Jackson Chameleon Temp/Housing Questions

[archerofthemoon]

I've been looking at Jackson's for years, but never could find a trio that I liked. The time I did, I didn't have the time or the enclosure setup to get them. Now that the time dilemma has gotten figured out I'm trying to get my questions answered so that once/if I find a trio of Jackson's I can snatch them up and have no problems.

To begin with, the room that I keep my Brevicaudatus is the same area I'd be looking to keep the Jackson's (in a seperate screen enclosure.) But in that room is also an aquarium that provides decent heat and humidity to the room. On average the humidity is 55+% and the temperatures range between 85 during the day, due to aquariums lights and now the brevi's lights and 72 at night. I've been reading that Jackson's like it cooler, would this temp be way too high for them? For the sake of heat, I was wondering if glass enclosures, such as the exoterra or zilla's naturalistic terrariums would work? Reason for that I can throw on a Monsoon Rain system to blast on the hour every hour for a few seconds to help cool down the enclosure, but with a screen enclosure I don't want to have water running out of the enclosure onto the floor.

As for space, a 18x24x36 enclosure should be enough for a trio correct?

Thanks

 

[melrito]

The temp is too high for an ambient temp for the Jackson's chameleon. they like around 72-77 ambient and 85 for the basking area. At night the temp should drop into the 60's, preferably the lower 60's. DO NOT use a glass enclosure for these chameleons. They work well for pygmys, but your Jackson's will get respiratory issues in the glass because there is not enough air flow and it will not dry out enough.

It is best to keep your jacksons in separate enclosures, and 18x18x36 is ideal for ONE animal. If you do want to keep them as a trio together, you will need much more space AND you will need to be sure to set up more than one basking area or they will "fight" for the ideal spot. I have one pair of Mt. Kenyan Jackson's (j. jacksonii) in an enclosure together (they are, however, a smaller subspecies than the j. xantholophus) and their enclosure is 18x36x36. Maybe others will have other opinions about keeping them together, and they might do fine, but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[archerofthemoon]

Oops I should have specified, I was looking at the j. jacksonii specifically. I know there are some other small sub species of Jackson's, but the j. jacksonii seem to be a little easier to come by.

As for the respitory issues, I figured that would be the case. When I was still living in Hawaii we use to just keep a ficus tree near a window and let them live in the tree. The tree was taken outside for part of the day on the lanaii (I think most people know that as a deck?) and it was hosed down do they could drink/wash the feces off the tree. I think that's a little harder to do on the east coast... Plus I don't think the cham's would appreciate being stuck in the same tree day in day out, haha.

 

[jdog1027]

I think T. j. xantholophus are easier to find than T. j. jacksonii. If you had some in Hawaii, that is more than likely what you had. Xantholophus adults seem to be able to tolerate temperatures slightly higher than the other two subspecies. I have 3 right now, and my ambient temperature hovers around 76-78F, even at night. If you can provide a drop at night to the 60Fs that is great, but I have had a female in particular quite some time with out a serious night time drop, and she is doing fine. Juveniles or babies should have cooler temps if possible, but as I mentioned, mine were kept in the 76-78F range and did good, but I would strongly recommend an ultra-sonic cool mist humidifier. It is a good investment for any age, but I think it is particularly important for juveniles. A lot of people seem to think they are bad for chameleons because they can cause respiratory infections, but if the unit is cleaned every 2-3 days and they are in a screened enclosure it shouldn't be a problem. If you keep a trio in a LARGE cage, there is no way around it- expect babies.

 

[archerofthemoon]

The reason I was trying to sty away from the Xantholophus is that the ones I use to have were veeerrryyy aggressive, granted they were caught like a block or so where I lived. But I guess if I can get some that were bred in warmer climates/a warmer reptile breeder room it won't be as bad?

I expect babies no matter what, in the long run I'd like to keep a colony of them in my regulated hothouse to keep down the bugs. Since I don't spray pesticides and use organic fertilizers I don't think that would be too big of an issue.

 

[jdog1027]

The reason I was trying to sty away from the Xantholophus is that the ones I use to have were veeerrryyy aggressive, granted they were caught like a block or so where I lived. But I guess if I can get some that were bred in warmer climates/a warmer reptile breeder room it won't be as bad?

I expect babies no matter what, in the long run I'd like to keep a colony of them in my regulated hothouse to keep down the bugs. Since I don't spray pesticides and use organic fertilizers I don't think that would be too big of an issue.

Warmer to a certain degree, but they are still Montane chameleons, so I would be cautious about letting the temperatures go above 80F ambient. And I definitely wouldn't think it would be safe for the other subspecies. I know that T. j. jacksonii and T. j. xantholophous have an overlapping range in the wild naturally, but I've never had a T. j. jacksonii so I can't say it would be O.K. Agressive xantholophus? Wow, mine have always been pretty laid back, but some chameleons have very different personalities.

 

[archerofthemoon]

Yeah if the species I had back home were Xantholopus, from the pics they just look like stockier then most of the Xantholopus I see, they were nasty as hell. I figure it was due to them being wild caughts. Every time I would walk close to them they would flatten out and hiss. Unless food was involved they wanted nothing to do with people. I was worried, at the time, with them eating the large roaches (which we dubbed B52's due to the size) as a lot of homes use pesticides to kill them in the long run. But every time one dumb roach landed within striking distance the Jackson's had it before I could get to it to swat.

As for aggression, I had them on a 4ft tall Ficus Benjamin that had maybe a 2.5ft diameter of branches. At the time this housed a male and 4 females. There was never any fighting when I had them. I guess captive raised are a little bit more finicky on space? Since Jackson's fill up areas of Hawaii I guess they are more tollerant of their own kind.

 

[xanthoman]

ime, cb xanths are usually sweethearts compared to veileds/panthers, but they are still wild animals and all have different personalities.
why would you want to start with a trio? xanths arent usually recommended as a good starter cham , it might be a good idea to see how well you can take care of 1, before you try and take care of 3. a pair of healthy and appropriately aged xanths will usually breed just fine, but before you go out and buy a trio, or even a pair of xanths, there are a couple of things that would be good to keep in mind.

until you are an experienced xanth keeper, you would be well advised to keep any xanths over 6mths, housed seperately. co- habitation, can work, it can also lead to problems that may be difficult for novice keeper to recognize.

breeding is very hard on xanths, and unless your female is in perfect health and perfectly conditioned, (and even if she is) then breeding can often lead unrecoverable, permanent health conditions, or even death. in the past, i have lost a couple of my nicest females due to breeding. it is unlikely i will ever try to breed a prize female again. in the future, if i consider breeding , it will be with a utility specimen and not a prize female.

sorry to rain on the parade, but, for the chams sake, you should know what you are getting into. just my 2c worth

ime, xanths are everywhere, there seems to be a never ending supply of cb xanths, (most of hawaiin origin).
jacksonii are comparatively hard to find, and reportedly even harder to keep.
when i first started keeping xanths, i originally wanted jacksonii, but i abandoned the idea, because i didnt feel i had enough knowledge or experience to keep them successfully.

 

[archerofthemoon]

ime, cb xanths are usually sweethearts compared to veileds/panthers, but they are still wild animals and all have different personalities.

Hrm, I guess it was just the ones I came across. My veiled I had, years before I kept the xanths, was a big baby. Don't get me wrong, he did a lot of huffing, puffing and bluffing when I was trying to get him out for the occasional handling/cleaning his enclosure, but once he was out he was content. A female a friend had seemed to want physical attention more then any other cham I've seen. If you were near by she would lean off her branch and wave her arms like she was trying to grab onto you on the other side of the screen. When she was out she use to sleep on people as we took her out into the sun while my friends and I were hanging out talking.

why would you want to start with a trio? xanths arent usually recommended as a good starter cham , it might be a good idea to see how well you can take care of 1, before you try and take care of 3.

It's not a starter species, that I agree, but I have had chams in the past (4 wild xanths and a veiled.) The only things I can see different are that I'm looking to keep them in a enclosure(s.) I can agree with starting with one though. It makes sense. As I'm not in a prime climate where I can just pop them out for a few hours a day and hose their home for heating/UV and hydration, this will be a different experience. The main reason for keeping a trio is mainly for the sake of keeping them in a small colony, iunno I just liked the idea when I had them together in the past. But as I said in a previous post, captive raised species I understand may/will act different then wild caught specimens. For the safety of the chams, if they need separate enclosures, so be it.

sorry to rain on the parade, but, for the chams sake, you should know what you are getting into. just my 2c worth

Don't worry about it. Doing it right, doesn't always mean doing it the way someone may want it done. When dealing with live animals you HAVE to do what it takes to keep them safe and happy. If not, you should not keep said animal as a pet.