Weird new jackson's

[Meghan]

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - Jacksons, male, no clue how old, its only the size of my thumb and I cant figure out how to tell how old, does have tiny horns? Have only had it less than a month
• Handling - Only twice, once to put him in the cage and once to remove him while adding some things.
• Feeding - Crickets, I have a plastic cup that I put three or four in everyday, he may eat them they may just be jumping out and hiding not sure. Have been feeding them potatoes, but will be getting greens and such after doing some reading today.
• Supplements - Reptivite once a week and calcium without d3 once a week
• Watering - Have a litter dripper, which is a pain in the butt, and I spray the tank down twice a day until its soaking. I used to see him drink daily but he seems more shy latley and I only seem him hanging out near the dripper cant tell if he drinks or not.
• Fecal Description - Never been tested, dont see alot of fecal matter, its usually white and brown and tiny like song bird droppings haha
• History - He had to be flown from downsouth to Alaska, so that may or may not cause a little stress

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Screen 30x16x16
• Lighting - I have a double dome light, one is a blue day heat light and the other is a red night light both by zoomed, also R zilla tropical 25 t8 15watt
• Humidity - temp is between 80 and 72, down to 68 at night. humidity is around 50% at the bottom of tank and 45% at the top, probably far to low so we will be buying a humidifier.
• Plants - pothos
• Placement - top of the cage is around 4 or 5 ft off the ground
• Location - Alaska, panhandle, cold and soggy.
Current Problem - Odd behavior. Chameleon will climb to the top of its tank and gape, today he was gaping and throwing his head back like a tiny lion roaring. He was also leaning back and forth, maybe he was mad? but I was far away from his tank when I noticed him doing it. This is my first chameleon but I have owned a plethora of other reptiles. Any new advice would be much appreciate, thanks in advance!

 

[Josh diegosuarez]

You need to give him calcium without d3 every feed and also get rid of the night light chams need complete darkness at night


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.712656,0.491656

 

[Edward Kim]

Yup, it looks like a Jackson's to me!

As for the gapping i think it maybe two things.
1 Thermoregulation, he may be releasing heat by opening his mouth. Is he directly under the heat lamp or light source when he does this?
2. Disturbed, I've seen Jackson's get disturb by the presence of large crickets and gap/sway side to side as you discribed. It also may be caused by your presence as well...

I feel it's nothing to worry about....
Just my two cents...

 

[Miss Lily]

You need to give him calcium without d3 every feed and also get rid of the night light chams need complete darkness at night


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.712656,0.491656

Jacksons can easily be over supplemented - what the OP is doing is almost the same as what I am doing with Monty - plain calcium once per week, Reptivite WITHOUT D3 once per week and Reptivite WITH D3 every 6 weeks. It is far better to gutload the cham's food with calcium rich foodstuff than to rely on supplementing.

I've also seen my baby Jackson show the same sort of behaviour a couple of times and he will also sit with his mouth open occasionally (as do his siblings) even when the temps are ok and I know he's not too hot. They do sometimes stretch and yawn - Monty did such a violent stretch once that he fell off his perch, lol!

 

[Meghan]

Thanks, it did seem a little intense with all his flailing while yawning/panting, but if thats normal then its normal I guess. Also can anyone tell by the size how old he is? I forgot to mention I also have air plants in there but I doubt that means much.

 

[Edward Kim]

Im guessing under 2 months, maybe even 3.....

 

[djfishygillz]

Thanks, it did seem a little intense with all his flailing while yawning/panting, but if thats normal then its normal I guess. Also can anyone tell by the size how old he is? I forgot to mention I also have air plants in there but I doubt that means much.

Plants can actually mean a lot . They can be toxic or dangerous for your chameleons.

What are they?

Good plants are pothos, umbrella, ficus along with many others.

 

[Meghan]

There Tillandsia but I wouldnt be able to get any more specific than that

 

[Miss Lily]

My Monty is 4 months tomorrow and your Jax has more developed horns than he does, so I would think that yours is at least 5 months old. Monty did the yawn and shake thing again this morning, but this time he managed to hold onto his perch and not fall off!

 

[JaxKiwiTiger]

Idk, I would say 3-4 months? Hard to tell based off that single pic though. Gaping can be related to thermoregulation. Also, some of the "odd movements" you described kinda sounds like their territorial behaviors, which is normal Jackson responses to intruders. One of mine will do this if I introduce crickets into his cage, or if the crickets start crawling near him when he's not hungry. It's basically him saying "this is my spot, so get out of here!" (unfortunately, crickets don't understand Jackson lingo and disregard).

Most likely, your Jackson is eating from the cup if you come back and the crix are gone. This would also be a good sign, because Jacksons don't eat unless they're also drinking. But I would inspect the cage for crix, just to be sure. Take any loose ones out, since any unwelcome guests is added stress for your cham. All chams are different tho, so for future reference try to watch and see if your jackson does actually eat from the cup. If they do it once, they will do it again and vice versa.

Other than that, seems like you're on the right track! Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new cham! Jacksons are the best!

 

[Txherp]

Do you have a UVB bulb or just basking bulbs?

 

[Meghan]

So I often see him watching the crickets but never eating them, although my boyfriend has had the pleasure to watch him eat more than once. Still havent seen him drink, but its been a few weeks and he looks fine and also has been more accepting of us in the room so Im assuming he is drinking. Recently hes gotten some nice green coloring around his neck and front half, he usually turns brown when hes down low sleeping at night, brown black and white stripped when hes mad at me disturbing him, and white and light brown speckled when hes just hanging out undisturbed so its nice to see this new color developing. At the pet store I got him from he had the smallest best looking horns there was another jackson's slightly smaller with horns almost twice as long. Also he is under a uva uvb tropical light along with his basking light

 

[Meghan]

Update

Im an awful pet owner, mostly due to my need to touch and interact with everything when I know I shouldnt. I still havent seen my cham drink, but hes alive and healthy so Im assuming he is, well today I was spraying his tank and he was licking his lips so I thought Id hand water him for fun, I was spritzing little drops into his mouth and he was drinking them up, but I stopped and he drooled a big slimy blob and hes now walking around lapping up more droplets, Im afraid I over watered him or got it in his nose or something? Should I panic or are we still ok?

 

[carol5208]

Don't spray water directly into their mouth. They can aspirate it into their lungs. He is probably ok, but just spray the enclosure down and let him lick the water. If his urate is white, then he has been drinking. Just keep an eye on him and make sure he is breathing ok and not holdinig his mouth open.

 

[camimom]

No one else seemed to catch this, but you need to remove that blue light AND red light.
First thing, you can use a regular household bulb for basking.
second- do you have a UVB bulb? this is essential.
third- no need for a red bulb at night, they llike the temp drop, if it gets way way too cold you can get a ceramic heat emmiter to use at night.

they need darkness to sleep.

 

[Miss Lily]

Camimom is right - they don't need any light or heat at night. Jacksons require a drop in temps of at least 10 degrees at night, and like all chams they need darkness to sleep properly or they become confused by the odd daylight cycle. I can get a temp drop quite easily since we have no heating on in the house overnight, so once the lights go out it cools down until morning. I have never needed to provide any night heat for mine.

 

[carol5208]

No one else seemed to catch this, but you need to remove that blue light AND red light.
First thing, you can use a regular household bulb for basking.
second- do you have a UVB bulb? this is essential.
third- no need for a red bulb at night, they llike the temp drop, if it gets way way too cold you can get a ceramic heat emmiter to use at night.

they need darkness to sleep.

never went back to the original post. Was commenting on her post from today about spraying the water in its mouth!!! Did not even look at the ask for help form! the zilla tropical t8 is a uvb. not sure if I would be using that though. I know there are some people who do.

 

[camimom]

never went back to the original post. Was commenting on her post from today about spraying the water in its mouth!!! Did not even look at the ask for help form! the zilla tropical t8 is a uvb. not sure if I would be using that though. I know there are some people who do.

Well the water is a very important thing!
and at least it does have a uvb bulb, though i agree i wouldnt use the zilla bulb.

 

[Meghan]

Well I haven't used the red light since my first post, but I live in Alaska and a temp drop here from day to night is around a 15 degree drop, all last week it was near or below 5F outside so originally that is why I got the red light, I still sometimes use it during the day when the house gets too cold but no longer at night. I do have a uva/uvb bulb. Ive noticed he gets very active a few hours before I turn off his lights, Im curious if him climbing around so much is good or bad? Im having a hell of a time with a drainage system, currently the waters pouring out the floor of the cage into a plastic bin with a tube running into a bucket, its pretty unattractive, although thats obviously not health related. He seems fine today after the over watering incident so maybe I got lucky this time

 

[Meghan]

Oops forgot to add, whats wrong with the zilla tropical bulb? Ive been using that and a blue day bulb for basking, the actual bulb is tinted a very light blue but it doesn't seem to show up blue when its turned on, would a normal bulb be better?