Greetings & Meet "My Liege"

D

DrtyRdr

New Member
Greetings all,
My name is Shaun, and I just wanted to pop in to introduce myself. The beautiful beast you see here has been dubbed "King Hunter McStickyTongue" by my twin 7 year old boys, but we like to call him "My Liege".

Before having our twin boys, my wife and I kept a houseful of various reptiles and amphibians (multiple species of geckos, uromastyx, collard lizards, newts, salamanders, frogs...etc.). However, once the boys came we had very little time to devote to such endeavors. Jackson's have always been my all time favorite species of Chameleons, and so we picked up My Liege from Reptiles Direct at the NARBC show last weekend in Arlington TX.

So far he seems to be doing great. He is eating well, right now I'm rotating gut loaded crickets and super worms, he is taking water from my hand mister and off his leaves, and is usually in a different spot in his tank every day when I get home from work. He keeps his bright green color, with a bit of blue on his head, most of the time, but I have seen him go dark green at various times. Which leads to a question. I can tell he does not like it when I mist the tank, or at least, he doesn't seem to. He'll go various shades of dark green, and will either lean away from the spray, or he'll look right at it and drink. It tends to vary.

My question is, which do you think would be LESS stressful to him: leaving him in his home when I mist, and let him get over it; or handle him to take him out when I mist? He seems to recover quickly, within 10 - 15 minutes he's back to his bright green self, so I'm kind of leaning toward just leaving him but wanted a second and third opinion.

Anyhoo, all for now, but I do want to send out a big THANK YOU to folks who run this forum, and to all the great folks who post here as it has been my #1 reference guide for our new lil' buddy.
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Yes, I agree and leave him in. If you take him out and mist and then put him back in, he may not recognize the water sitting still on the plants. They seem to be stimulated to drink by the motion of the water dripping or forming on the leaves and such when you mist. Very few chameleons will drink from water bowls or standing water. It is the motion of the water that gets them to drink.
 
Thanks for the input all. I agree, and will leave him be. He's a heck of a lot of fun to watch so far, the kids get a kick out of watching him eat, and he is a great educational tool!
 
My old jackson didnt like mistings either. Then I started heating up the water before spraying it and he seemed to tolerate it a little more. Just a thought.
 
I read back your post and I noticed you had "tank" in it. There is much written on the pro's and cons of "tanks" - stagnate air and such- you should check out the care sheet for Jackson's - they need different care than panthers and confusing the two is a common newbie mistake- (one I came very close to making with supplements which might have been fatal in my case)

I use a drip with my baby (3 month old Jackson) along with misting - and had to change my cage set up to keep the drainage working so I didn't have standing water. There's a great video by one of the members mostly about keeping babies alive but chock full of info if you have the time.

If you want a treat for your twins - try getting one of the pop up laundry hampers with a zipper with some fake vines and some real blue bottle flies (you can order them pesticide free for pretty cheap) and hang it where you can watch- (weather and temp permitting of course)
 
kplatvoet,
First I want to say thanks much for the feedback and advice. Yes, I did mention a tank, and honestly I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice and say something! lol.. Anyway, I made sure to do my research on the care for Jackson's, and chameleons in general, and do understand the pro's/con's of a "tank" vs. a screen enclosure. I ultimately went with the Zoomed Naturalistic though for a few reasons. First being we also have two cats, and one is a big climber. I have no doubt he would launch himself and climb up a screened enclosure. I considered going with something like the Reptibreeze and lock it a way in my office, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a great looking reptile and being able to share the experience with friends and family.

Second is the tank is such a great design, it truly does allow for great ventilation. With the vents in front and down low, and the screen top, the heat from the lamp creates a nice flow of fresh air through the tank. I mist once in the morning, once in late afternoon, and the tank is fully dry when it is time to mist next. It maintains an ambient humidity level right around 65 - 70%, with peaks and valleys of higher and lower.

I understand what to look for as far as potential health concerns, and am monitoring him closely. I really think he will be OK, until he is just too big for it (not long, I know!), at which time I'll figure out a good screen solution and turn the tank into a dart frog enclosure!

Thanks again though, and please don't take my attitude as a "know it all" who ignores common care, I do accept and consider other's experience and knowledge.
 
I hope I didn't sound like a know it all either - because I am not - I've read both sides of the tank argument and think there are too many variables and I'm too new to have an opinion - sounds to me like read them too and know what to look out for - and what works best for you -
 
Not at all kplatvoet, I do appreciate the feedback. I agree, too many variables and I did have to go with what currently works best for our immediate situation. So far, so good, but we are watching him closely! Man is he a lot of fun though, I can literally sit there and watch him for an hour or more. But then again, I am easily amused!
 
Blue bottle flies-(you can get them from mantisplace.com) hours of entertainment - i get the staple flies for my baby - he goes all ninja on them - It's fun watching my husband chase them around the house when they get out too- he changes colors and everything.
 
Ok, you have my attention! Blue bottle flies... I'm looking at the mantisplace.com site now. Do you get the pupae? If so, can they fly right after hatching, or do they just walk around? Do you use a cup when feeding them to your chammy? Inquiring minds want to know!
 
You can keep them in the fridge and just hatch out a few - spikes take longer to hatch- I hatch a bunch in a plastic jar and open it in the hamper (outside) but if you put it in the freezer for a min they don't move too fast -
 
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