Update thread for ChamBust/SpartyTessy's newborn Jacksons!

[ChamBust]

Hey everyone! So on 7/21/12, my chameleon Fergie gave birth to 19 babies! (not 100% confirmed, it's definitely between 18 - 20). Haven't lost any yet, and the proud Mom is doing just fine, as we've observed her eating and drinking on a regular basis since giving birth.

Coincidentally, another forum member (SpartyTessy) also had a chameleon that gave birth on the same day, approximately around the same time. We also both live on Oahu, Hawaii and it's our first time raising baby chams. So we decided to start this thread and will definitely provide updates, pictures, videos, etc. as we go.

So feel free to provide any helpful feedback/advice. Hoping for 100% retention with the kiddies (which I've heard is quite difficult), at the least until they're 4 months old (11/21/12) after which I intend on giving them away to anyone interested (already have a few people on the list).

Okay, that's it! Here's a few pics I took when the little guys were a mere few hours old, enjoy

 

[SpartyTessy]

On 7-21 my Female Jackson named Tessy also had 9 babies. Would of been 10 but one did not survive. So far the 9 seem to be doing good.

On 7-23 my Fiance and I have noticed a few of the babies starting to eat some of the tiniest of pinhead crickets. At first none of them were interested at all in any of the crickets free ranging or in any of the feeder cups so we took out from one of the baby cricket containers an apple that had tons of newborn crickets feeding on and placed it in one of the feeder cups. Immediately a few of the babies showed interest and started feeding off of the pinheads directly off of the apple. What a great relief that they are now getting their first meals. That seemed to spark the others to interest in food as well.

Due to the hotter weather here in Hawaii the last few days I have upped the misting sessions to every 2 hours and that seems to be doing really good keeping the temp and humidity where it needs to be especially important for new borns. Many of them really seems to love the cool showers and of course some run for cover.

We plan on keeping our 9 babies as no way can we part with the little ones. My Fiance and I have been monitoring them very closely since they have hatched to make sure none are struggling. They all seem very active.

http://youtu.be/

 

[ChamBust]

So after my babies got off to a good start (observed maybe half of them eating), I had to go out and run a few errands. Came back, and there were ants hijacking the pinheads! I was SO MAD.

Background: Ordered 200 silkworms a few months back...fed maybe 20 or so to my chams, then decided to leave it out in the back patio. BAD MISTAKE. Ants got in and attacked probably 90% of the silkworms. I was furious, but fortunately I was able to save maybe 10 of 'em. Tried taking those last 10 into the moth stage, but only 2 survived and both came out females

Soooo, the ants strike again. I have another hundred pinheads left, but that's not going to last long w/18-20 babies running around! I will most likely verify the number tomorrow. I just try not to touch them as much as possible, since they're so small and fragile. Kinda frustrated, but not gonna let that get me down.

There's a good chance a bunch of them didn't eat anything, but I fully intend on making sure they all eat by tomorrow morning. Also observed them drinking today during a good misting, so hopefully they stay strong.

 

[joemacchirella]

well good luck guys i hope these babys grow up healthy and happy about those ants thought they are little highjackers they seem to know the second you leave a bug colony unattended then round up the homeboys and make a preemptive strike on the colony maybe look into getting some mantis eggs thats what i feed my baby mantisis is ants they seem to love them almost as much as flys

 

[ChamBust]

well good luck guys i hope these babys grow up healthy and happy about those ants thought they are little highjackers they seem to know the second you leave a bug colony unattended then round up the homeboys and make a preemptive strike on the colony maybe look into getting some mantis eggs thats what i feed my baby mantisis is ants they seem to love them almost as much as flys

I doubt I could find a baby mantisis anywhere in hawaii...but if I could I'd probably buy about a dozen, rig all kinds of ant bait around the house then watch them all get eaten up!! lol

 

[ChamBust]

Moved the babies into a better cage tonight, and the official count is 21!!!! Which brings my cumulative Jackson count to 25...holy smokes, that's a lot of Jacksons!

We still fully intend on bringing all 21 into adolescence, so crossing my fingers that I can get my new cricket colony up and running!

 

[joemacchirella]

good luck with all your chameleons keep us updated with pics

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Good luck you guys! I hope to in a few months when my female Veiled hits maturity (like a year old) that I can breed and get a male I hope they all turn out well, I wish i could have one! My best friends sister lives in Hawaii with her husband and son on base on one of the islands, not sure which one. Wish I could come out there lol

 

[Action Jackson]

Make sure there are no ants in the baby cages, they will kill the babies. Good luck with all those little guys.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Congratulations on your babies!

Make sure there are no ants in the baby cages, they will kill the babies. Good luck with all those little guys.

That is good information to know since many forum members raise their Jacksons babies outside. Maybe it's common sense, but I would not have thought of it. Thank you for posting that. Is there something you do to keep ants away? Or is it enough to watch and remove them if they show up?

 

[Action Jackson]

If you have your cage on a stand you can put the legs in a saucer of water or something like that. You have to keep the water clean or they will get across it. I spray ant spray every couple days or if I see ants anywhere in my yard. I make sure I don't spray too close to the cages. I wish I didn't have too but ants are probably the biggest problem with keeping Chameleons outside, at least for me anyway. I lost my female xantholophus due to an ant attack.

Congratulations on your babies!




That is good information to know since many forum members raise their Jacksons babies outside. Maybe it's common sense, but I would not have thought of it. Thank you for posting that. Is there something you do to keep ants away? Or is it enough to watch and remove them if they show up?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Awesome. Thanks.

 

[SpartyTessy]

Congratulations on your babies!




That is good information to know since many forum members raise their Jacksons babies outside. Maybe it's common sense, but I would not have thought of it. Thank you for posting that. Is there something you do to keep ants away? Or is it enough to watch and remove them if they show up?

What I do is I make a "river of death" Basically I put the cage on a stand of some kind and on the bottom what the stand sits on is a rubbermaid lid. I simply use vegetable oil and it creates a border around the edge keeping any kind if unwanted spiders, ants, etc out. It has worked and I have not had a single ant since I used this method.

 

[SpartyTessy]

If you have your cage on a stand you can put the legs in a saucer of water or something like that. You have to keep the water clean or they will get across it. I spray ant spray every couple days or if I see ants anywhere in my yard. I make sure I don't spray too close to the cages. I wish I didn't have too but ants are probably the biggest problem with keeping Chameleons outside, at least for me anyway. I lost my female xantholophus due to an ant attack.

So sorry you lost a female due to ants Ants are very annoying. I do something similar but I use vegetable oil. It will catch anything that tries to cross so even fire ants that can build a bridge across water do not stand a chance. I use this method for all my feeder bins as well.

 

[SpartyTessy]

So after my babies got off to a good start (observed maybe half of them eating), I had to go out and run a few errands. Came back, and there were ants hijacking the pinheads! I was SO MAD.

Background: Ordered 200 silkworms a few months back...fed maybe 20 or so to my chams, then decided to leave it out in the back patio. BAD MISTAKE. Ants got in and attacked probably 90% of the silkworms. I was furious, but fortunately I was able to save maybe 10 of 'em. Tried taking those last 10 into the moth stage, but only 2 survived and both came out females

Soooo, the ants strike again. I have another hundred pinheads left, but that's not going to last long w/18-20 babies running around! I will most likely verify the number tomorrow. I just try not to touch them as much as possible, since they're so small and fragile. Kinda frustrated, but not gonna let that get me down.

There's a good chance a bunch of them didn't eat anything, but I fully intend on making sure they all eat by tomorrow morning. Also observed them drinking today during a good misting, so hopefully they stay strong.

Let me know if you need pinheads sooner than later. They are all well gutloaded.

 

[ChamBust]

If you have your cage on a stand you can put the legs in a saucer of water or something like that. You have to keep the water clean or they will get across it. I spray ant spray every couple days or if I see ants anywhere in my yard. I make sure I don't spray too close to the cages. I wish I didn't have too but ants are probably the biggest problem with keeping Chameleons outside, at least for me anyway. I lost my female xantholophus due to an ant attack.

Awwww man no ways!!! GRRRR I hate ants!! Luckily we haven't lost any babies to them yet, I mean if we did I probably would have lost it. Awesome idea to have them about putting the legs in a saucer of water. Their cage was sitting on a chair in the back patio, but we have since brought them in...because F#@% ants!!

 

[ChamBust]

So sorry you lost a female due to ants Ants are very annoying. I do something similar but I use vegetable oil. It will catch anything that tries to cross so even fire ants that can build a bridge across water do not stand a chance. I use this method for all my feeder bins as well.

GENIUS! I will call you for sure tomorrow to set this up...we also have a mealworm colony going that temporarily was under a bit of ant attack so this info is pretty critical!

 

[ChamBust]

Good luck you guys! I hope to in a few months when my female Veiled hits maturity (like a year old) that I can breed and get a male I hope they all turn out well, I wish i could have one! My best friends sister lives in Hawaii with her husband and son on base on one of the islands, not sure which one. Wish I could come out there lol

Probably Oahu (where Sparty and I are), cuz there's all 4 military bases here: Hickam AFB, Schofield Barracks, Kaneohe MCB, and JB Pearl Harbor

 

[ChamBust]

Okay, well just thought I'd provide an update for DAY 4. Most, if not all babies have eaten by now. We tried to free range the pinheads, but they just crawled right out the sides. At the moment, we have the cage in our living room, sitting on a table stand. We left the cup of pinheads in the middle of the cage with one stick and one vine going down into it (sorry no pics, didn't have time). All in all, 21 out of 21 are still alive and well. Planning on moving them outside for an hour or two to make sure they get to bask and digest those yummy pinheads. It's funny watching them trying to eat, cuz most of the time it takes 3 or 4 tries before they fix their aim and actually hit their target! They are a persistent bunch though, and we hope to continue to see success in rearing them.

So 21 of our babies, plus 9 of Sparty's makes 30! Nice round, even number...not sure what the odds are to see them all advancing into adolesence but I believe that with the help of this thread (and the forum, of course), we should be just fine.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Probably Oahu (where Sparty and I are), cuz there's all 4 military bases here: Hickam AFB, Schofield Barracks, Kaneohe MCB, and JB Pearl Harbor

Yeah her husband is in the Army so Idk what base that would be. She invited my best friend and I out because our families are extremely close, they are my second family lol would be cool to meet someone off the forum! ha