Breeding Handsome Jack?

boosh96

Member
I'm thinking I may want to get a girlfriend for Handsome Jack sometime in the future. I want to reiterate that it's something I think I may want to do, and by no stretch of the imagination is this something I'll just rush into. Can anyone give me a rundown of the time, money and resources involved in breeding Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus?
 
Think very long about it

Trust me when I tell you that plenty of time, space and money will be spent on raising Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus babies.

1) Babies can only be kept together until around 3 months.
Given the typically large clutch sizes, you will have greater success if you don't raise them all in one terrarium.
After that, each one will need to be housed in a cage with a plant, basking branches, heat lamp and UV lamp plus misting---a MistKing or AquaZamp system if you don't want to spend every waking moment misting them.

2) One mating can and will lead to more than one clutch of babies because Jackson's female can (and do) retain sperm from the first mating session.
Average clutch size is said to range from 7 to 30.
My Jackson's girl had 32--just shy of six months after giving birth to her first 21.
Plan on buying more than one Exo Terra 18" wide x 18" deep x 24" tall glass terrarium to house the babies in if you want them to make it.
They will constantly be walking and stepping on each other and they do not care at all if their sharp little nails dig into their brother or sister's eyes.
I've found that groups of about 10 per enclosure are good.
You will also need a fixture with an older, used Reptisun 5.0 because the babies need some UVB but not the strength that a new 5.0 provides.
No heat lamp and furnish the terraria with plants and horizontal basking branches.
The foam background of the Exo terra terraria makes an ideal surface to poke wooden skewers through for plenty of horizontal basking sites.

3)She may have her babies in anywhere from 5 to 9 months after mating. I know, the Jackson's caresheet says 6-9 months but mine only waited exactly 5 months to give birth the first time.

4) She may not have her babies during the most convenient time of year for you. Perhaps she gives birth just before the family vacation--who will you trust to care for the babies.
Newborn Jackson's need a constant supply of food and can eat only the tiniest feeders; primarily flightless Hydei fruit flies.
Ever see those tiny jars of flightless fruit flies in Petco?
Forget those.
Baby Jackson's are tiny little eating machines and so those are good for only 1 to 3 feedings due to the number of mouths you have to feed.
You'll need plenty of 32 ounce containers of producing Hydei cultures from places like Josh's Frogs who are wonderful at shipping producing cultures.
You will then need to either buy all the materials and fruit fly food to make cultures of your own, which take 3 or more weeks; depending on temperature, to begin producing new flies or you'll have to keep buying them.
If your area is especially hot or very cold, or even just during a heatwave or cold spell, no one will be able to ship live feeders to you, despite using insulated containers and heatpacks .
After they reach around a month of age, you can introduce true pinhead crickets--which are generally not available in petstores and must be mail-ordered from cricket breeders.
Many stores will tell you that they have pinhead crickets but they really have the much larger 1/3 grown size--at least in my area that is true.
Phoenix Worms are one of my favorite feeders to add to their diet as well. They supply a good amount of natural calcium.
Plan on buying them in bulk by the thousands from the Phoenix Worm Store to avoid going broke.
They still won't be "cheap".

Next, unless you have a huge house and can afford huge electric bills, you will want to find loving homes for the chams.

In summary, it is a great deal of work and you will lose money unless you breed all of the feeders yourself, make your own cages, buy the plants in bluk, etc. but it can be a rewarding thing to do, so long as you are prepared beforehand to spend the time and money required.

Now, if you are interested in obtaining any healthy captive bred Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus, I can help you with that, too :D
 
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Trust me when I tell you that plenty of time, space and money will be spent on raising Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus babies.

1) Babies can only be kept together until around 3 months.
Given the typically large clutch sizes, you will have greater success if you don't raise them all in one terrarium.
After that, each one will need to be housed in a cage with a plant, basking branches, heat lamp and UV lamp plus misting---a MistKing or AquaZamp system if you don't want to spend every waking moment misting them.

2) One mating can and will lead to more than one clutch of babies because Jackson's female can (and do) retain sperm from the first mating session.
Average clutch size is said to range from 7 to 30.
My Jackson's girl had 32--just shy of six months after giving birth to her first 21.
Plan on buying more than one Exo Terra 18" wide x 18" deep x 24" tall glass terrarium to house the babies in if you want them to make it.
They will constantly be walking and stepping on each other and they do not care at all if their sharp little nails dig into their brother or sister's eyes.
I've found that groups of about 10 per enclosure are good.
You will also need a fixture with an older, used Reptisun 5.0 because the babies need some UVB but not the strength that a new 5.0 provides.
No heat lamp and furnish the terraria with plants and horizontal basking branches.
The foam background of the Exo terra terraria makes an ideal surface to poke wooden skewers through for plenty of horizontal basking sites.

3)She may have her babies in anywhere from 5 to 9 months after mating. I know, the Jackson's caresheet says 6-9 months but mine only waited exactly 5 months to give birth the first time.

4) She may not have her babies during the most convenient time of year for you. Perhaps she gives birth just before the family vacation--who will you trust to care for the babies.
Newborn Jackson's need a constant supply of food and can eat only the tiniest feeders; primarily flightless Hydei fruit flies.
Ever see those tiny jars of flightless fruit flies in Petco?
Forget those.
Baby Jackson's are tiny little eating machines and so those are good for only 1 to 3 feedings due to the number of mouths you have to feed.
You'll need plenty of 32 ounce containers of producing Hydei cultures from places like Josh's Frogs who are wonderful at shipping producing cultures.
You will then need to either buy all the materials and fruit fly food to make cultures of your own, which take 3 or more weeks; depending on temperature, to begin producing new flies or you'll have to keep buying them.
If your area is especially hot or very cold, or even just during a heatwave or cold spell, no one will be able to ship live feeders to you, despite using insulated containers and heatpacks .
After they reach around a month of age, you can introduce true pinhead crickets--which are generally not available in petstores and must be mail-ordered from cricket breeders.
Many stores will tell you that they have pinhead crickets but they really have the much larger 1/3 grown size--at least in my area that is true.
Phoenix Worms are one of my favorite feeders to add to their diet as well. They supply a good amount of natural calcium.
Plan on buying them in bulk by the thousands from the Phoenix Worm Store to avoid going broke.
They still won't be "cheap".

Next, unless you have a huge house and can afford huge electric bills, you will want to find loving homes for the chams.

In summary, it is a great deal of work and you will lose money unless you breed all of the feeders yourself, make your own cages, buy the plants in bluk, etc. but it can be a rewarding thing to do, so long as you are prepared beforehand to spend the time and money required.

Now, if you are interested in obtaining any healthy captive bred Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus, I can help you with that, too :D

Ha ha, thanks for the laugh. So true.
 
Breeding chameleons is no small project. You will probably need thousands of dollars to be safe on raising them (and probably more).

People really only breed NOT for profit, unless you have a huge breeding system going (like Kammers or other companies). It takes a lot of money, time, feeders, etc...

Just read lovereps post... explains it all. LOl
 
I'm definitely not planning on breeding Jackson's for profit. I'm thinking about it because I want to experience raising baby chameleons and watching them grow up and go off to loving homes. It's something I'd love to do, but I'd have to think about it and save up. A lot.
 
If your serious about it the first thing you should do is to start on breeding feeders- I got my baby jackson when a girl at work petsmart chameleon had babies - she had 10- I took one quite young because she was having a hard time finding food for all the ones she had- I killed off a bunch of pin heads at about 50 bucks a pop and spent hours driving to different stores for fruit flies for my one just to keep her eating till I finally started my own fruit flies - and learned a bit - I was a total newbie and very lucky. I think if you can successfully raise silkworms and crickets from start to finish a couple of times the cost of raising a clutch is reduced - fruit flies are pretty easy -I had to have at least 3 going before I finally had enough and that was for one- and it took a while to figure out the proper hatching temps -
Pretty soon there will be a bunch of baby Jackson's at reptile shows- all less than a month old - if last year is any indication - the idea of giving money to someone who would sell one like that turns my stomach but it would give you a taste for what it would be like to have 20 - It's also makes it harder for responsible breeders to break even - I've only read about it - I don't know if I would be able to walk away if I actually saw it - and which instinct would prevail the one that would want to save one or two or the one that would get me arrested.
 
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