Concerned over jackson...

[Christofolo]

Hello all, new to the forum and chameleons in general but always wanted one as a kid...

Bought a young jackson yesterday and he's around 4-5 inches long atm including the tail. I will see if i can upload pics of his habitat in a moment but he isnt eating, theres 3 crickets hopping around and I have a small cup of mealworms below him if he wants but nothing yet. I have the temperature ranging from 76.5F to 78.5F now despite that he would gape for like a minute before moving on.

I have the little dripper and I've misted it twice. I have a ceiling fan going slow and the 2 computers in the room keep the place warm. Any input would be greatly appreciated as I want to take good care of Clark (named him that by their very nature that they love the sun lol them being cold blooded).

 

[Christofolo]

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t308/Christofolo/IMG_20111022_161307.jpg


http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t308/Christofolo/IMG_20111022_161320.jpg

Thats the picture of his home, seen him wall crawling and even walking on the floor of the habitat twice already, but he quickly goes back up onto the wall.

 

[camimom]

Welcome! and congrats on the new cham!
When anyone purchases a new cham , they can go a few days without eatingm simply because they are stressed and trying to settle into their new homes.
I wouldnt worry on that part yet until its been a week or more.

 

[carol5208]

hi and welcome! I would remove the substrate(whatever it is you have in the bottom of the cage) and leave the cage floor bare. You cham might injest that and it would not be healthy for him not to mention it getting wet and soggy with a dripper going in there and mistings. how big is that cage? You may want to set it up higher some how also. Chameleons like to be high up. your cage could also use some vines and branches for climbing and walkways. If it is at all possible get your chameleon outside for some natural uvb. You live in FLA as do I and we have that luxury, pretty much year round. It will be very beneficial to him.

 

[ataraxia]

temp probe outside the cage is reading 78. that means under the light it is much higher. his temps are to warm. reason for gaping.

take the aspen bedding out. put paper towel, new paper or bare bottom.

is he wild caught? where did you buy him from?

jacksons can be tricky. here is a basic care sheet. i would suggest you changing what needs to change. he needs to be in the right conditions and feel safe before he starts hunting.

Cage:Larger species 24x24x48' and Smaller Species 18x18x36 SCREEN cage lots of rope, vines and live plants if you can. Live plants will help with the humidity. Put the cage as high up in the room as you can. Not near any vents, fans or windows.

Lighting: 5.0 reptisun or reptiglo linear tube (length depends on cage size)/house hold bulb for basking. The house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps.
***change UVB bulbs every 6 months.

Temps: basking temp around 80* / ambient temps mid 60's to low 70's* / mid 50's to low 60's* Night temps (no bulbs at night) measure by digital guages.

Hydration: Manual spray 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. Provide a dripper. You can also put a ice cube on top of the cage to drip.

Feeders: gutload (24 hours before feeding) with fresh veggies and fruits and once a week with sticky tongues gutload. Crickets, mealworms (use as snacks only), silkworms, hornworms, dubai roaches,discoides,turkistans, reptiworms, BB flies, moths.

Supplements: repcal calcium w/o d3 every feeding, reptivite twice a month

Dry gut load for your crickets, roaches, meal worms

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ferretinmyshoes/446-basics-gutloading.html

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/425-may-2011-gutload.html

Wet gut load (same ingredients as above):

good luck with you new chameleon!

 

[Christofolo]

The temp probe is actually connected to a sensor thats inside the cage directly below both lights (may be difficult to see if at all). He is keeping to the mid levels of elevation and going up now. Nah I bought him from Beverlys pet center in pembroke pines, FL.

The cage by rough measurements appears to be a 16''x16''x20 something inch screen mesh cage. I may have to change to a lower power basking bulb as they gave me a 120v lightbulb thats bluish colored but the temp probe now reads 81.2F after a few minutes of last reading.

 

[AJA]

Nice looking cham and welcome to the forum, you will find lots of great people, ideas and discussions on here.

Definately get the heat off of him and get more live plants in there. Pothos, ficus or shafella (umbrella) plants work the best, he needs to hide and feel safe. As far as he is concerned you are going to eat him

I didn't catch on to the size of cricket you are trying to feed but he probably would do best with mediums to the small side. Silkworms, flies, small roaches are all yummy.

Ditto to what the others have said as well. Put papertowels down, it will make it much easier to keep clean and check your poops for wierdness.

Good luck with him.

 

[Christofolo]

Ok I swapped the 60watt light out for an exo-terra sun glo 25watt tube light. temperatures are stable now in the mid to high 70s. He's currently hanging out near an umbrella plant and some vines I worked on for him, Will update on his status as his gaping has stopped for the moment.

 

[xanthoman]

Ok I swapped the 60watt light out for an exo-terra sun glo 25watt tube light. temperatures are stable now in the mid to high 70s.

just to be clear, the purpose of a uva basking light is to provide a stable basking temp, but equally as important, possibly even more so, to provide UVA, which in most cases a fluorescent tube light does not do. this is why we use both incandescent and fluorescent light sources together. imo, i would replace your et sun glo with a incandescent of 15-25watts such as a fridge or oven bulb, in a wide beam reflector. not providing proper uva will eventually lead to problems. also, if you want your xanth to thrive long term, avoid feeding of cricks and mealworms as xanths are sensitive to metabolic issues and nutritionally speaking, both cricks and mealworms are poorly balanced feeders. imo, i would instead base your main diet plan off of silks, dubia, bg/bottle flies and bsfl, offering things like cricks and mealworms only as the occasional treat

also newer keepers temps are often quite different than what they assume them to be, so, proper knowledge and equipment for measuring temps, is essential for good xanth husbandry. you need to understand that the issue is far more complex than just keeping them warm enough , hopefully this recent thread will help you get a better understanding of what is required and should give you a starting point for formulating a better lighting/temp plan.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/jackson-baby-basking-alot-68529/

hope that helps. jmo

 

[Christofolo]

Well the reason I switched to another light was so that he wouldn't get cooked by such an intense basking light, I rather do that now then later if there would even be a later (he's currently in a comfortable range so we shall see).

As for the grub I wouldnt even know where the heck to get those other ones because down here in urban Hialeah, FL they dont believe in chameleons lol so if you got an online store I can look up then please enlighten me :]

 

[ataraxia]

in order to achieve the use of either bulb correctly. will have to start with different fixtures. his 25 watt bulb is just fine but it needs to be in a different fixture independently. uvb then will be utilized a little better through a linear tube. judging from the distance from the bulb inside the fixture to highest foliage or vine is <12 inches. Your current uvb bulb could very well be sufficient but still needs to be in its own fixture and adjusted to correct height. in house temps can change with seasons which could make a difference with basking. personally ive never tried less uvb (radiant and timed) with jacksons. i also have not tried the newer version of Cfl or coil bulbs.

 

[Christofolo]

Well the way I see it the cage is at the point where half of it is pretty much covered by the bulbs while the other side is clear of them..he's currently sleeping and the temps have been stable in the mid 70s and will probably drop to high 60s for the night. His color has been a nice green so he doesn't seem to be stressing o.o which can only be good lol

I do want to feed him silk worms every once in a while though, I have the supplements for the critters to apply to them before I feed them so hopefully it all works out.

 

[xanthoman]

if you are still having probs getting him to eat, i would remove all feeders and try again in 3 or 4 days, preferably using different feeders. bottle flies are great hunger strike breakers, last time i looked, spikes were available at the mantisplace.com although they are easily raised. his basking spot should be at eye level or above.
if he is regularly going to the floor of his cage, that is usually a warning sign of metabolic issues, imo, more often than not, its often a sign of oversupplementation, but without more info, thats just another wild assumption on the part of xanthoman. like other posters have said, getting him natural sun, is probably the single best thing you can do for him, if you can get him at least 3 hrs each week of natural daylight, even shade (meaning not filtered through glass),then you would be safe to eliminate supplemental d3 altogether, thereby eliminating supplemental d3 imbalance as a possible cause.

for info on raising bottle flies just go xanthoman userprofile/statistics/find all posts by xanthoman, there you will find 20 pages of xanth related posts including raising of bottle flies, id post the link for you but not feeling all that well right now. for dubia they are not legally mailed to florida, but i bet if you were to discreetly pm some dubia raising members, especially florida ones, you would probably find somebody willing to help out. bsfl are pricey, but are also easily raised, and can be self harvesting.
raising bugs is just a part of xanth keeping. if you try to keep xanths on just commercially raised feeders, you are in for an expensive and likely difficult road.
if you continue having issues of him visiting the bottom of the cage , you would be wise to fill out the help form in its entirety and repost in the health clinic. jmo

 

[Christofolo]

Well I left home for work in the morning and when I got back home I misted the cage for the 2nd time today and apparently he had eaten two of the three crickets I loosed inside on friday night 2 days ago. However he hasn't touched the mealworms.

As for his colors and behavior he goes from light greens to green and black pattern and lulls about the mid lvl to high areas. Right now he's a green and black pattern with a shade of brown over it all so I imagine he's stressed about something but I can't imagine what :/

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t308/Christofolo/IMG_20111023_170507.jpg
As you can see he has plenty of places to hide and climb.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t308/Christofolo/IMG_20111023_170526.jpg
Somewhat difficult to see but there he is in the basking area. Darker colors to absorb more heat I imagine. This was at 4:30-5pm

Now as of 5:30 and counting he has been at the bottom corner zigzagging below the door sill at a light green shade for his skin. His eyes are fully open and he drank water earlier but has yet to poop since yesterday.

UPDATE: Its 9:30pm over here atm and my cham is now stable and sleeping with the temp currently at 70 degrees F. Tomorrow I am buying silkworms to see if he likes them.