Jackson Chameleon Care

[Krobi]

Hey Folks,

I am a new Jackson's Chameleon owner in Tampa, Florida. I have a small setup for the little guy. He is only a juvenile so I plan on going bigger when he is closer to a year old.

Here are a few pictures of the setup and of the little guy. Does anyone know which of the three types of Jackson he is? He is extremely friendly for a chameleon, in fact, whenever I absolutely have to handle him. He turns green.

I live in Florida and the temperature is always in the 70's. Is it absolutely necessary to have a basking light for him? I know it's important for him to regulate his temp, but my local reptile shop said that Jackson's don't need a basking light? I was skeptical so I decided to come here. I currently have him on the zoomed 5.0 uvb. It warms up the cage a little bit.

Also, I have an auto sprayer system that you can see in the lower left corner. Any tips on how I can get it to spray a larger area of the enclosure? As of right now, I have the remote sprayer on top of the enclosure spraying down every 3 hours for 30 seconds, it's spraying in a small stream and the water is rolling down the middle vines. I'm just trying to increase overall humidity.

Also, He hasn't been eating much, could it be because of the stress of a new enclosure? Do chameleons eat at night? I've seen on a few threads that a lot of people don't recommend any substrate at all. I think I am going to take it out because the crickets like to burrow in the current mulch like substrate that I have. I have had him less than a week, so maybe I am being impatient.

Any positive/negative criticism is recommended because I want the best home for Gordon Bombay.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Kel

 

[jdog1027]

That is a xantholophus. Don't use a substrate. As far as basking lamp, Jacksons do enjoy cooler temperatures being a mountain chameleon, but I would include one with a very low wattage (40watt) incandescent bulb. Keep it positioned only on a corner of the cage (check out the video below). They like cool temperatures, but they made need to thermoregulate for the purpose of aiding digestion. I see you have a Habba Mister. I have no idea how those work, but you have a mister, so that is good. Just check this video below. I know it is long and gets boring, but it's pretty informative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTbUaOQ0aA

 

[Txherp]

I have a Jackson's. He likes his basking temp at around 80 degrees, you definately need one.
He might take a couple of days to get settled in before he will eat. Mine doesnt like me watching him eat either. They do not eat at night.

I would put some more sticks in his cage. I use stickes from my trees outside. I just hose them off and stick them in. The screen cage makes it really easy to wedge the sticks in. Their is a pic of my cage in this post https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-jacksons-growing-up-70729/

 

[Krobi]

Thanks for the advice guys. I just removed the substrate. Also, I put a barrier in between his cage and my crested gecko cage. They are bigger than him and I don't want him to stress. Also, I re arranged the vine that I had in there so he had more horizontal routes to climb.

I did just recently watch him eat! He nabbed a cricket right when I put him in his refurbished home lol.

I will get a low wattage lamp for the corner of the cage.

Any other things I should know that are specific for a Jacksons?

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Krobi]

Very informative video. Thank you very much for the useful tips. Humidifier is up next on the list I suppose.