HELP!! With newborn Jackson's

[JaxyGirl]

Hi guys!!! I really need some advice on how my new tiny addition is doing as I'm just plain new to having a baby Jackson's. Today Griffin is a week old and he seems to be doing well..I think?

I'm probably obsessing slightly because I really want him to make it. He's very active and cruises around his enclosure with lots of energy and he seems happy. He's eating slightly larger then pinheads (1 week old crickets) and a mini meal worm here and there. What I want to know is how many crickets he should be eating daily????

He was taking the pinheads and meal worms from small needle nosed tweezers with relish and doing great. Thurs he ate 5 crickets and a meal worm. Friday he didn't eat anything. Today I saw him eat one cricket this morning.

The tweezers didn't seem to bother him a couple days ago but now all of a sudden he doesn't like them. So I set up a feeder cup with pinheads and a couple of meal worms and went to work. I got home tonight after he was a sleep so I'm not sure if he ate anything or not or if he can even find the feeder cup even though it is pretty large..compared to him (shallow delli cup) and set up with little vines going in to it.. so he can climb right down into it and eat I liked it when he was eating from tweezers because I could keep track of what he was eating..now..I'm worried he's not eating at all!

Also, here are some pics..he climbed up on my hand today when I was setting up his feeder cup. Please, tell me how you think he looks...if he looks healthy???

He's just so darn tiny!!! So if anyone has had any experience with a newborn Jackson's please chime in with any advice you may have. Thanks everyone
Natalie

 

[Elizadolots]

He is so freaking adorable.

I've never had a baby so don't have advice, but I was curious if you'd tried fruit flies? They seem a good size for the little ones and I really think they enjoy hunting things out of the air.

 

[Picasso123]

New life is amazingly interesting.

I think the major thing is to remove any not eaten crickets before bedtime so they don't try to turn him into a meal. There's probably a limit but I'm not sure, thou he shouldn't be eating his own weight I wouldn't think. Your best bet might be to message breeders an ask them as it's their business to get them old enough to ship.

 

[laurie]

I haven't raised baby jackson's but to me me looks ok. Completely beautiful and so tiny. Have you considered some tiny slikworms? When they are babies they are way small. One pod of tiny ones would last him a good while.

More picture and keep us up dated on his progress, if you don't mind.

 

[Damaranum]

First off all I want to say that in my opinion it's not wise to buy any baby so young when you have no experience with the species. I think it should be bought or sold. As in such a young age they are quite sensibel.
For now it's to late but I hope that one day we don't get this kind of messages anymore about just obtained baby's.

Then to your question, it is almost impossible to tell you how many an baby would need to eat. It's more important that you always make it possible for a baby to eat. And therefor I never use feeding bowls as this forces them to go and search on one specific place. For such a young animals I always prefer fruitflies as they can't do any harm. They will spread in the whole enclosure which makes it much easier for the baby to find its food. (you can still hold the feeding cup but then it shouldn't only find its way to it.)

When baby's are a week old drinking is as important as feeding.

At last you will never be able to see all feeding attempts of your chameleon you really should look at his behaviour. And therefor I also don't feed them everyday. When there hasn't been any foodsource and you give new food you are often able to see if he eats. If this is the case and their is enough food available which is lowering in numbers their is no problem. One day he will eat 1 item an other maybe 20.

Good luck with the baby.

 

[Ace]

First off all I want to say that in my opinion it's not wise to buy any baby so young when you have no experience with the species. I think it should be bought or sold. As in such a young age they are quite sensibel.
For now it's to late but I hope that one day we don't get this kind of messages anymore about just obtained baby's.

Then to your question, it is almost impossible to tell you how many an baby would need to eat. It's more important that you always make it possible for a baby to eat. And therefor I never use feeding bowls as this forces them to go and search on one specific place. For such a young animals I always prefer fruitflies as they can't do any harm. They will spread in the whole enclosure which makes it much easier for the baby to find its food. (you can still hold the feeding cup but then it shouldn't only find its way to it.)

When baby's are a week old drinking is as important as feeding.

At last you will never be able to see all feeding attempts of your chameleon you really should look at his behaviour. And therefor I also don't feed them everyday. When there hasn't been any foodsource and you give new food you are often able to see if he eats. If this is the case and their is enough food available which is lowering in numbers their is no problem. One day he will eat 1 item an other maybe 20.

Good luck with the baby.

one of her female jacksons gave birth to this baby and was unexpected by a possible obtaining female jackson while gravid. there is another thread on the whole story

 

[Damaranum]

Then my appolgies about the first. (although it stands for many other persons).

My advice ofcourse stays the same. But is makes the case much nicer! I hope you will have a lot of joy of your first baby.

 

[Ace]

Then my appolgies about the first. (although it stands for many other persons).

My advice ofcourse stays the same. But is makes the case much nicer! I hope you will have a lot of joy of your first baby.

agreed....and no need to apologize your heart was in the right place and is true for most people in the same scenario

good advice all the same

 

[jdog1027]

Hey Jaxygirl. I have 3 babies that were born 12/16/2010. So far they are doing real good. Mine have been feeding on fruit flies, crickets, mantids, mealworms ( as last resort when they were first born) and mealmoth larvae. Yours looks good so far. These are my first baby Jacksons, so I'm by no means an 'expert'. All I can say is humidity, humidity, humidity. I have an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier piped into their screen cage. I know you said you're using an aquarium, and I know that it's probably O.K. as long as you have that fan on top like you mentioned. Mine sit in the mist piped into their cage often, so I think it might be a good investment for you. I also have a homemade 'mist' system made from a Lowes pond pump that gives then a 5 minute shower 4 times a day ( as I am at work most of the day and can't 'babystit' them 24/7). Mine are now almost 8 weeks old and one of them shed today for the first time. Like I said, I'm no expert, but so far mine are doing really well. One was born with a tongue that malfunctions and had to feed from my fingertip up until this past week or so. She(?) has finally started to be able to use her(?) tongue on her(?) own. I'm really proud thus so far that they are doing so well. I have always heard horror stories about Jackson's babies. I have a couple of threads with them, but it's like 3:54 CST and it has been an evening of 'some slight energy expenditure', so I really don't feal like searching for them. I'll PM you and send you some links in the morning(afternoon), which ever comes first! I've got some pics of them when they were first born and what they are looking like now. They are really starting to grow. Like I said, no expert, but feel free to ask any question no matter how 'trivial'.

 

[JaxyGirl]

Hey Jaxygirl. I have 3 babies that were born 12/16/2010. So far they are doing real good. Mine have been feeding on fruit flies, crickets, mantids, mealworms ( as last resort when they were first born) and mealmoth larvae. Yours looks good so far. These are my first baby Jacksons, so I'm by no means an 'expert'. All I can say is humidity, humidity, humidity. I have an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier piped into their screen cage. I know you said you're using an aquarium, and I know that it's probably O.K. as long as you have that fan on top like you mentioned. Mine sit in the mist piped into their cage often, so I think it might be a good investment for you. I also have a homemade 'mist' system made from a Lowes pond pump that gives then a 5 minute shower 4 times a day ( as I am at work most of the day and can't 'babystit' them 24/7). Mine are now almost 8 weeks old and one of them shed today for the first time. Like I said, I'm no expert, but so far mine are doing really well. One was born with a tongue that malfunctions and had to feed from my fingertip up until this past week or so. She(?) has finally started to be able to use her(?) tongue on her(?) own. I'm really proud thus so far that they are doing so well. I have always heard horror stories about Jackson's babies. I have a couple of threads with them, but it's like 3:54 CST and it has been an evening of 'some slight energy expenditure', so I really don't feal like searching for them. I'll PM you and send you some links in the morning(afternoon), which ever comes first! I've got some pics of them when they were first born and what they are looking like now. They are really starting to grow. Like I said, no expert, but feel free to ask any question no matter how 'trivial'.

Hi, thanks for the great response! I'm glad that you chimed in and that you have babies too and having great success! I think he's doing good so far (fingers crossed!) His terrarium has a 70-90% humidity and the highest temp is 78 under a 25 wat basking light. There is really good ventilation. I saw him eat a pinhead this morning by stalking it and also ate one off the end of my tweezers. So I'm pretty relieved to know that he's eating. and now I have to head to work. He's so cute I could watch him all day!!!

 

[JaxyGirl]

one of her female jacksons gave birth to this baby and was unexpected by a possible obtaining female jackson while gravid. there is another thread on the whole story

Thanks ACE for explaining the situation..Much appreciated!!!

 

[JaxyGirl]

Then my appolgies about the first. (although it stands for many other persons).

My advice ofcourse stays the same. But is makes the case much nicer! I hope you will have a lot of joy of your first baby.

Hi, that's OK...my reaction probably would have been the same (at least in my head) if I had seen someone's else's post. No worries

 

[JaxyGirl]

I haven't raised baby jackson's but to me me looks ok. Completely beautiful and so tiny. Have you considered some tiny slikworms? When they are babies they are way small. One pod of tiny ones would last him a good while.

More picture and keep us up dated on his progress, if you don't mind.

Hi Laurie, I'll probably be ordering some little silkies and fruit flies Harry also sent me some which got me through a few days). It's been soo cold up her in Maine that I'm afraid that they would die during delivery because I have to work all day and there won't be anyone here to sign for them. I had to drive 2 hrs away to get the pinheads I have now...just none in my area in a 100mi radius..I was lucky to get them! They should last to the end of next week at the least..(hopefully) Anyhow off to work. Thanks again for the advice!!
Natalie

 

[xanthoman]

looks familiar

looks familiar and looks to be in good shape so far. personally i would do my best to get it some different feeders asap. by crickets, i hope you mean pinheads. of course, you have to feed what you can get (being prepared before hand makes a huge difference), but, that being said, i prefer to avoid crickets (or mealworms) for the first 2-3 weeks at least. no matter how few pinheads you feed, he will never eat all of them, they will just escape, hide under stuff in the cage, and gnaw on his eyelids at night, besides, they are high in phosphorus. my personal preferance for staple feeder for the first 3 weeks is hydei (not melongaster) ffs. other preferable feeders would be, like laurie said, the smallest silks you can get, and small (1/8")just hatched dubia, also, small bsfl. by 3-4 weeks, you can continue to feed silks and ffs as long as you have them. but 3-4 weeks is a good time to get them onto houseflies, by 6 weeks i usually have them on blue or green bottle flies, and thats when i usually start to mix in small 1/8"cricks and maybe the occasional tiny meal worm, but silks are a better feeder. imo, better to feed a controlled amount throughout the day than let them gorge. and for a # of reasons, best to keep their feeders undersized for the first 6 weeks. flies arent usually a problem. as long as it is eating good, i would avoid any supplementation whatsoever for the first 6 weeks, then you could use occasional ultra sparing amounts of stf miner-all and and you could gutload one batch of feeders with diluted stf vite-all, or to make it simpler you could just use ULTRA sparing amounts of repashy icb (also sold under sandfire label) 78*is a good max temp. you didnt mention uvb, even neonates need uvb and if they dont have it they will go downhill quick once symptoms begin to display. imo, neonates do better under lineal 5.0 vs cfl. i wouldnt spray it directly for the first 4 weeks at least. they are prone to aspirating water and respitory infections. instead, spray a part of the cage it is not in and wait until it moves. i like to use a pre cut white terrycloth liner for the bottom of the cage, i cut several and just swap them out at least every other day. they help with humidity, insulate from the cold floor of the cage, cushion falls , makes it easy to clean and see whats going on and if there are any mites in the cage, most will come out when you swap out liners. also bamboo skewers into the corners of the cage will help avoid glass panic or pawing. assuming it stays above 60* in the room i wouldnt use any night heat or night light. most important of all, get to know your cham, examine every little micropore and feature of his littleness, and be alert to the slightest changes. jmo feel free to pm or repost

 

[JaxyGirl]

looks familiar and looks to be in good shape so far. personally i would do my best to get it some different feeders asap. by crickets, i hope you mean pinheads. of course, you have to feed what you can get (being prepared before hand makes a huge difference), but, that being said, i prefer to avoid crickets (or mealworms) for the first 2-3 weeks at least. no matter how few pinheads you feed, he will never eat all of them, they will just escape, hide under stuff in the cage, and gnaw on his eyelids at night, besides, they are high in phosphorus. my personal preferance for staple feeder for the first 3 weeks is hydei (not melongaster) ffs. other preferable feeders would be, like laurie said, the smallest silks you can get, and small (1/8")just hatched dubia, also, small bsfl. by 3-4 weeks, you can continue to feed silks and ffs as long as you have them. but 3-4 weeks is a good time to get them onto houseflies, by 6 weeks i usually have them on blue or green bottle flies, and thats when i usually start to mix in small 1/8"cricks and maybe the occasional tiny meal worm, but silks are a better feeder. imo, better to feed a controlled amount throughout the day than let them gorge. and for a # of reasons, best to keep their feeders undersized for the first 6 weeks. flies arent usually a problem. as long as it is eating good, i would avoid any supplementation whatsoever for the first 6 weeks, then you could use occasional ultra sparing amounts of stf miner-all and and you could gutload one batch of feeders with diluted stf vite-all, or to make it simpler you could just use ULTRA sparing amounts of repashy icb (also sold under sandfire label) 78*is a good max temp. you didnt mention uvb, even neonates need uvb and if they dont have it they will go downhill quick once symptoms begin to display. imo, neonates do better under lineal 5.0 vs cfl. i wouldnt spray it directly for the first 4 weeks at least. they are prone to aspirating water and respitory infections. instead, spray a part of the cage it is not in and wait until it moves. i like to use a pre cut white terrycloth liner for the bottom of the cage, i cut several and just swap them out at least every other day. they help with humidity, insulate from the cold floor of the cage, cushion falls , makes it easy to clean and see whats going on and if there are any mites in the cage, most will come out when you swap out liners. also bamboo skewers into the corners of the cage will help avoid glass panic or pawing. assuming it stays above 60* in the room i wouldnt use any night heat or night light. most important of all, get to know your cham, examine every little micropore and feature of his littleness, and be alert to the slightest changes. jmo feel free to pm or repost

Hi Xanthoman! Thanks so much for your great response! All your advice is super! Oh yeah I did forget to mention that the baby "Griffin" has a zoomed 5.0 UVB and everything is on a timer...no lights or heat at night. He seems to be doing well.

He's a week old today and is putting on weight already and his color is good..he's very active and alert. He had hydei at the beginning of last week..they were shipped by a wonderful member on the forums..but because it was so cold about 3/4 of them died and the others didn't last long. Griffin has been eating pinheads and teeny tiny meal worms since. I did order some pinheads from a large reptile supply company (I had never used before..not a sponser)..I picked that company because they were located in NY and closest to Maine..they had a guarantee, used heatpacks and carried pinheads..but they refused to ship the order because it was only 5 degrees that night.

I was really lucky to find the feeders that I have. Maine just doesn't carry much for reptile supplies or feeders of any kind especially not for tiny baby chameleons. Hopefully, I can order some other types of feeders from a different company and have them overnighted and pray that they make it alive up to Maine. It's horribly cold up here and a lot of places are refusing to ship and if they do ship and it's below 25 degrees then they won't guarantee them if they are DOA and then I have a bunch of dead feeders that I paid for and I'm back to scrambling for anything available like I did last week. (it hasn't been above 25 degrees since the beginning of December!)

I know I'm not alone..tons of other members are struggling also. I hope those people that live down South know how lucky they are!!! I think my biggest worry now is keeping him fed. Tiny Griffin certainly picked a very cold winter to make a surprise appearance...but they say all good things come in small packages. I'm really enjoying him and he's just adorable! Just what I needed to relieve some of the winter blahs

 

[carol5208]

OMG Natalie! He has got to be the cutest thing ever!!! I hope he thrives and we will get to see him grow up on the forum!!!!

 

[warpdrive]

let me see what I can do.

I have a place by me that sells pinheads or a slight mix of pinheads and slightly larger. I also can ship a ton of fruitflys again, but I think we need to do UPS if you want them delivered to your home and for you to be there.
I sadly don't have tiny silks or dubia, yet I'll dig tonight to check if I have babies that I'm unaware of.

feeders should be removed anyway each night, so crickets shouldn't be a huge problem. I would also always include a tiny bit of food for them to make sure any don't feed on your baby.

I got tons of heatpacks and insulated boxes.

when the time comes for house or BB flys and if you find it hard to get them in advance, I'll work with someone to get them to you.

PM will be sent later when I get back home from my friend.
don't worry, we got your back.

Harry

 

[JaxyGirl]

OMG Natalie! He has got to be the cutest thing ever!!! I hope he thrives and we will get to see him grow up on the forum!!!!

Thanks Carol! I've been a nervous wreck since he appeared..lol! It was the weirdest thing. I went away for the night on a short ski trip..I got home around 7pm..threw my ski stuff on the floor and of course... chams first before anything else..I started feeding and watering my female "Rosie" and then I saw this tiny little thing sitting on a twig in her free range...just sitting there looking at me as if he belonged there..And I was like..what the hell is that???? Until I took a closer look and realized that it was a miniature version of Mom with a tiny little horn. Of course I was dumbstruck on how it even got there..haha! Then the scrambling started..where to put it..what to feed it..what to do..and then panic set in...because I didn't have anywhere to put it...and nothing to feed it...talking about a SURPRISE!! But, he is the cutest thing ever..it's amazing that such a perfect little copy of the parents comes from a live birth. He had a sibling that didn't make it out of the membrane so Griffin is the lucky little survivor..so that makes him really special to me..I'm very excited to have him and watch him grow!!!

 

[JaxyGirl]

let me see what I can do.

I have a place by me that sells pinheads or a slight mix of pinheads and slightly larger. I also can ship a ton of fruitflys again, but I think we need to do UPS if you want them delivered to your home and for you to be there.
I sadly don't have tiny silks or dubia, yet I'll dig tonight to check if I have babies that I'm unaware of.

feeders should be removed anyway each night, so crickets shouldn't be a huge problem. I would also always include a tiny bit of food for them to make sure any don't feed on your baby.

I got tons of heatpacks and insulated boxes.

when the time comes for house or BB flys and if you find it hard to get them in advance, I'll work with someone to get them to you.

PM will be sent later when I get back home from my friend.
don't worry, we got your back.

Harry

Hi Harry!!! You're AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!