JacksoniiJones
New Member
Hello, long time reader of this forum, first time post! I have kept a few species of chameleon over the last decade or so, and am a life long fanatic of all reptiles. I would have to say jacksonii have always been my favorite.
As my young family grew, my menagerie of reptiles shrank. I finally convinced my wife that we needed some chameleons around the house, and we settled on a pair of Jacksons.
I’m also an avid listener of the Chameleon Breeder podcast, and was intrigued by the Kenyan xanth movement to get wild blood, and encourage healthy captive generations. So I was keen on starting a small breeding project with Kenyan animals.
About two months ago, I received a trio of baby xanths from an individual that claimed to have had several recent Kenyan imported females birth litters. I expressed my interest in obtaining animals from wild blood lines, but was hesitant to get jacksonii that were under four or six months of age. Though the pictures were of newborn babies, he assured me that they were now almost three months old and really vigorous....(I know, my fault for not insisting on more recent pictures...)
While the animals shipped in apparent good health, I was highly doubtful that they were much more than a month old, and indeed one of them was half the size of the other two and likely a fresh newborn. (It, unfortunately, did not acclimate well and died a few days later).
The other two, I assume were litter mates, are doing really well and have doubled in size. He did refund my money for the runt (he was not generous with his price on such young animals). While I am aggravated that the individual that he shipped was likely the “male” from a separate litter (I would not have put any money on it being a male at newborn size) I am relieved that the sibling pair are likely both females (at least I think so). I wanted to post a few pictures of them and get everyone’s opinion to verify.
Also, as they are beginning to get some size(~3” svl) and age (his claim would be nearly five months but I suspect more like three) to them, I am preparing to move them into separate enclosures. I enjoy diy projects and want to build them something with solid walls on three sides (like the dragon strand breeders). They currently share a homemade 18x18x36 screen cage, but they will likely have to spend much of the year indoors with the heat or a/c running and drying out the air. Does anyone have any tips/ ideas on building with pvc panels or corrugated plastic? I liked Chris Anderson’s diy chameleon cage build using 2x4s and pvc/ plastic panels. The only thing I didn’t like is that some of the wood frame is on the inside of the cage. Has anyone had luck using smaller gage lumber and keeping all the framing on the outside?
And finally (last question I promise); does anyone use the zoo med T5H0/ LED combo fixtures? I was thinking of splurging and getting a four foot fixture to span over two 24x24” side by side. My main concern being the lights penetrating power, (not so much the UVB but how bright are the LEDs?) as I will likely build these cages at least four feet tall.
Okay, enough rambling, here’s the pictures of my babies. Thanks in advance for everyone’s input!!!
As my young family grew, my menagerie of reptiles shrank. I finally convinced my wife that we needed some chameleons around the house, and we settled on a pair of Jacksons.
I’m also an avid listener of the Chameleon Breeder podcast, and was intrigued by the Kenyan xanth movement to get wild blood, and encourage healthy captive generations. So I was keen on starting a small breeding project with Kenyan animals.
About two months ago, I received a trio of baby xanths from an individual that claimed to have had several recent Kenyan imported females birth litters. I expressed my interest in obtaining animals from wild blood lines, but was hesitant to get jacksonii that were under four or six months of age. Though the pictures were of newborn babies, he assured me that they were now almost three months old and really vigorous....(I know, my fault for not insisting on more recent pictures...)
While the animals shipped in apparent good health, I was highly doubtful that they were much more than a month old, and indeed one of them was half the size of the other two and likely a fresh newborn. (It, unfortunately, did not acclimate well and died a few days later).
The other two, I assume were litter mates, are doing really well and have doubled in size. He did refund my money for the runt (he was not generous with his price on such young animals). While I am aggravated that the individual that he shipped was likely the “male” from a separate litter (I would not have put any money on it being a male at newborn size) I am relieved that the sibling pair are likely both females (at least I think so). I wanted to post a few pictures of them and get everyone’s opinion to verify.
Also, as they are beginning to get some size(~3” svl) and age (his claim would be nearly five months but I suspect more like three) to them, I am preparing to move them into separate enclosures. I enjoy diy projects and want to build them something with solid walls on three sides (like the dragon strand breeders). They currently share a homemade 18x18x36 screen cage, but they will likely have to spend much of the year indoors with the heat or a/c running and drying out the air. Does anyone have any tips/ ideas on building with pvc panels or corrugated plastic? I liked Chris Anderson’s diy chameleon cage build using 2x4s and pvc/ plastic panels. The only thing I didn’t like is that some of the wood frame is on the inside of the cage. Has anyone had luck using smaller gage lumber and keeping all the framing on the outside?
And finally (last question I promise); does anyone use the zoo med T5H0/ LED combo fixtures? I was thinking of splurging and getting a four foot fixture to span over two 24x24” side by side. My main concern being the lights penetrating power, (not so much the UVB but how bright are the LEDs?) as I will likely build these cages at least four feet tall.
Okay, enough rambling, here’s the pictures of my babies. Thanks in advance for everyone’s input!!!