (who I feed about 4 times a week). She gets fed at least once a day. I would go ahead and give her a dose of multivitamin and D3 if you haven't since they were born too.
Don't be surprised if she wants to be left alone for a while. Just be sure you get all the babies out! Also, I did post a thread about the 20% survival rate for Jackson's and the response so far has been that it's true and many die around 4-5 weeks old up until 3-5 MONTHS. Just be prepared for that even if you do everything else right.
For the mother's care: Be sure you are dusting all her food with regular calcium (without d3). I would not use wax or meal worms regularly. Stick to gut loaded crickets (not regular empty calorie crickets) or silkworms (my favorite).
My female was also very, very thirsty. To the point that I put a small container of water in her enclosure with fake plastic leaves in it and she immediately went down to it and drank and drank. Poor babies took a lot out of her!
I also give her the chance to eat more than my other adults (who I feed about 4 times a week). She gets fed at least once a day. I would go ahead and give her a dose of multivitamin and D3 if you haven't since they were born too.
Don't be surprised if she wants to be left alone for a while. Just be sure you get all the babies out! Also, I did post a thread about the 20% survival rate for Jackson's and the response so far has been that it's true and many die around 4-5 weeks old up until 3-5 MONTHS. Just be prepared for that even if you do everything else right.
Lovereps
Avid Member
Jackson's are my favorite chams .
I've successfully bred 2 of mine and have raised more than 50 Jackson's babies in glass terrariums not aquariums and did NOT experience the horrendously low survival rate that many others have reported.
In fact, you can see a few of my beautiful 7 month old Jackson's in my post in the Classifieds section.
The only casualty out of 53 was a runt, who still still managed to survive for 4 months in my care.
Born weighing .5 grams, he was only 1.4 grams after 4 months due to his internal defect.
With such large numbers of babies, there is often a runt.
That's just the way things are with nature.
I strongly suspect the lowered survival rate that many people have is usually due to one (or both) of 2 things.
The health of the mom before the birth.
If she was imported while gravid, she may have been subjected to conditions which cause dehydration and/or less than ideal nutrition.
In captivity, these problems can still exist if a person was given the wrong instructions on Jackson's care, as many people have had happen.
Jackson's can be difficult to get to drink enough.
They can be shy and many don't like to be seen drinking plus they often need a few minutes of spraying before they start to drink.
For this reason, many people choose to get an automatic misting system, like the MistKing or AquaZamp.
Both systems are reliable and well liked by many forum members.
The second cause I suspect, is failing to ensure that the babies are in a humid enough--though not constantly wet--environment and that they are being misted with a fine mist, such as from a hand held spray bottle, for a long enough time and often enough to be drinking all that they need to.
These are not scientifically proven facts, they are simply my theories, based on what I know about Jackson's babies.
Definitely separate the male from the female now.
Since she is expecting, it would be better to move him to a new enclosure if they came together with one.
Jackson's females typically give birth in the morning.
Most often, the female stops eating a week or 2 before the birth.
When the babies are born, you will need to move the babies into a separate enclosure, before mom gains her appetite and starts seeing the babies as food.
An easy way to move the babies is to get them to step onto a bamboo skewer.
If using the terrarium I've used, you can then push the pointed end into the foam background, grab another skewer and retrieve some more from the mom's enclosure.
This method makes it relatively easy to move such, tiny, delicate creatures.
As I've said I think that the survival rate for babies should be much better than what other people report.
I suspect that many people fail to mist the baby chameleons often enough with a hand spray bottle.
Sometimes people say that you will drown the babies if you spray them directly because they're so tiny.
This is not true if you use a hand held spray bottle and set it to a very fine mist.
It is important to make sure the babies are in 60-80% humidity without it being too wet so mold starts growing.
It is also very important to keep the babies' enclosure very clean. Jackson's have 10-30 babies on average and that adds up to a lot of waste they're producing every day. Paper towels on the terrarium floor make an excellent, quick, disposable lining to catch waste.
I liked the ExoTerra glass terrarium because it is designed to have the necessary airflow and it helps to keep the humidity level stable after mistings without requiring humidifiers or foggers.
This is the terrarium I've used. It is 18' wide 18" deep and 24" tall: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OAYXTK/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can find this model in many other stores and our forum sponsors, like Josh's frogs carry them, too.
I put in live plants, line the bottom with paper towels for easy cleaning, as well as for a cushion, if a baby falls and stuck about 30 bamboo shish kabob skewers into the foam background to enable the babies to move about easily and as horizontal perches for basking.
The top skewers were about 1 inch from the top and the others led across and down so the chams could move easily from plants to basking areas and across the terrarium to hunt food.
Use an already used long Reptisun 5.0 bulb to provide the UV and heat. Since you probably don't have a used 5.0 Reptisun long bulb, you can get a Reptisun 2.0 bulb instead.
No basking lamp needed in this setup because babies need it cooler than the older chams do.
Temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees are what the babies need.
They will sit under the fluorescent light to bask.
Use a long tube bulb rather than a coil type compact one.
Normal room temps in the 70s are good and avoid drafty areas (like ac outputs, fans, etc.) or hotter areas of the house or window areas where the temps or humidity will get too high/low.
You absolutely must mist the babies several times each day, for several minutes.
3 times each day was typically what I did.
You have to mist for several minutes to ensure that they actually drink.
I used a very fine mist from a Home Depot brand spray bottle.
Food should be present at all times.
An accurate humidity and temperature gauge is essential.
Mine, being electronic and not waterproof, was removed during the mistings and put back in afterwards.
Keep the enclosure above 60% humidity without keeping it wet all the time.
When feeding them fruit flies--as you should for the first month--you can stick a piece or fruit onto 1 or 2 skewers, so the flies are eating something--and make easier targets hanging around the fruit.
Josh's Frogs has excellent 32 ounce producing Hydei FF cultures and even 3 chams will eat a great number of flightless fruit flies.
Their FF medium is nutritious, so the flies provide good nutrition.
After a month or so, I added small Phoenix worms, tiny superworms and extremely small crickets to their diet but fruit flies were a staple for a few months.
This is what worked for me.
I hope that however you choose to do things, that you have as much success as I've had with them.
You can see 3 of my captive bred Jackson's in my post in the Classifieds section.
It is very difficult to part with any of them but I have made a few available for loving homes only.
I am always glad to help people with questions about Jackson's and their care.
They are sweet and they are definitely my favorite!
As for caring for the adults, here is the forum's caresheet, which has just about everything you need to know about adult Jackson's care requirements https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/
For plants, I like Umbrella plants (schefflera ) and Pothos from regular stores. First they are well washed with Dawn dish soap and well rinsed off, with the top 1 inch of soil replaced with plain, no fertilizer, no vermiculite or perlite,
potting soil. Safe plants list link at the bottom of this page https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/enclosures/
I've successfully bred 2 of mine and have raised more than 50 Jackson's babies in glass terrariums not aquariums and did NOT experience the horrendously low survival rate that many others have reported.
In fact, you can see a few of my beautiful 7 month old Jackson's in my post in the Classifieds section.
The only casualty out of 53 was a runt, who still still managed to survive for 4 months in my care.
Born weighing .5 grams, he was only 1.4 grams after 4 months due to his internal defect.
With such large numbers of babies, there is often a runt.
That's just the way things are with nature.
I strongly suspect the lowered survival rate that many people have is usually due to one (or both) of 2 things.
The health of the mom before the birth.
If she was imported while gravid, she may have been subjected to conditions which cause dehydration and/or less than ideal nutrition.
In captivity, these problems can still exist if a person was given the wrong instructions on Jackson's care, as many people have had happen.
Jackson's can be difficult to get to drink enough.
They can be shy and many don't like to be seen drinking plus they often need a few minutes of spraying before they start to drink.
For this reason, many people choose to get an automatic misting system, like the MistKing or AquaZamp.
Both systems are reliable and well liked by many forum members.
The second cause I suspect, is failing to ensure that the babies are in a humid enough--though not constantly wet--environment and that they are being misted with a fine mist, such as from a hand held spray bottle, for a long enough time and often enough to be drinking all that they need to.
These are not scientifically proven facts, they are simply my theories, based on what I know about Jackson's babies.
Definitely separate the male from the female now.
Since she is expecting, it would be better to move him to a new enclosure if they came together with one.
Jackson's females typically give birth in the morning.
Most often, the female stops eating a week or 2 before the birth.
When the babies are born, you will need to move the babies into a separate enclosure, before mom gains her appetite and starts seeing the babies as food.
An easy way to move the babies is to get them to step onto a bamboo skewer.
If using the terrarium I've used, you can then push the pointed end into the foam background, grab another skewer and retrieve some more from the mom's enclosure.
This method makes it relatively easy to move such, tiny, delicate creatures.
As I've said I think that the survival rate for babies should be much better than what other people report.
I suspect that many people fail to mist the baby chameleons often enough with a hand spray bottle.
Sometimes people say that you will drown the babies if you spray them directly because they're so tiny.
This is not true if you use a hand held spray bottle and set it to a very fine mist.
It is important to make sure the babies are in 60-80% humidity without it being too wet so mold starts growing.
It is also very important to keep the babies' enclosure very clean. Jackson's have 10-30 babies on average and that adds up to a lot of waste they're producing every day. Paper towels on the terrarium floor make an excellent, quick, disposable lining to catch waste.
I liked the ExoTerra glass terrarium because it is designed to have the necessary airflow and it helps to keep the humidity level stable after mistings without requiring humidifiers or foggers.
This is the terrarium I've used. It is 18' wide 18" deep and 24" tall: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OAYXTK/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can find this model in many other stores and our forum sponsors, like Josh's frogs carry them, too.
I put in live plants, line the bottom with paper towels for easy cleaning, as well as for a cushion, if a baby falls and stuck about 30 bamboo shish kabob skewers into the foam background to enable the babies to move about easily and as horizontal perches for basking.
The top skewers were about 1 inch from the top and the others led across and down so the chams could move easily from plants to basking areas and across the terrarium to hunt food.
Use an already used long Reptisun 5.0 bulb to provide the UV and heat. Since you probably don't have a used 5.0 Reptisun long bulb, you can get a Reptisun 2.0 bulb instead.
No basking lamp needed in this setup because babies need it cooler than the older chams do.
Temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees are what the babies need.
They will sit under the fluorescent light to bask.
Use a long tube bulb rather than a coil type compact one.
Normal room temps in the 70s are good and avoid drafty areas (like ac outputs, fans, etc.) or hotter areas of the house or window areas where the temps or humidity will get too high/low.
You absolutely must mist the babies several times each day, for several minutes.
3 times each day was typically what I did.
You have to mist for several minutes to ensure that they actually drink.
I used a very fine mist from a Home Depot brand spray bottle.
Food should be present at all times.
An accurate humidity and temperature gauge is essential.
Mine, being electronic and not waterproof, was removed during the mistings and put back in afterwards.
Keep the enclosure above 60% humidity without keeping it wet all the time.
When feeding them fruit flies--as you should for the first month--you can stick a piece or fruit onto 1 or 2 skewers, so the flies are eating something--and make easier targets hanging around the fruit.
Josh's Frogs has excellent 32 ounce producing Hydei FF cultures and even 3 chams will eat a great number of flightless fruit flies.
Their FF medium is nutritious, so the flies provide good nutrition.
After a month or so, I added small Phoenix worms, tiny superworms and extremely small crickets to their diet but fruit flies were a staple for a few months.
This is what worked for me.
I hope that however you choose to do things, that you have as much success as I've had with them.
You can see 3 of my captive bred Jackson's in my post in the Classifieds section.
It is very difficult to part with any of them but I have made a few available for loving homes only.
I am always glad to help people with questions about Jackson's and their care.
They are sweet and they are definitely my favorite!
As for caring for the adults, here is the forum's caresheet, which has just about everything you need to know about adult Jackson's care requirements https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/
For plants, I like Umbrella plants (schefflera ) and Pothos from regular stores. First they are well washed with Dawn dish soap and well rinsed off, with the top 1 inch of soil replaced with plain, no fertilizer, no vermiculite or perlite,
potting soil. Safe plants list link at the bottom of this page https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/enclosures/
Last edited:
Rango3d
Avid Member
I have to agree with Lovereps. My jackson clutch is all healthy and I have not experienced a die off. Hitting 3 months soon and all healthy and getting big.
I would add DO NOT supplement Jacksons every day.
Calcium without d3 once a week. with d3 once a month.
gut load your feeders correctly and you will not have an issues.
I would add DO NOT supplement Jacksons every day.
Calcium without d3 once a week. with d3 once a month.
gut load your feeders correctly and you will not have an issues.
heather89
New Member
Prenatal care?
I am wondering if the previous two posters purposefully bred their females and gave them the proper care before the babies were born? I've read that the health of the babies is mainly dependent on the care of the mother prior to her giving birth. Just like the health of egg laying species is dependent on the health of the mother prior to laying.
I got my female when she was already pregnant and I know for a fact she was not properly cared for. I have a feeling that one from a pet store is probably just as bad. Mine came from an owner with absolutely no experience and no internet or desire to learn (bad combo).
I'm guessing that if the previous posters have had all healthy babies with none that died then the mothers were probably well cared for and supplemented properly prior to giving birth. I think it's very naive to say that it is all dependent on the care of the neonates and that people are simply ignorant to how to care for them. If you have a human who is malnourished, anorexic, on drugs, or otherwise in improper health and happens to have a baby then no matter how good the infant care they may still die.
Unless you breed the female intentionally or have her throughout her pregnancy, then there is no way of knowing how healthy the babies will be because you don't know if the mother was properly supplemented and cared for. I'm not saying they will all die, but they might not all live either even if you do everything else right if the mother wasn't properly cared for (and supplemented correctly) the last 6-9 months.
I am wondering if the previous two posters purposefully bred their females and gave them the proper care before the babies were born? I've read that the health of the babies is mainly dependent on the care of the mother prior to her giving birth. Just like the health of egg laying species is dependent on the health of the mother prior to laying.
I got my female when she was already pregnant and I know for a fact she was not properly cared for. I have a feeling that one from a pet store is probably just as bad. Mine came from an owner with absolutely no experience and no internet or desire to learn (bad combo).
I'm guessing that if the previous posters have had all healthy babies with none that died then the mothers were probably well cared for and supplemented properly prior to giving birth. I think it's very naive to say that it is all dependent on the care of the neonates and that people are simply ignorant to how to care for them. If you have a human who is malnourished, anorexic, on drugs, or otherwise in improper health and happens to have a baby then no matter how good the infant care they may still die.
Unless you breed the female intentionally or have her throughout her pregnancy, then there is no way of knowing how healthy the babies will be because you don't know if the mother was properly supplemented and cared for. I'm not saying they will all die, but they might not all live either even if you do everything else right if the mother wasn't properly cared for (and supplemented correctly) the last 6-9 months.
I've got momma out...
OK I've got her in a new cage. It's actually the one I built for the babies for when they arrive. I figured it would be easier to remove her then to remove all the babies.. I'm wondering if I should keep them on my patio. I live in Florida. I don't have an automated Mister yet should I get one? My biggest...actually I have 2 big problems with putting them in my house. 1 I have 3 cats. 2 I keep my house really cold especially at night. Should I put them inside and just close the door and the actual vents? Momma is still kind of eating so I don't think she's ready yet. I'll post a pic of the enclosure I made out of a big plastic bin. Thanks for everyone's input. Oh and I don't think momma got the proper care before hand. Also I had to set up my own cage so it wasn't like she can in one
OK I've got her in a new cage. It's actually the one I built for the babies for when they arrive. I figured it would be easier to remove her then to remove all the babies.. I'm wondering if I should keep them on my patio. I live in Florida. I don't have an automated Mister yet should I get one? My biggest...actually I have 2 big problems with putting them in my house. 1 I have 3 cats. 2 I keep my house really cold especially at night. Should I put them inside and just close the door and the actual vents? Momma is still kind of eating so I don't think she's ready yet. I'll post a pic of the enclosure I made out of a big plastic bin. Thanks for everyone's input. Oh and I don't think momma got the proper care before hand. Also I had to set up my own cage so it wasn't like she can in one
heather89
New Member
OK I've got her in a new cage. It's actually the one I built for the babies for when they arrive. I figured it would be easier to remove her then to remove all the babies.. I'm wondering if I should keep them on my patio. I live in Florida. I don't have an automated Mister yet should I get one? My biggest...actually I have 2 big problems with putting them in my house. 1 I have 3 cats. 2 I keep my house really cold especially at night. Should I put them inside and just close the door and the actual vents? Momma is still kind of eating so I don't think she's ready yet. I'll post a pic of the enclosure I made out of a big plastic bin. Thanks for everyone's input. Oh and I don't think momma got the proper care before hand. Also I had to set up my own cage so it wasn't like she can in one
My female ate up until the day before she gave birth...just fyi. I know that's not common, but I guess it does happen. I was completely surprised.
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