A few general questions about Jacksons

[Brainbow]

I work at Petsmart and recently our female Jackson we had for sale had a clutch of babies. Whenever an animal for sale gives birth, the store is allowed to adopt out the babies for no charge and not allowed to sell them. Since I feared that the babies in the store would die, I took them home. I haven't cared for a chameleon in years and the last one I had was a wild caught adult male Jackson when I was living in Hawaii.
There were 9 babies born, one died during birth, and the other a few days later. However, the rest are alive and doing very well. They are eating, pooping, drinking, and very active in their cage I have set up for them.

I don't plan on keeping them, I just wanted to make sure they got started right before they went to new homes.

My question is how old is a chameleon when they usually get sold? All the chameleons I see for sale are all very large or nearly adult in size. I know buying a baby is risk. When do chameleons reach adult age and when are they usually sold?

They were born on 12-28-2013.

I am going on vacation in the middle of January and was hoping they would have a home by then.

I live in SoCal and called a local reptile shop to see if they would purchase them, but they said they only buy wholesale and want $20 per baby? Is this a fair asking price? A lot of the ads I see are for "field collected" jacksons and not very many captive born, and those that are captive born are usually much more in price than those wild caught. I know more about snakes than I do with chameleons, so I'm not too savvy on the marketplace for them, and any advice would be much appreciated.

I would consider keeping them until they were mature enough and I could ship them to sell to ensure they go to good homes, but I don't feel comfortable with that.

Does anyone know of anyone in the Los Angeles area who might interested in taking this clutch?

 

[qdude46]

Look at the chameleon care tab on the left hand side and click care sheets and go to Jackson's. I've heard that Jackson's babies tend to have a high mortality rate so don't be surprised if quite a few die off. House the babies in a large bin with climbing areas and make sure you have plenty of dusted fruit flies and pinheads. You should know the care given to the at petsmart is more More than likely incorrect, you need humidity, no substrate, no hides, and a bunch of other stuff you'll see on the care sheet. Lastly, sell them at least 3 months of age, most people won't want a month old baby that will probably will die.

 

[Action Jackson]

Hi,
Where in LA are you located and how many do you have?

 

[Brainbow]

Look at the chameleon care tab on the left hand side and click care sheets and go to Jackson's. I've heard that Jackson's babies tend to have a high mortality rate so don't be surprised if quite a few die off. House the babies in a large bin with climbing areas and make sure you have plenty of dusted fruit flies and pinheads. You should know the care given to the at petsmart is more More than likely incorrect, you need humidity, no substrate, no hides, and a bunch of other stuff you'll see on the care sheet. Lastly, sell them at least 3 months of age, most people won't want a month old baby that will probably will die.

They are doing well so far in a 5.5 gallon terrarium with tons of vines to climb on and hide in. I mist them 3-5 times a day and have them on paper towel. I know Petsmarts care guides and knowledge are sub par, that's why I took them home. I've heard they have a high mortality rate and many die young. So far they are all doing very well. I've only cared for baby veileds. I have been feeding them fruit flies but have been finding it hard to find pin heads, but I'm still looking. Thank you for you help. 3 months seems very reasonable.

 

[Brainbow]

Hi,
Where in LA are you located and how many do you have?

Currently I am located in Ventura, just North of LA but also spend time in Santa Clarita as well and I have 7.

 

[dam718]

I wish you the best of luck! I had a female Jackson who had a clutch of babis, and unfortunately none of them made it past 3 weeks. Sounds like you're having better luck than I was though, and I do hope you are able to continue with this success! They do have a high mortality rate, though... Just keep it up!