thoughts about wild caught jacksons as pets

philscichlids

New Member
Looking for some people's thoughts as far as buying some wild caught Jackson chams ?I have heard both good and bad reasons as to buying them ? I saw a ad about a week ago for some adult wc jacks and they looked to be very healthy . Anything I should look out for or be concerned with ?
 
Parasite would be the big one. If they are wild caught, odds are they will have them. So, if you already have other chameleons you will need to be extra careful and keep the new Jackson isolated from the others for at least 60 days while you have a fecal test performed and treat whatever he might have.
 
First watch the fishing or roping a wc jacksons video from a week or two ago. if you are ok with what you see, then you can buy one. better to see the video first, than afterwards.
 
My very first chameleon was a WC Jackson's I got at a reptile show, I just made sure to buy one that had:
- Bright, alert eyes. Not sunken.
- Good body weight
- No scratches, injuries, breaks, or off-looking skin.
- Up and walking around the cage
Etc. Just your usual healthy cham attributes. And the little guy I picked was awesome, and didn't give me any issues for the years I had him.

Jackson's don't belong on Hawaii so you aren't removing valuable individuals from a failing, indigenous population as with other species. You still have to let them adapt to captivity like anyone else, but it's not as morally troubling as exporting endangered or near-threatened species from the wild.
 
It's really not all that expensive to go to the vet for parasite treatments. I pay about $20 for a fecal and I think about $10 or less for a round of Panacur. So a round of treatment for "easy" parasites with 3 fecals and some meds comes in at maybe under $80-90.

That's cheaper/easier than buying a microscope, buying a book which you can use to identify the different parasites, buy medicine, calculate the correct dose, and treat. If you have multiple chameleons then it makes sense, but with just one or two probably not as much.
 
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