18 Jacksoni babies....Oh man

[PhDoc]

I came home the other day to find my gravid female (which was purchased gravid) had given birth to 18 beautiful babies. 2 have died and 1 seems pretty ill. I don't know if i am the only one but I am so nervous about raising these babies. I don't know if they are eating or receiving exactly what they need.....and the more i look around for proper information all i seem to get is 'throw them all in a tank together and overflow them with ff's and pinheads'....ahhh, but how do you know that they are eating?? sorry everyone, just expressing the frustration that comes along with caring about these beautiful creatures.

 

[laurie]

You might try putting only 3 or 4 in a tank and watching to see if they eat - but that is a lot of tanks. btw congrats

 

[JoeG]

I had the same situation & they didn't eat for a couple days. Be sure to mist them several times a day, provide them with a basking spot no higher than 82 degrees & a linear uv light. Fruit flies are what I started them with. Melanogaster the first week & then hydei, I didn't use crix until the 6th week. PM me if I can help in any way.....Joe

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I would seperate em into 3 groups and if your worried about them eatting place their plants and perches into a semi circle around a nice plastic bowl or cup. Put feeders into the cup. Try and get a decent count of the feeders before putting them in the enclosures. That way you can monitor food intake easier. You cant really monitor individuals eatting habits but you will know if they are eatting as a group...

Make sure your bowl or cup is wide and low enough that everyone can hang out and shoot into it and reach the feeders. If using ff's you can add a small piece of fruit so that the flies will stay in the bowl.

 

[stevie]

hello there dont be nervous , jack babies are not that hard to raise most of the time they eat very good after a day or 3 , in the beginning i would put them in 2 thanks (screen) you say 16 babies left so 8 in one terra , ceep them cool about 21°celcius and at night 11°celcius a smal basking light would do fine , mist them 2 or times with water butt not cold water , after a month or 2 sepperate the big from the small ones .
wich jack species is it ?
greetings from belgium

 

[eisentrauti]

Hi,

there are a few important points:
-small chams, need water, water and more water. Buy plants like Ficus or better Asparagus which store water for hours if you spray them
-seperate the juveniles in groups splitted by the behaviour. You will notice that in every clutch are some which are very fast growing, some average ones and some which dont eat much and which grow slower. The activ/faster ones will stress the others and some, especially calm ones will stay in their edges of the cage, far away from the spot and often from the food
-crickets can grow in two weeks from a prey to a predator. if you feed them, create a habitat which is easy to control. Too big ones are dangerous for the juveniles and should be killed or end up in adult chams cages
-this point comes to late, but it's very important to have running Drosophila spec cultures. It's not optimal to depend on delievered Drosos.
-let the spot just burn for some hours, I have the rhythm with one hour on, one hour off. If the spot is always on, some juveniles will stay under it, forgetting to drink !
Montane species are often not really able to notice when their bodies are warm enough.

Hope this helps.

Best regards
Benny

 

[frogmanroth]

Any updates?