15 Jackson Babies...some advice?

[kerry1]

My chameleon just gave birth to 15 baby jacksons a couple hours ago. We have separated them into their own cage and are on our way to go get them some fruit flies. What's the best way to give them water when they are so small? Do use the water bottle to mist? I have only had my female chameleon for a month, so I wasn't even sure she was prego. Definitely new to this baby chameleon thing. Any advice on what to do for them would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[SpartyTessy]

Congratulations. Mine had 10 babies 3 weeks ago and are all doing very good. here is a quote of mine that I posted in my thread that I started when she first had them that should get you going in the right direction. Let me know if you need more info.

Thank you for the gratz. Mine had 10 babies and all are doing well. They can be pregnant for 5-10 months. It seems to usually be close to 7 months. I am not sure how long mine was pregnant for because she came that way from the store. They can have anywhere from 5-50 babies but 10-30 is more common. Here are some pointers I will point out.

You should not have a nighttime light. The temperature should drop at night and is ok even if it gets mid to low 60's. So get rid of the night light.

About a week before mine gave birth she ate little to no food. She would quite often sit there with her mouth open gasping and I am told this was normal. It is best to leave them alone as much as possible during this time but monitor her to make sure she is good.

You want to get prepared sooner than later as she could have the babies at any moment. I happened to have a spare 12x18x18 cage that I house all the babies in. You want to make sure you are going to be able to provide the amount of feeders they are going to require. Luckily I already had a colony of pinhead crickets going so I was good to go. They should be eating throughout the day tons if the little pinheads and also flightless fruit flies are a good feeder. I provide like three 2oz feeder cups throughout the cage full of pinheads with sticks leading to them so the babies have easy access and its good to also let pinheads free range. You want more than one feeder cup because I noticed some like to hog and guard a feeder cup getting aggressive to others if they try and get too close. Also you want some free ranging because some will not feed out of the cups but only the pinheads roaming around the branches. I make sure the cups and cage have pinheads throughout the day and that it never gets empty. That way they can eat as much as they can.

They tend to dehydrate easily and will die if they are too hot. That is why it is extremely important that they are plenty hydrated and the top basking temp does not go over 80 degrees. They really do not do well when hot. If at all possible keeping them outside getting the natural UVB is highly recommended if you can make sure it does not get too hot and always make sure part of the cage is in shade. You should not use a basking bulb as it can easily cook the babies so you only need the UVB untill about 3 months of age.

It is very good that you have an automatic mister. The best way I found to set it up is make sure the mister mists half the cage leaving the other half dry. This way they can get away from the mist and also allowing you to position the Feeder cups on the other side preventing the feeder cups from collecting water drowning the pinheads as they will drown at the tiniest drop of water. It will take some playing around with to get the cage setup just right. I changed the frequency that the mister goes off to every 1 1/2 hours as some really love it and it keeps the cage humid longer. I let it run for 10 minutes at a time as sometimes it takes time before the Cham will start to drink. You will also require a dripper dripping on a leaf or something that can collect water giving them options to drink. Also it is highly recommended to have a live plant of some sort to help with humidity. You want it between 70 to 90 RH at all times during the day and again never allowing it to get hotter than 80 degrees. You want the temp to be lower throughout the rest of the cage.

Hmm also make sure and provide lots of sticks along with a live plant or two so they have plenty of places to walk so they do not walk all over eachother. I have a small schefflera tree that fits perfectly in the cage and has plenty of branches for the babies. That is all I can think of right now and if you have any other questions feel free to let me know. It requires a lot of work especially at first to get the system down.

If you have not already you should start a cricket colony. It is really easy to do and will save you hundreds of $$ as I am telling you it is crazy how many they will go through a day. If not you will find yourself running to the store every other day just to keep up.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/tessy-female-jackson-having-babies-pics-88550/

Another thread keeping track of mine and ChamBust's progress as ours both had babies the same day https://www.chameleonforums.com/update-thread-chambust-spartytessys-newborn-jacksons-88712/

 

[ChamBust]

Wow...congrats!! My girl gave birth about 3 weeks ago to 21 babies...a few of them have since died, so maybe you can learn from my mistakes...

-First off, the babies won't eat until about day 3, so if you don't already have food, no worries about rushing off and getting some. Once they start eating though, the flood gates will be opened! They will eat and eat and as soon as you think they're done, they'll eat some more. If you don't already, get a crick colony going ASAP.

-Start a mealworm colony...prob the easiest feeder to start farming, cheap too.

-Also in reference to eating...if possible, I'd say separate them into groups of 5 and make sure that they all eat. Pretty sure a couple of mines died just because they never got access to food.

-If you're in Hawaii and raise them outdoors, keep them in a cool, shaded area 80% of the day. Limit the amount of direct sun they get, unless there's tons of cover in the cage and/or you have a constant misting/dripper system in effect.

-Try to mist them 4-5x/day if you don't have a misting/dripper system already. They will dry out easily...I think a couple of mines may have been dehydrated, leading up to them not making it. Probably also combined w/too much sun (it's summer time right now so it has been HOT).

-Lastly, always wash hands before/after handling. Sanitization is key (I may have lost 1 or 2 due to failure of this)

Okay, other than that good luck and have fun w/them! SpartyTessy also had a batch of baby Jacksons born on the same day as mine, so welcome to the club

 

[kerry1]

Thank you both for getting back to me so quickly!! Both posts have been really helpful. Couple more questions. How soon did you start misting the cage? Also, we are going to have to find someone who sells pinhead crickets, because they aren't readily available at the pet stores we normally go to. Will fruit flies work as a feeder until then? If so do you put them into cups because we were wondering if they would get out of the screen cage?

 

[ChamBust]

Thank you both for getting back to me so quickly!! Both posts have been really helpful. Couple more questions. How soon did you start misting the cage? Also, we are going to have to find someone who sells pinhead crickets, because they aren't readily available at the pet stores we normally go to. Will fruit flies work as a feeder until then? If so do you put them into cups because we were wondering if they would get out of the screen cage?

Start misting immediately. PETCO sells cups of 100 pinhead crickets for about $7. Once they start eating, that should last you 2-3 days. Once they REALLY start eating that might not last you a day

Don't know much about fruit flies, but if you can get them, I hear they are great feeders for the little fellas.

 

[SpartyTessy]

Thank you both for getting back to me so quickly!! Both posts have been really helpful. Couple more questions. How soon did you start misting the cage? Also, we are going to have to find someone who sells pinhead crickets, because they aren't readily available at the pet stores we normally go to. Will fruit flies work as a feeder until then? If so do you put them into cups because we were wondering if they would get out of the screen cage?

Yes the fruit flies can get out of the screen cage. what you can do is put some oranges or some kind of fruit on a stick in the cage and it will attract the fruit flies. Is the cage outside or inside? Usually after about 2 days the fruit flies will be attracted to the fruit. It is highly recommended to have another staple feeder like pinhead crickets though. I have the lights come on at 6:30am and they get their first misting at 7:15am and then get fed right after. You want to make sure they get misted frequently to keep from getting dehydrated.

 

[kerry1]

Do you give them water by misting only? I have a monsoon and drip cups in my adult chameleon's cages, but we weren't really sure other than misting how to get them to drink?

 

[joboi1535]

congrats! i think my female is pregos for she does the mouth open thing and is obviously bigger then my other female. i hope she is cause baby jackson's would be so awsome haha well hope all your jacksons do well

 

[jagger]

help

i have a breeding pair of jacksons who bred about 2 months ago, what signs should i look for to see if she is pregnant? she doesnt look to be gaining much weight, is this normal for this early on in the pregnancy? if she is not pregnant when and what would you look for to indicate her ready to breed again?

 

[jagger]

help

my jacksons mated about 2 months ago, what should i look for to see if she is pregnant( apart from her getting very fat)

 

[camimom]

Do you give them water by misting only? I have a monsoon and drip cups in my adult chameleon's cages, but we weren't really sure other than misting how to get them to drink?

Mist them only. they need a fine mist as they are so small, that too much water can drown them.

i have a breeding pair of jacksons who bred about 2 months ago, what signs should i look for to see if she is pregnant? she doesnt look to be gaining much weight, is this normal for this early on in the pregnancy? if she is not pregnant when and what would you look for to indicate her ready to breed again?

you need to start your own thread so people can help you. its hard to help two different people with two different problems within the same thread.

 

[SpartyTessy]

Do you give them water by misting only? I have a monsoon and drip cups in my adult chameleon's cages, but we weren't really sure other than misting how to get them to drink?

You also want some kind of dripper that drips on a leaf or something in the cage all day. I have seen many of the babies drinking this way and it is not too strong like a monsoon would be. A popular dripper and the one that I use is Zoo Med Big dripper but you can also make your own very easily. I have an automatic mister(MistKing) that mists the cage. I let the mistking run for 10 minutes about every 2 hours. They key is to make sure it mists only half the cage leaving the other half not as wet. This helps in two ways, one is so they can go to the other side of the cage if they do not want to get wet plus it will keep the feeder cups that are positioned on the dry end of the cage from getting flooded drowning the feeders as the feeders will drown at the tiniest drop of water.

 

[ChamBust]

i have a breeding pair of jacksons who bred about 2 months ago, what signs should i look for to see if she is pregnant? she doesnt look to be gaining much weight, is this normal for this early on in the pregnancy? if she is not pregnant when and what would you look for to indicate her ready to breed again?

She's pregnant for sure. Have you weighed her before and after mating her? She should show a steady increase in weight over time. Visibly, it won't be that obvious until about 4-5 months into the pregnancy. One way you can know for sure is if she consistently rejects male advances. Any happy and healthy female will be close to 100% receptive, as long as they're not already pregnant. So if you're taking good care of her and she rejects male, then you'll have your answer

 

[kerry1]

my jacksons mated about 2 months ago, what should i look for to see if she is pregnant( apart from her getting very fat)

Post a picture of her. I found out by posting a picture of mine on these forums, and also reading other posts about pregnant (gravid) Jackson's. I was still only 90% sure she was pregnant, but did not know how far along she was since I bought her only a month ago.

There were 3-4 signs that made me get 90% sure she was pregnant:

1. Does she get very black, swings back and forth, and has her mouth open when close to a male ? if she does, remove her from the male's cage.
2. Does she show gravid colors (black spots) ? Mine showed her colors only in the cage, but when I got her out she turned completely green again.
3. Does her head look normal size, but it looks like she has a beer-belly ?
4. Does she sit around in one spot in the cage ?

See my pictures of my chameleon when she was pregnant and maybe some other answers on a previous post of mine: https://www.chameleonforums.com/does-my-female-jackson-look-gravid-87879/

This was about 3 weeks before she gave birth.