Jackson Chameleon

[svs421]

Hey all!
I am looking at getting a Triocerous Jacksonii in a few months but want to be VERY sure that I will be able to give the proper care. I have been researching but am still a bit unsure about a couple of things.

1) I will be housing the little guy in my chameleon room where the room ambient temps sit in the mid 70s. Will this be too harmful to a Jackson? We have radiant heat and there aren't separate zone valves per room. Therefore, the heat is set to make the entire level of the house one temp. Because of this I am unable to drop the temp in that room to 70 without making the rest of the floor the same (will cause complaints about being cold lol)

2) I have a humidifier going in the chameleon room because it has been quite dry lately. I have a Panther chameleon in the room right now. I have read that Jacksons need 70+% humidity at all times. I worry that having the room constantly that high will put the Panther at risk of an URI. What is the best way to deal with this? Note: The Jackson will be kept in a screen enclosure with 2 sides covered and loads of real plants. I have a Mist King unit that goes off 6 times a day at 2 minute intervals. However, even at that, the humidity has been dropping quite low.

If I am unable to ensure proper care then I won't be getting the Jackson because I won't risk it's health over my own desire to have one. All feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[leedragon]

Hey all!
I am looking at getting a Triocerous Jacksonii in a few months but want to be VERY sure that I will be able to give the proper care. I have been researching but am still a bit unsure about a couple of things.

1) I will be housing the little guy in my chameleon room where the room ambient temps sit in the mid 70s. Will this be too harmful to a Jackson? We have radiant heat and there aren't separate zone valves per room. Therefore, the heat is set to make the entire level of the house one temp. Because of this I am unable to drop the temp in that room to 70 without making the rest of the floor the same (will cause complaints about being cold lol)

2) I have a humidifier going in the chameleon room because it has been quite dry lately. I have a Panther chameleon in the room right now. I have read that Jacksons need 70+% humidity at all times. I worry that having the room constantly that high will put the Panther at risk of an URI. What is the best way to deal with this? Note: The Jackson will be kept in a screen enclosure with 2 sides covered and loads of real plants. I have a Mist King unit that goes off 6 times a day at 2 minute intervals. However, even at that, the humidity has been dropping quite low.

If I am unable to ensure proper care then I won't be getting the Jackson because I won't risk it's health over my own desire to have one. All feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

could you perhaps move the panther to you room and get a ac for the jackson in the chameleon room?

anyway the mid 70 is alright for a jackson you can put a basking buld so you get 27 Celcius, the problem is at night when they need a night dropp.
you could get away by having the night temps being at 18 I belive.

for humidity you could just have a mist system that goes on the jackson cage 3 times a day then a dripper and some live plant, I belive it will be fine.

check this out if you haven´t done it yet

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

 

[svs421]

could you perhaps move the panther to you room and get a ac for the jackson in the chameleon room?

anyway the mid 70 is alright for a jackson you can put a basking buld so you get 27 Celcius, the problem is at night when they need a night dropp.
you could get away by having the night temps being at 18 I belive.

for humidity you could just have a mist system that goes on the jackson cage 3 times a day then a dripper and some live plant, I belive it will be fine.

check this out if you haven´t done it yet

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

That is an AWESOME vid! Thanx for the link!! That taught me a lot more CLEARLY than all of the reading I have been doing. I closed the vent in the chameleon room for the day to see how much that effects the ambient temps. I am hoping it will drop it enough to make it ok. Is it absolutely imperative that they have an ambient night time drop? If so, is a few degrees ok or does it have to be quite severe? We usually sleep with the heat lower at night but it is still around 71. Our temps here in the winter can hit -40 celcius and average in the -20s. In the summer we have air conditioning.

 

[leedragon]

That is an AWESOME vid! Thanx for the link!! That taught me a lot more CLEARLY than all of the reading I have been doing. I closed the vent in the chameleon room for the day to see how much that effects the ambient temps. I am hoping it will drop it enough to make it ok. Is it absolutely imperative that they have an ambient night time drop? If so, is a few degrees ok or does it have to be quite severe? We usually sleep with the heat lower at night but it is still around 71. Our temps here in the winter can hit -40 celcius and average in the -20s. In the summer we have air conditioning.

some say they do manage without the night dropp. I have no good experince with trioceros without giving them a night dropp ( exept for my melleri) but can you manage to give it 18 Celcius at night?

 

[svs421]

some say they do manage without the night dropp. I have no good experince with trioceros without giving them a night dropp ( exept for my melleri) but can you manage to give it 18 Celcius at night?

The only way I could do that would be to keep him in the basement where it is always kept cool. We never spend any time down there though and there are no windows for natural light. If it turns out the basement would be the best place for one then I would be best to back away from the idea of a Jackson. As much as I want to provide proper care, I also want to be able to enjoy the little gaffer

 

[leedragon]

The only way I could do that would be to keep him in the basement where it is always kept cool. We never spend any time down there though and there are no windows for natural light. If it turns out the basement would be the best place for one then I would be best to back away from the idea of a Jackson. As much as I want to provide proper care, I also want to be able to enjoy the little gaffer

basements can be really good, specially on summer to keep them cool.

That is a very good approach. always happy to see a responsable keeper.

 

[svs421]

basements can be really good, specially on summer to keep them cool.

That is a very good approach. always happy to see a responsable keeper.

Yes, and unfortunately, I don't want to have him set away where we never spend any time. I may have to reconsider my decision to get one. - And thanx. I give 110% and spare no expense when it comes to the care and well-being of my animals. Their needs come before anything.

 

[leedragon]

Yes, and unfortunately, I don't want to have him set away where we never spend any time. I may have to reconsider my decision to get one. - And thanx. I give 110% and spare no expense when it comes to the care and well-being of my animals. Their needs come before anything.

you would have to start spending some time in the basement for feeding and cleaning due. otherwise the chameleons like low trafficked areas

 

[brownie64]

Yes, and unfortunately, I don't want to have him set away where we never spend any time. I may have to reconsider my decision to get one. - And thanx. I give 110% and spare no expense when it comes to the care and well-being of my animals. Their needs come before anything.

I have Jacksons, and my house is climate controlled I keep it at 71 fahrenheit, but it still drops down to about 68 at night. And they seem to be doing fine.

I too got a cool mist humidifier going in the top of their enclose, this would work for your situation.

 

[svs421]

I have Jacksons, and my house is climate controlled I keep it at 71 fahrenheit, but it still drops down to about 68 at night. And they seem to be doing fine.

I too got a cool mist humidifier going in the top of their enclose, this would work for your situation.

Do you find that rigging a cool mist humidifier directly into the cage is better than having the entire room humidified? Not sure how to go about rigging my unit up. Any tricks?

 

[svs421]

could you perhaps move the panther to you room and get a ac for the jackson in the chameleon room?

anyway the mid 70 is alright for a jackson you can put a basking buld so you get 27 Celcius, the problem is at night when they need a night dropp.
you could get away by having the night temps being at 18 I belive.

for humidity you could just have a mist system that goes on the jackson cage 3 times a day then a dripper and some live plant, I belive it will be fine.

check this out if you haven´t done it yet

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

ALSO: do you keep the humidifier going 24/7?

And for cooling - would a fan blowing lightly on the unit be safe?

 

[svs421]

I got up in the night and decided to check my temps and the cham room has dropped to 71.5F (22C) from the daytime temp of 75. Is this an adequate drop for a Jackson or do they require even cooler temps at night to be ok?

 

[brownie64]

Do you find that rigging a cool mist humidifier directly into the cage is better than having the entire room humidified? Not sure how to go about rigging my unit up. Any tricks?

I have a Crane humidifier like the one below. I took a 1/2" PVC pipe put it through the top. You have to modify the hole to fit the pipe, and then I took a hose "I used one off of a C-pap machine" but you could get a piece of hose from Lowell's. Then you take various fittings of PVC to make a entry to your enclosure. Some may frown on this but I also use a computer fan at night "which I rigged to be variable speed with a hobby transformer" above the enclosure at night to help with the cool down I have not seen any ill effects from this. I run the humidifier only during the day put it on the same timer as the lights, and you will want to fix it so it only covers one side of the enclosure so like the heat they will be able to get out of it if need be.

 

[Bush baby]

I got up in the night and decided to check my temps and the cham room has dropped to 71.5F (22C) from the daytime temp of 75. Is this an adequate drop for a Jackson or do they require even cooler temps at night to be ok?

I have left mine outside even when the temps have gotten as low as in the 40's and they seem fine. They like about a 10 degree temp drop between the daytime and night time temps.

 

[leedragon]

ALSO: do you keep the humidifier going 24/7?

And for cooling - would a fan blowing lightly on the unit be safe?

I kept my jacksons in exo terras so I didn't have to worry about humidity, in fact I let the enclosure dry before spraying again.
a trick with exo terra to help lower the temperature a bit is to freeze bottles with water put them inside their terrarium at night. it help a bit but an ac will be much more effective.
also NOT to fans. they are wind draft is not good to chameleons they try to avoid it in nature as well.

 

[brownie64]

This is my opinion so you do what you think is best for your situation.
Fans bad: Well chameleons have wind to contend with in the wild so what is a little fan going to hurt if it is needed for a cool down? The only thing I could see is being in a small environment it could possibly affect the heat gradient if not properly positioned. However seeing as how I'm talking about using it at night, and there not being a heat source I don't see this being an issue. My Jackson's sits right under this fan and seems to love it. Now I don't blast it mind you that is why I made it's variable speed. Sometimes I think we get so involved in the care of our animals that we become too cautious and nitpick everything. If it is okay for them in the wild then it is generally okay at home. But like I said you do what you feel is best.

 

[leedragon]

This is my opinion so you do what you think is best for your situation.
Fans bad: Well chameleons have wind to contend with in the wild so what is a little fan going to hurt if it is needed for a cool down? The only thing I could see is being in a small environment it could possibly affect the heat gradient if not properly positioned. However seeing as how I'm talking about using it at night, and there not being a heat source I don't see this being an issue. My Jackson's sits right under this fan and seems to love it. Now I don't blast it mind you that is why I made it's variable speed. Sometimes I think we get so involved in the care of our animals that we become too cautious and nitpick everything. If it is okay for them in the wild then it is generally okay at home. But like I said you do what you feel is best.

I was talking to svs421 you are free to do what you please

 

[brownie64]

I was talking to svs421 you are free to do what you please

As was I. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[leedragon]

As was I. Sorry for the confusion.

no problem man.