a little more insight on jackson's behavior.(jacksons unite)

[lecham]

i have a small jacksons chameleon and well im curiouse to wether they bask a lot or not...my veiled seems to bask a lot,,but this guy is slower..can any one give me some expert jackson advise ? i mean to say on their behavior and what they like. i have a 5.0 reptisun tube 5 in abouv its mesh cage and i have a 75 wat heat bulb 10 inches abouv the cage .. the temp in their is about 84 to 86 and humidity is in the 70 most of the time but with the mists it rises

 

[davthevieled]

The general rule with reptiles and basking is they will do it for as long as they feel they need. My veiled will bask, but definately not all day and definately not a lot.

 

[melrito]

Jackson's will bask, females quite a bit more than males in my experience (especially when gravid). They are not a highly active species, but they will move around their cage. The basking temp should be about 85 degrees with an ambient temp in the low to mid 70's. A drop at night to the low 60's is good. Humidity sounds good, mine runs in the 65% range during the day (a bit higher at night to 80%). The uvb bulb you're using is perfect. Be sure not to over-supplement Jackson's, as their metabolism is slower and can get problems from it. A good care sheet on Jackson's is available from FLChams: http://jacksonschameleoncaresheet.com/

Hope this helps

 

[lecham]

Jackson's will bask, females quite a bit more than males in my experience (especially when gravid). They are not a highly active species, but they will move around their cage. The basking temp should be about 85 degrees with an ambient temp in the low to mid 70's. A drop at night to the low 60's is good. Humidity sounds good, mine runs in the 65% range during the day (a bit higher at night to 80%). The uvb bulb you're using is perfect. Be sure not to over-supplement Jackson's, as their metabolism is slower and can get problems from it. A good care sheet on Jackson's is available from FLChams: http://jacksonschameleoncaresheet.com/

Hope this helps

im guessing by over-supplement u mean the calcium and multi vitamins right? i guess the jacksons is a slower cham. but definetly moves around.

 

[xanthoman]

xanth basking

i dont think there is any hard and fast rule about how long they should or will bask. they all have different metabolisms and different personalities. as long as their supplemental and enviromental parameters are in order, they are perfectly capable of choosing the appropriate basking time.
specifically, what kind of basking lamp are you using? you referred to it as a "heat lamp", which sort of implies infra red. imo, an infra red lamp is not a good choice as a xanth basking lamp. it produces too much heat over too wide of an area. you dont want to heat the entire top of the cage, but rather a zone about the size of your hand. in addition, the purpose of basking is not only to produce localized, controlled heat source, but also to provide uva, which an infra red bulb does not do.
uva is thought to help curb depression and stimulate appetite.
how do you measure your basking temps ? xanth basking temps are pretty critical, depending on how you measure your temps, its quite possible that they are significantly higher than what you think they are. if you are using an infra red heat lamp, i would recommend switching to a ordinary incandescent household clear or cool white bulb of the minimum wattage required to reach the desired basking temp which i would limit to 84*
depending on your placement, cage size, and reflector.
25watts is usually plenty, 40 watts is usually too much. my personal recommendation for monitoring cage conditions is the $20 zilla therm/hygrometer with 2 seperate probes for temp and humidity. that way, you can place a temp probe right in the sweet spot of the basking beam. this is important since temps just a few inches away, can be significantly different. no nightime heat, if you can , try to offer a nightime temp drop of at least 10*lower than your ambient cage temp.

i wouldnt worry a whole lot about humidity, as long as your animal is healthy and your cage is well planted and has wet foliage several times a day, you should be fine. youre biggest risk as a new keeper, is probably over-supplementation, or too narrow of a diet(too many crickets)but those are 2 extensive subjects which i will save for another time. jmo

 

[AZChamFan]

Jackson's will bask, females quite a bit more than males in my experience (especially when gravid). They are not a highly active species, but they will move around their cage. The basking temp should be about 85 degrees with an ambient temp in the low to mid 70's. A drop at night to the low 60's is good. Humidity sounds good, mine runs in the 65% range during the day (a bit higher at night to 80%). The uvb bulb you're using is perfect. Be sure not to over-supplement Jackson's, as their metabolism is slower and can get problems from it. A good care sheet on Jackson's is available from FLChams: http://jacksonschameleoncaresheet.com/

Hope this helps

Couldn't agree more. My male Jackson's has a basking site of around 85 degrees which he uses quite often, and he also moves around a bit throughout his cage which is in the low to mid 70's(ambient), spending some of his time in the cooler areas, sometimes in shade, and sometimes in brighter areas, but he is definitely not as active as my panthers. I mist several times daily and the humidity varies but is usually somewhere around 60% to 70%. A great way to control an incandescent basking light is to get a dimmable light socket. It's not quite like having a thermostat, but it does allow you a lot of control of your bulb, and you don't have to try and buy just the perfect wattage bulb for your situation. Unless your house temps vary greatly, it works very well.......your 75 watt bulb can become a 10 watt, or anything inbetween!! You mention that the temps in your cage are 84 to 86 - if he cannot escape these temps then that is too warm - these temps should be in your basking site only. Also, like someone else mentioned - your basking bulb should not be an infra-red heat bulb.

 

[melrito]

im guessing by over-supplement u mean the calcium and multi vitamins right? i guess the jacksons is a slower cham. but definetly moves around.

yes, that is what I meant. People have differing opinions on supplementation, but for the Jackson good gut loading of the feeder insects is more important. That said, I supplement mine every 4-6 weeks with calcium and a multivitamin.