Wurma the Jacksonii

[Remkon]

Here are some pictures to introduce my pride and joy, Wurma: the Jacksonii

It should be a yellow crested Jackson's but for now he's mostly brown...
I have him for 2 months now and according to his papers he is a captive bread from November 2015

He started eating from tweezers the day after I got him and I have been offering him food that way every day since. Along with that he gets to hunt curl flies, crickets, baby grasshoppers and sow bugs.

One of the first days I had him:

1.5 months later (1.5 weeks ago), his horns getting bigger slowly as is he, he has shed skin 2x now:

His home for now 60x45x100cm (WxDxH), he will move to a full screen terrarium of about the same size later:

Wurma in his summer enclosure 45x45x90cm:

I hope he grows in a strong adult soon.
I've already prepared my wife for a 2nd Jackson's because I want a female also.

 

[Dirtydominican77]

Wurma is a lucky cham. You have a good looking boy. Hope to see more of him in the future. Congrats.
Oh and your wife will love the second cham, they're so adorable.

 

[Remkon]

She actually does think it's a cute cham!
I have 2x varanus acanthurus and my wife doesn't care for them at all, but for the cham she takes time to look at it and even does some of the basic care...
I really think the 2nd cham won't be a problem and I'm seriously considering only keeping cham's after my ackies are gone.

I just hope she still likes it after his horns have grown

 

[Andee]

If you are thinking of breeding the two I would do a lot of research before hand. And test your system. Jackson's are one of the harder to rear babies. Just remember not to keep them in the same enclosure ^^ he's adorable.

 

[Remkon]

Thanks for the heads up;
Breeding them would be a goal eventually but I'll first take care of this one best I can for half a year to a year more before i purchase a female and grow some confidence and knowledge along the way.

I already have 2 screen enclosures available, the 60x45x90 and a 45x45x90 one (that I got for free due to a mess up of the store I bought it from...). I would use them for the adults because they have high ventilation and are light so can be moved to outside easily on a sunny day.
The current enclosure would, from what I've read, probably do best for the offspring since it's glass and would hold a higher humidity better...

 

[Andee]

Most jackson hatchlings do best in separate, glass, well ventilated, such as exo terra, enclosures. I would not sell them until after the 6 month mark because they tend to have strange die offs around then. There is a current forum member who has a meru jackson brood and a xanth, that they are raising this way and they seem to be doing well, yet they haven't hit the 5 month mark yet. Hopefully all goes well.

 

[FlChamMom]

He is super cute- I love baby jax with their tiny horns!

 

[WAMBO]

Nice! Congrats and best of luck!

 

[Dirtydominican77]

I believe she'll like him anyway. They will start growing(horns) and she think you guys got a mini dinosaur. That and they ate so adorable it won't matter. Lol

 

[Remkon]

one question: According to his papers he's from november 2015 so that should make him around 6.5 to 7.5months old...
Shouldn't he be turning green soon and be a bit bigger?

I kinda doubt the age on the papers is correct, may just have been the papers of a previous batch of babies... I dno...
Forgot to ask the seller, that's my mistake.

Anyways Wurma seems happy, you can actually see him smiling in the picture!
He came walking on my hand by himself too when I was spraying him had to push him off onto his brach too... Thought I'd snap a pic.

 

[MeruJack]

one question: According to his papers he's from november 2015 so that should make him around 6.5 to 7.5months old...
Shouldn't he be turning green soon and be a bit bigger?

I kinda doubt the age on the papers is correct, may just have been the papers of a previous batch of babies... I dno...
Forgot to ask the seller, that's my mistake.

Anyways Wurma seems happy, you can actually see him smiling in the picture!
He came walking on my hand by himself too when I was spraying him had to push him off onto his brach too... Thought I'd snap a pic.

HE SURE IS CUTE!! I was questioning his age as well both because of his brown coloring and his size. How sure are you that he is a yellow crested (xantholophus) jacksons? He is tiny but looks very healthy......I hunted through the photos on my computer to find a picture of my CBB Xantholophus Jacksons chameleon that I got from a reptile expo a little more than a year ago. (His name is Expo and he is about 18 months old now.) I was told that he and his siblings were 5 months old. Here is a picture of him at 5 months of age. As you can see he was already green at 5 months of age as were his siblings. And his horns were already quite developed. I don't know why your little guy is so small and still brown but I would like to do some research and get back to you if that's okay.

 

[MeruJack]

Check out the growth and coloring of this baby xanth. Click on this link: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/baby-jacksons-growth.59613/ Wurma's coloring is so solid with the exception of the beautiful red coloring...I'll see what else I can find out.

 

[Remkon]

Thing is the papers only say Trioceros Jacksonii. There was a photo of an adult on the desk next to the babies of what I thought was a yellow crested jackson's ...

The markings on my little guy's side look very similar to the ones of your Expo... I'll try making a picture when he's showing them off.

My bet is still that the birthdate on the papers isn't correct.
I regret not having asked it, I only remember the guy saying it's very difficult to sex em at that age...

Wurma seems to grow faster lately and his horns are getting bigger fast too.

I'll have a look at the link now.

thanks!

 

[Remkon]

It didn't look alot like yours... I'm now thinking it might be a jacksonii jacksonii (found some pics on the forums)...
We'll just have to wait until it's.color turns I guess...

Could make up from your pictures that I probably got him at around 11weeks old which would confirm my doubt on the date on it's papers and would make him more like 20 weeks now I guess.

Next time I'm at an expo I purchase what I'm looking for instead of listening to the wife saying 'they are all chameleons, just buy one'...
on the other hand I wouldn't have had this great little animal if I hadn't.

 

[MeruJack]

I have 22 jacksonii jacksonii (jj)!! I have 3 adults, 12 three-month-old babies, AND 7 three-day-old babies. Here's a pic of one of my 3 month olds taken two days ago.

And here's a pic of one of my brand new jj babies taken as I was removing the babies from Mom's enclosure.

 

[MeruJack]

Here's a picture I found on the Jacksons caresheet here on the Forum. It looks more like Wurma but I don't know which species of Jacksons it is. It's younger than yours but it is brown and it has the red on its neck like Wurma.

My bet is still that the birthdate on the papers isn't correct.
I regret not having asked it, I only remember the guy saying it's very difficult to sex em at that age...

If the guy said that they were hard to sex at that age then more than likely you have a jacksonii jacksonii. Both males and females have three horns. I can't tell mine apart yet though some of them are showing male coloring lately. Only the male of the yellow crested (or Xantholophus) species has three horns which are visible in the very early days of life. So I am quite certain that your little guy is a jacksonii jacksonii and could be either a male or a female.

I'll see what else I can find out....I like the challenge.

 

[MeruJack]

More pics and a link:



The pic above is of a jacksonii jacksonii (I'm guessing it's a female). The other two pics
originated in Hawaii so I'm guessing they're jacksonii xantholophus (yellow crested).

Here's the link for the third picture with lots of good jacksons information.
https://www.aboutanimals.com/reptile/jacksons-chameleon/

 

[MeruJack]

Yep! I'm certain you have a jacksonii jacksonii. Congratulations!

Here's an interesting link here on the Forums with several pics of jacksonii jacksonii.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/jacksonii-jacksonii.95288/

 

[Remkon]

Well I'm glad we have some certainty about it!
I think care for the two is similar, if not the same, right?

Here's a picture of him showing the pattern, you can see the white markings on his head and side.

 

[MeruJack]

Yes, the care is the same. Looks like s/he is mid-shed. I love the white on the face. Some of my babies have those markings on the face. But the ones that do tend to only have two light colored marks/stripes right below each eye. Wurma has four radiating from the eye and more under the rostral horn. Very striking! As far as whether you have a male or female...I have been trying to sex my three month olds today and it appears that the males already have a bulge below their vent (on the tail side of the vent). If you check tomorrow you might be able to tell if you have a boy or a girl.

I have attached two photos that I took this afternoon. I am thinking that the first one is a female and the second is a male. What do you (and others) think? Thanks!