Breeding Jacksons

[EarthToEmily]

So, I got my male back in June.

I was not planning on getting another, but he was more or less an impulse buy. I knew I wanted a cham, but was not entirely certain about how to take care of them or what kind I wanted. I went to an expo with the intent of just looking at them, and I came home with him! Those gnarly horns and adorable face sucked me in, lol.
I did SOOO much research after I got him, basic care and whatnot, and I started reading about breeding and decided it was a challenge I wanted to take on.
I got my female a few days ago, introduced them last night (didn't have any problems putting her in his cage )
She was a little weary at first. I watched to make sure she didn't go after him, and everything seemed fine. I left them alone for a while and found them sitting on the same branch a few hours later (and he was the brightest, prettiest green i have EVER seen him display, btw).
I went to bed after that, annnd I found him on top of her this morning, hehe

So basically, long story short, I know they mated, and I have read conflicting things of how long I should keep them together. I know housing them together for too long isn't a good thing, but I want to make sure that the deed has been done correctly and she will have babies. Also, I read that she can retain the sperm and have another clutch sometime after the first. How often does that happen? How soon after?

Does anyone have experience breeding Jacksons? Any pointers?

Thanks guys!

 

[Jamelon]

Im not experienced in breeding but i read a bit about it, and i know that you can keep the female in with the male until she starts showing gravid colours. Doing this will also help make sure that you will have a viable clutch since they will probably mate more than just once. As for sperm retention i dont know how long after she will lay the next clutch but i THINK in panthers its like 6-8 weeks after the first laying. However i dont know if jacksons have a similar time line.

 

[pssh]

Jacksons don't lay, they give birth to live babies. It's requires a lot more care, attention, and knowledge to make sure the female is in the best possible health for the duration of her pregnancy.

 

[EarthToEmily]

Haha yeah, that's part of it, I have found sooo much about caring for eggs and laying eggs and etc etc but it seems harder to find accurate information about chams such as jacksons that have live births. hmm.

 

[EarthToEmily]

Will she show distinctive colors when she's been successfully impregnated? I thought I knew so much, but now when it comes down to actually happening, I don't feel as knowledgeable as I did, haha.

 

[laurie]

Will she show distinctive colors when she's been successfully impregnated? I thought I knew so much, but now when it comes down to actually happening, I don't feel as knowledgeable as I did, haha.

Emily in the bookstore section at the top of the forum is a book and veiled, panthers & JACKSONS. It is only around $10 but good information and resource. Give it a read. I also have Jacksons & I like the book

I would remove the female from the male now. You are braver than I am, that is jumping into live births really fast.

 

[EarthToEmily]

Sounds like a good read, i'll look into it

Yeah, i know its kind of a risk to start out with live births but I have enough time and money to invest into looking after the female (and the babies, when they come) that I don't think i'm making a bad decision

 

[xanthoman]

new to jacksons

hi emily, i wouldnt leave them together too long, jacksons arent really considered a beginner species, and it would be easy for them to be causing each other stress without a new keeper realizing it. a week is probably plenty. when she is gravid she will most likely look like the left picture of post#5 in this thread https://www.chameleonforums.com/expect-babies-soon-36311/index4.html trust me, its not uncommon for jacksons to have unsuccessful clutches or for the mom to go downhill after birthing, so you will have lots more study to do in order to have a successful clutch and retain the moms health. jacksons require less supplementation than most other chams , lower potency products like sticky tongue farms miner-all indoor formula for calcium /D3 and sticky tongue farms vit-all as a multivite would probably be best. you will need to use them both far less than what is printed on the label. it would be helpful to keep a notebook on when you got them, when you believe they mated and any other changes that take place. assuming you already have proper uva & uvb lighting and such, i would strongly recomend a few items. a digital scale with a tare feature (so you dont have to weigh the container) that weighs in 1/10 g to about 500 g. that will come in useful for keeping track of weight changes and also in making gutload and such. you can usually get one at local smoke shops for about $20. also a digital thermometer/hygrometer with senders on leads for proper monitoring of temps and humidity(accurate monitoring is fairly important with jacksons) zilla makes a decent one for about$20 and you can probably find it at petco. other useful items to have on hand would be a syringe of 1 cc or less and a curved tip dental syringe. you can get a 1/2 gal pump sprayer at home depot for about $8 that works much better than a household spray bottle. all you need for basking is a household incandescent bulb of about 15-40 watts depending on your setup. imo, ceramic heat emitters and infra red heat bulbs should be avoided. i recomend a max basking temp of 84*. jacksons need no heat at night, in fact, a night temp drop of at least 12* is preferred. they will need a wide variety of feeders , it is unlikely they will stay healthy on just as diet of petstore crickets,(feeding mostly crickets will get their calcium/phosphorus levels all out of balance) starting a dubia roach colony and studying how to raise hydei fruit flies and how to raise house flies, blue bottle flies, mantis and common brown garden snails, is strongly recomended. there are videos on you tube on how to raise most common types of feeders. until you gain some experience, it is probably best to avoid wild caught feeders, things like waxworms, mealworms or superworms should be done sparingly. you can get silkworms and hornworms online. it would probably be a good idea to have a local herp vet do a fecal float to check for parasites, thats a fairly common issue with new jacksons. birthing will most likely take place in about 6 months, you will have about 2 months to get your act together if you expect all to go well. hope that helps, good luck hope it all goes well. we will be waiting to hear how you are doing.