Jackson cham twitching?

[lecham]

iv had my jackson for about 3-4 months now and id say about 3 weeks ago i noticed he twitches. he usually goes for about 20 sec just moving his head around like a twitch. i dont know if its a defense mechanism or if hes scared or if something is worng with him. does anyone have some insight on thismatter? or any experience with this?

 

[Meow Kitty]

is it like a head bop or a twitch?

 

[lecham]

its kinda like ahead bop..to the sides. iv tried to record him but he stops by the time i can get to it

 

[xanthoman]

jackson twitching

head bobbing, snapping, jerking,twitching, is not all that uncommon among jacksons, mostly adolescent males as they are just beginning to explore their territorial and sexual issues, they will do it solo, but, most often when in site of other chams, particularly other adolescent male xanths.

however, that being said, there are other reasons for head twitching behavior,
imo, most often metabolic issues such as over supplementation, or even pathological issues such as mites etc.

of course a simple declaration of head twitching does not provide enough info for anyone to even make an educated guess, so my advice would be to fill out the help form in its entirety and repost in the health clinic.

in the mean time, it might not be a bad idea to get yourself a large lighted viewer/magnifying glass, (you can usually find really nice ones at any office supply place or online for less than $20) and inspect your animal, cage, furnishings and soil to determine your present state of mite loading.

imo, a good lighted viewer should be considered a standard part of any reptile keepers toolbox.

so, the short of it is, it can be a normal xanth behavior, it can also be a red flag. jmo,

 

[xanthoman]

jackson twitching

sorry, tried to stop the post at the last minute so i could edit, and it caused a duplicate post

 

[lecham]

thanx for your info ill lookinto that ...he doesent do it quiet often but iv seen him do it about 2 times...wat do u mean by mites? like little insects or wut?

 

[BocaJan]

My 9 month old xanth does it when he sees me! LOL Since my veileds make a movement something like that when courting I just figured that he was coming into his male time. Male chams do strange things when they grow up and those hormones start coursing through their body.

 

[lecham]

yea he is growing pretty fast ....i got him when he was about 3-3 months old..now hes about 9 months old or 10 ...i figured it had something to do with that...thanx for your feedback..

 

[xanthoman]

thanx for your info ill lookinto that ...he doesent do it quiet often but iv seen him do it about 2 times...wat do u mean by mites? like little insects or wut?

mites are little spider like arachnids that are almost always present to some degree in reptile keeping. they can inhabit feeders, cultures, soil, furnishings, or even chams themselves. depending on species (of which there are thousands), they arent usually a problem in smaller #s, this is just one of the reasons that lighted viewers and cage (also feeder cage) cleanliness is important.
mites can usually be seen by the naked eye when in large enough #s, but often go un-noticed in smaller #s. petstore ff cultures invariably have excessive mite loads. its another reason that the health/cleanliness of of your feeders is just as important as the health/cleanliness of your chams environment.
mites are usually the size of a single grain of sugar or smaller, they often appear as little white, yellow or red specks that move if you watch long and close enough. individual mites are usually hard to spot by the naked eye, but are huge and unmistakable under a good lighted viewer. ff and mealworm cultures are almost always overun with mites unless special precautions have been taken.
http://www.google.com/search?q=mites&hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&ei=NE-mTpChAqPk0QHY6cm0Dg&start=0&sa=N

a cham that frequently wipes its face, either with its paws or on a branch, is usually a sign of excessive or problem mite infestation. also, a good reason to never let your cham crawl on your face or in your hair and to wash after handling your animal.
some of the more problem varieties are often attracted to excessive fecal or feeder debris, there are others like grain or mold mites that are more attracted to things like mealworm or ff cultures, but some of the more problem mites feed off of other mites, so keeping all mite populations under control should be considered an issue.

just to be clear, your description leads me to believe that the twitching you describe is more of a territorial issue, than a mite issue. territorial assertion is a good sign, ime, its not something that overly sick chams usually concern themselves with. jmo

 

[lecham]

thanx for your info man..i appreciate it. i do think hes territorial..hes very chill but sometimes when i pop up on him ..suddenly..thts when he does the twitches...ill keep an eye out for themites though..hes free ranged ever since i got him and he has natural plants ...ill make sure those r cleen .