How big Should a 3 month Old Jackson be?

[lovemybabycharlie]

Hello. I am new here and am a first time Jackson owner. I have had lots of reptiles just not Jacksons until about 9 months ago. So we did some research and got my daughter a female Jackson at a reptile show from a breeder. She was about 10 months old. 5 months later she surprised us with babies. Frantic I searched for info on them and couldn't find much. She had 3 babies. One was still born and one died the first day. That leaves me with Charlie who will be 4 months on Dec. 23. 2014. I just want to know if he looks healthy and if his size is good? He is about 3-4 inches long by best measurements. He eats fruit flies and pinheads, but seems to prefer the fruit flies. He is very active and seems to be doing well. I do have a UVB bulb but read not to use heat for at least the first 6 months. His tank stays about 72 or so by the light. I know he is not in a screen cage but I have cats and they will get him and with it so cold right now he seems to be doing well. Any thoughts on his size or ideas and anything I can do better would be great. Thank you.

 

[leedragon]

Hello. I am new here and am a first time Jackson owner. I have had lots of reptiles just not Jacksons until about 9 months ago. So we did some research and got my daughter a female Jackson at a reptile show from a breeder. She was about 10 months old. 5 months later she surprised us with babies. Frantic I searched for info on them and couldn't find much. She had 3 babies. One was still born and one died the first day. That leaves me with Charlie who will be 4 months on Dec. 23. 2014. I just want to know if he looks healthy and if his size is good? He is about 3-4 inches long by best measurements. He eats fruit flies and pinheads, but seems to prefer the fruit flies. He is very active and seems to be doing well. I do have a UVB bulb but read not to use heat for at least the first 6 months. His tank stays about 72 or so by the light. I know he is not in a screen cage but I have cats and they will get him and with it so cold right now he seems to be doing well. Any thoughts on his size or ideas and anything I can do better would be great. Thank you.

doesnt answer your question but is good for you to check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTbUaOQ0aA&index=1&list=PL4HFX9PBYVY2eIWT0v3ZgYSk-r76SEujI

 

[lovemybabycharlie]

Thanks I have seem that video and that is so cool. Hoping to have a place to do something like that when we move.

 

[fluxlizard]

I have bred jacksons before but it has been many years ago (20? time is flying by)- I cannot remember growth rate, but I think I remember they are pretty large by 6 to 8 months. As it happens, now I am raising a small clutch from a wild caught female that are one month old now (wc female gave birth to 4 plus several infertile slugs).

So I may not be much help on growth rate.

I just wanted to say I have always used a heat source with my babies when I bred them in the past, and have been using one this past month since day 1 with my current babies. It is important to make sure they can get away from the basking area to the cool part of the cage, but I think if you set up a gentle thermal gradient you will find that your chameleon basks, and because his metabolism will be up he will probably eat more and grow faster.

My babies have been actively basking and thermoregulating (moving into the warmth and turning dark, moving away from it to cool down with lighter coloration) even during the warm part of the day when ambient temps in my building are peaking around 75-76 degrees.

At 1 month, mine are eating crickets and roaches a little larger than 1/8" long. I expect in another month they will be feeding on 1/4" insects easily- maybe larger than that.

I have been offering a rotation of baby insects including lobster roaches, crickets, mealworms, superworms and last week the baby jacksons were large enough for me to add baby dubia roaches to the menu and they have had 2 feedings of those (1 meal at the end of last week and one this week) and they snapped them up.

Edit- just saw that posted elsewhere his pics and description of his setup. I would *not* add heat to a 10 gallon tank. It is too enclosed so disregard my comments about heat. The babies I have now are being raised in a 2'x2'x3'high screen enclosure so there is plenty of room for a good thermal gradient. Charlie is large enough now for a larger enclosure with more ventilation and some heat. But do not add heat to a glass 10g tank- it could trap and build up in there and cook him- or maybe only very mild heat, like a 25 or 40 watt bulb over one end might be OK, but the cool end should get no warmer than 75 during the day in a tank like that.

 

[CarlC]

The clutch I raised this summer was around 4" total length at 3.5 month's. At that age they were eating 1/4" crickets and blue bottle flies.

Carl

 

[lovemybabycharlie]

Thank you for your replies. He does seem to be doing good and he does go bask in the UVB bulb lighting. He also does change colors from light to dark. I will be getting him a bigger tank soon. He was an unexpected expensive, but I love him. He seems fine just having never dealt with or raised a baby I wanted some opinions. Thank you for everything. I will keep everyone posted.