Jackson's feeding habits and other ?

[diegoted]

I have had Mr. Echo for about a week, I believe him to be about 9 months old. I feed him every other day. I feed him crickets; however, I am not able to stay and watch him eat. I feed him in the morning after the lights have been on for about ½ hour. I have been taking the hind legs off the crickets and let them free range. I have seen Mr. Echo catch many a cricket by shooting his tongue. Most of the time the crickets crawl on the screen but a few have fallen on the floor, which I have covered in dry moss (which I now know is not good and will remove this weekend) Up until today (non-feeding day) Mr. Echo has stayed up on branches and vines in his cage. Today when I came home I found Mr. Echo on the floor of the enclosure checking out the dry moss. I can only assume he was looking for food? Is this common? When I have fed Mr. Echo, I have not fed him a lot of crickets just about 5 at a time.

Secondly, I mist twice daily. Up until two days ago I had not seen him drink. However on Monday I turned on the dripper and he immediately climbed the vines up to the dripper and stayed drinking for a good 20 minutes. Since then I have turned on the dripper daily but he has not gone back to drink. Is it safe to assume when he is thirsty he will go to the source or drink the mist of the sprayed plants?

Otherwise Mr. Echo seems to like the new environment, he basks daily and moves from warm to cool throughout the day, has good color and is plump?. He does not seem lethargic or lacking in any way. Any thought are appreciated.

Thx Diego

 

[kplatvoet]

I have found my jackson hunts on the bottom of the cage more than my other two- so as long as he's active and goes back to the top I don't think it should cause concern - 5 crickets every other day doesn't seem like enough though if that's all he's getting -mine tends to get board with her food and will ignore crickets one day and ignore something different the next. I would give him some other choices besides just crickets - mine loves silkworms and blue bottle flies- I hand feed her phoenix worms also- I also mostly see her drinking from her dripper not from the spraying and they like high humidity - poop 101 is a good read for jackson owners as you can tell from the poop if he's drinking enough.
Supplementing jacksons is different and one brand of calcium has a picture of a jackson on it but also has d3 in it which they tend to have more of a problem with than other species check the care sheet https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/- and check the ingredients of your supplements- most of the brands that you can get at pet stores have d3 in them.

 

[Psychobunny]

My jax do roam around on the floor also. I never see my panthers or veiled
do that, just my jax!
also, when I let him out to free range, he likes to find his way down to the floor.
Next thing I know, he is walking across the living room floor and headed to
my bedroom.
My panthers and veiled always like to stay up high, never see them go to the
floor unless they see something they think is good to eat
Getting jax to drink can be a pain, and take a lot of water!
If he has found the dripping water source, he will remember and continue to
go back, so don't move it.

I seldom see any of my chams in the act of drinking, I have to rely on checking
the urates in their poop to tell they are drinking enough.

 

[diegoted]

thanks guys that gives me peace of mind. I just started received an order of superworms, so I will add them to the mix. So I am going to give him 6 or seven crickets or 8-10 superworms every other day. I will give him mealworms every now and then. Once I pull out the subtrate this weekend I will have a better ability to check his poop! LOL

Diego