T. Jacksoni Xantholophus Baby Adventure!

Seems to have only happened during the initial feeding as they had to wait 6 hours or so for their first meals. Now it's sporadic. One will mail one item, another will nail another, bit nothing in tandem. Ever since a few larger crickets got in with their pin heads they seem to be more interested in taking down the larger of the small crickets and leave the pinheads and fruitflies for last. I'll be finding out more about how they are doing tomorrow as I'll hear from the sitter.
 
Chameleon Log Day 5:

Just got back from my trip and I have to say, these little guys are resilient and/or their setup came together nicely for being last minute. The sitter was only able to swing by once on Monday and on their way to work today, and they said they only fed. From what I can tell all the little ones are there.

Just as a '"I'm back" gift, I decided to give them a fruit fly feeding with LoD. Seems like these guys still have a voracious appetite. These guys must be doing well as there are little Cham poops everywhere on the leaves and the fake branch.

I'm going to keep an eye on everyone and see if/when I'll need to split the group into 2.

What is the absolute minimum age of these guys being able to breed? I ask because I'd like to pull all my females (most likely still will be in small harems) ASAP as to not risk any pregnancies as I'd like to control which unrelated male(s) they go with in the future.

I know the key is splitting everyone up in their own space, but how bad are the aggression of female Xanths? Would a 3'x2'x4' enclosure be enough to house a trio of females for a bit?
 
Just figured I'd ask a question. What are the average size of Xanth babies? I ask because I have a feeling mine may have been born extra small due to the clutch size. Here is a picture for reference. This was one of them the day they were being moved into the ExoTerra.
 

Attachments

  • 20191211_155751.jpg
    20191211_155751.jpg
    321.9 KB · Views: 300
Chameleon Log Day 10:

The little ones are still ferociously eating to the point I had to put my Josh's Frogs order in to get everything to ramp up the fruitfly cultures. So right now I'm feeding about what 4 cultures can produce daily (so imagine an 1/8th of a cup full of flightless fruitflies.)

One key thing I've noticed is aggression has started to change from dominance based climbing on one another to actual gaping and rocking displays. So far only one little one has provided the following show which I've added as an attachment. With this starting after their first week I figured it was time for a little space. Initially 30 babies went in and I've regularly been able to count 26-27 daily without pulling each of them out one by one. Up to this point I had no bodies show up of any that had yet to make it. Since the aggression displays have 'started' I figured it was time to think the heard and went and grabbed another Exo Terra this morning to split the load. Just waiting on some parts to come in for the Monsoon so I can split it between both enclosures. While pulling out 10 of the most accessible Cham's out I stumbled upon one solo baby that didn't make it in the middle of a Shefflera leaf (where the stems meet for the umbrella shape.) No physical damage was on the body, but I'm going to start keeping an eye on everyone more than I had been. Basking temps are in the mid 80's and humidity fluctuates between daily 40-60% (depending on if the enclosure just received a misting or was drying out) all the way to the 70-80% nightly humidity.

I'm going to check on the others on the initial enclosure tomorrow and pull them out to get an official count. Right now we should be at 10 in the new and 19 on the original.
 

Attachments

  • 20191214_193530-01.jpeg
    20191214_193530-01.jpeg
    206.4 KB · Views: 327
  • 20191215_225523-01.jpeg
    20191215_225523-01.jpeg
    291.8 KB · Views: 327
Chameleon Log Day 10:

The little ones are still ferociously eating to the point I had to put my Josh's Frogs order in to get everything to ramp up the fruitfly cultures. So right now I'm feeding about what 4 cultures can produce daily (so imagine an 1/8th of a cup full of flightless fruitflies.)

One key thing I've noticed is aggression has started to change from dominance based climbing on one another to actual gaping and rocking displays. So far only one little one has provided the following show which I've added as an attachment. With this starting after their first week I figured it was time for a little space. Initially 30 babies went in and I've regularly been able to count 26-27 daily without pulling each of them out one by one. Up to this point I had no bodies show up of any that had yet to make it. Since the aggression displays have 'started' I figured it was time to think the heard and went and grabbed another Exo Terra this morning to split the load. Just waiting on some parts to come in for the Monsoon so I can split it between both enclosures. While pulling out 10 of the most accessible Cham's out I stumbled upon one solo baby that didn't make it in the middle of a Shefflera leaf (where the stems meet for the umbrella shape.) No physical damage was on the body, but I'm going to start keeping an eye on everyone more than I had been. Basking temps are in the mid 80's and humidity fluctuates between daily 40-60% (depending on if the enclosure just received a misting or was drying out) all the way to the 70-80% nightly humidity.

I'm going to check on the others on the initial enclosure tomorrow and pull them out to get an official count. Right now we should be at 10 in the new and 19 on the original.

Now that's typical attitude in the photo!
Sorry to hear one didn't make it...but you're actually doing well if that's the only one.
 
Chameleon Log Day 16:

Everything is going swimmingly as of the split of the group. These guys are still plowing through twice daily feedings of fruitflies. I'd like to know more from anyone who has successfully raised the neonates to know more about growth speed. Right now I'm noticing round bellies, and funny enough I think this is more so on the females. It seems they are getting more full in body shape where the males are slimmer. It's interesting if this is the case that their bodies develop when they are still so young.
 
Chameleon Log Day 33:

Everything is going swimmingly. I was planning on ordering some DragonStand hatchling enclosures this new year, but they are out of stock. Seems like I will be doing some DIY'ing to make my own.

All neonates are eating and seem to be drinking. I do get some odd orange urates, but not much, I have a feeling it's due to the LoD, I've been using it less which I've noticed the decrease in orange in the urates, but they are still there in less numbers.

What I'm after now are some other small feeders besides crickets and the staple fruit flies. The baby hornworms I'm finding I think are still too large and the baby silks are about the same.
 
You're doing very well with them all...not many deaths at all compared to a lot of clutches I hear about!

How about some more photos of them please?
 
I'll get some pictures tomorrow.

One thing I've noticed is that I'm not chasing humidity like others have per threads and videos I've watched. It seems that a lot of people run a hudmifer/fogger 24 hours a day. In my case I spray the chams down every few hours for a minute just to get the shefflera leaves glistening and leave it at that. Being that they are in a glass ExoTerra I believe that helps the humidity. Keep in mind it's winter, so my house is dry due to the central heat.

When it comes to feeding I'm dumping a few hundred fruit flies in twice a day. This gives the chams a chance to spend some time hunting and focusing less on one another. Currently I'm only dusting once a week due to the chams size.
 
Back
Top Bottom