Surprise birth of Jackson Chameleons

[donnaq]

Hello there, Brand new here. My daughter & husband purchased a Jackson chameleon in July and last night after being away we discovered that she had babies...there are 6. We did separate them from the mom but I would like some advice as to proper temperature, should the babies be separated, do they need constant airflow like mom in the screen cage? I have gotten some conflicting info from pet stores & such. I just want to give these little guys the best chance I can.
Thanks

 

[christinecollins87]

what size is there cage

 

[laurie]

Hello, welcome to the forum. You should look very carefully. There are most likely more than 6 or sadly mom was hungry.

You can keep the babies all in a cage together but away from mom. You will need fruit flys or 1/16 inch crickets to feed those hungry mouths. Baby jacksons are a lot like Mom, but they need smaller food and more mistings.
Where are you located? Do you have access to small food items? If you cover those items you are pretty good to go. Also we all love pictures.

 

[SpartyTessy]

Congrats on the babies. Like already mentioned make sure and separate them right away in not too large of a cage. I house my 10 babies in a 12x12x18 screen cage. Put lots of small sticks and a live safe plant of some sort. You need lots of sticks for them to walk on so they do not walk all over eachother. If you have not already done so it is a good idea to have a colony of crickets going. They will eat a lot and it will get quite pricey unless you have your own to feed. You will want to free range the feeders and also provide feeders in at least two feeding cups. I found more cups are better as the more dominant ones like to "hog" a cup leaving the others to starve. They are very prone to dehydration and over heating so it is extremely important you provide them with a contstant dripping water all day and also lots of mistings. You want at least 5 minutes of misting every 2 hours. Make sure that just half the cage gets misted as the feeders will drown easy and to also keep a dry area for the Chams. They do not need a basking light as that can easily cook them but just need a UVB light at this stage. After about 3 months then it should be ok to give them a basking light also. Be prepared for lots of care for them. Do a search on this forum for baby jackson's and you will see more posts from me about the care of my baby Jacksons. They are now over 10 months old and all 10 have survived and are very healthy.