Female jackson always brown

greenday

New Member
My female jackson seems to almost always be brown. I'd really love for her to lighten up and turn a lighter shade of green. I got her about 4 weeks ago and she only lightens up if she's sleeping, sometimes eating, or sometimes when she goes outside. But it's never a definite shade of green. It's only a SLIGHT hint of green with a very unsaturated muted light brownish green. I was wondering if there's anything wrong, this is my first Cham and I really do love them so I don't want her to have anything wrong with how I'm keeping her.
She's in a 16x16x30 screen cage. As far as I can tell she's about 8 months. She eats about 5-7 1/2" crickets every day to every other day. Calcium every feeding, multivitamins every couple weeks and I just ordered some d3 so she should get that in a few days. I mist her about 4x times a day and have a hygrometer in the mail but I'm sure the humidity is high enough because I live near the ocean. Day time Temps range from 71-85F and nighttime temp is about 71F. Shes still a bit stressed by me but I've been hand feeding her every time and have even gotten her to walk up onto my hand a few times to take crickets off my arm. She eats mealworms as well every few days or so.
Her urates are a bit yellow so I ordered a dripper as well so she can drink when I'm not around and doesn't have to rely on the misting
 

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I don't keep jacksons yet, so I can't comment on her color, however I can recommend that you ditch the meal worms. If you wanna go with a worm use superworms. They are better for your cham and dont have as much chitin. However be careful with these too because most chams really like them and some will go on hungerstrikes and only eat superworms. You could even try silkworms or hornworms for a bit more variety if you wanted, some chams go nuts for them. Also, be sure to gut load your crickets. Especially if they will be the bulk of your chams diet. Feed them healthy green as well as some vegetables and even some fruits or berries. The nutrients in the crickets guts will transfer directly to your cham. Good luck with your chams color.
 
I'm glad you are adding a dripper but Jackson's need a lot of misting to maintain proper humidity and hydration. As soon as you can you should get a misting system. I don't know how I could do it without mine. A hygrometer to monitor your humidity would be good to have. I live close to the ocean and still struggle with keeping humidity up at certain times of the year because of the lights, heating or air conditioner.
I assume she doesn't like your phone/camera and isn't gaping from the heat. Temps above 80˚F are a bit high for a female.
Ditto on the super worms vs. mealworms comment above.
 
I'm glad you are adding a dripper but Jackson's need a lot of misting to maintain proper humidity and hydration. As soon as you can you should get a misting system. I don't know how I could do it without mine. A hygrometer to monitor your humidity would be good to have. I live close to the ocean and still struggle with keeping humidity up at certain times of the year because of the lights, heating or air conditioner.
I assume she doesn't like your phone/camera and isn't gaping from the heat. Temps above 80˚F are a bit high for a female.
Ditto on the super worms vs. mealworms comment above.

The basking spot is about 85F, not the whole cage. And ya, she's gaping because of the camera, she doesn't usually do that.
So basically what I'm getting is make sure the humidity is right and try to feed superwoman instead of mealworms and make sure to gutload? I usually only gutload with carrots and lettuce so I'll try to add some extra gutload. Thanks for the help you guys :)
 
I know you said she's stressed about the camera, but are you saying she is this color all the time? Suggests that something is bothering her. Can she see other chams/animals around her cage? Any reflections? Yep, a better gutload is needed. Jackson's are sensitive to vitamin overdosing, so the less you have to rely on supplement dusting the better. Properly fed insects are the way to go.
 
I know you said she's stressed about the camera, but are you saying she is this color all the time? Suggests that something is bothering her. Can she see other chams/animals around her cage? Any reflections? Yep, a better gutload is needed. Jackson's are sensitive to vitamin overdosing, so the less you have to rely on supplement dusting the better. Properly fed insects are the way to go.
No other chams in sight and no mirrors or reflections either. I don't know what's bothering her
 
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