Jackson's Feeding Sched Question

MINItron

New Member
My new male Jackson's chameleon is about 3-4 inches snout to vent. My questions to the jacksonii experts are: How old do you think he is, what kind of feeding schedule should he be on?

He has quite an appetite, and will eat all the crickets I care to feed him. A lot of the reading I have done suggests that as jackson's get older they should be fed less to avoid them growing overly fast, but they don't give size landmarks to go by. I have the only picture I have taken of him so far. I avoid handling him, and his cage is difficult to take pictures in. I'm not exactly sure which subspecies he is.

 
He appears to be a Xanthalophus. Age is hard to say-could be anywhere from 4-6 months. I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I would say feed a young Jackson whatever he can fit in his mouth as often as he will eat it. I have a litter of baby xantholophus right now and I would say that they eat about 6-10 3/8" crickets a day. My old female eats much less, sometimes she may go 1-3 days without eating. The older they get, the more they seem to slow down on feeding. I would say as long as he is eating, let him eat. Watch out when they get older. I've had a Jackson in the past that ate very well, but she seemed to get 'fat' in her last year or so.
 
He is anything but fat at this point. He ate 4 large crickets this morning, and another 4 this evening. I had got him small crickets at first, but he was eating so many it was impractical, and thought I would try a few large ones. He snaps up adult winged crickets with great no hesitation, and certainly has no problems swallowing them. I have tried wax worms and small meal worms, but he shows no interest in either at this point.
 
he looks around 5 to 6 months old to me aswell and has pretty long horns for a jacksonii. But I am not saying I am right. VERY pretty though. Have you tried Dubia roachs yet? Mine LOVES them and eats a good sized 1 every 2 to 3 days as I don't want her only eating them.I like the roachs better though as they are VERY hardy and don't "chirp" all day and night.
 
That is indeed an excellent article that I have read several times. It was one of the many that I read prior to going to the show where I bought the little guy. We had not had a chameleon in many years, and I did a lot of reading up on different species before we went. My first choice would have been a oustalet or a panther, but there were no oustalets and the only panthers were smaller than I really wanted to care for. LLL had a cage full of young jacksons and this guy stood out from the crowd. He also produced a stool sample for me while I was watching so he was the one for me. hehehe...
 
Good choice!! Jacksons don't seem to get the love the bigger brighter cham's get but I love them and love the fact that they like to play with others.
 
One of these days I'll have a panther. I have always loved them. I have only kept Veileds in the past. When I was deployed to an island off the coast of Oman we had a huge local population of what I had always assumed were veileds, but am now thinking must have been c. arabicus. I am also fascinated with the pygmies. A colony of brevicaudatus would be awesome to keep as well.
 
he looks around 5 to 6 months old to me aswell and has pretty long horns for a jacksonii. But I am not saying I am right. VERY pretty though. Have you tried Dubia roachs yet? Mine LOVES them and eats a good sized 1 every 2 to 3 days as I don't want her only eating them.I like the roachs better though as they are VERY hardy and don't "chirp" all day and night.

Of course!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...196611070369204.50074.109524162411229&theater :D

I feed my montane species mainly crickets and flies in the colder months with the occasional spider caught in the house. In the warmer months I feed them a lot of wild caught insects. Different spider species such as crab, orb weaver, jumping, wolf but stay away from Black widows or Brown Recluse;) along with different species of hoppers, butterflies and moths. You can get blue bottle flies at mantisplace.com. They are cheap and easy to take care of. When collecting WC bugs you want to make sure you collect them from a pesticide free area!!! Along with knowing what you are feeding off and what they feed on. Quick wiki search usually gives all the info you need to find;)

Also, be easy on the supplements and work more toward a good gut load. These types of species are more prone to over supplementing than others. I go very very very lightly with D3 and phosphorus free calcium every feeding. My animals get housed outside a good amount during the warmer months. During the 4 or so months I cant take them outside they might get calcium with D3 two or 3 times during that period. In Washington state you should have good weather for a jacksonii!!! Housing outside is very beneficial but you need to take all necessary precautions.

You can feed him a decent amount at the moment but do not over do it. He doesnt need 15 feeders a day if they are of appropriate size, not too big or too small. 6 to 10 should be plenty. When he is an adult he should be able to maintain a nice body weight with around 6 appropriate sized feeders every other day or equivalent too. Of course it will depend on what you are offering. If it is a larger or smaller item. You can skip more than one day in between here and there also. The key is to keep him wanting and wondering when food is coming. Also to have him maintain a healthy body weight without over feeding. You just have to get a feel for what that takes for each individual animal.
 
Of course!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...196611070369204.50074.109524162411229&theater :D

I feed my montane species mainly crickets and flies in the colder months with the occasional spider caught in the house. In the warmer months I feed them a lot of wild caught insects. Different spider species such as crab, orb weaver, jumping, wolf but stay away from Black widows or Brown Recluse;) along with different species of hoppers, butterflies and moths. You can get blue bottle flies at mantisplace.com. They are cheap and easy to take care of. When collecting WC bugs you want to make sure you collect them from a pesticide free area!!! Along with knowing what you are feeding off and what they feed on. Quick wiki search usually gives all the info you need to find;)

Also, be easy on the supplements and work more toward a good gut load. These types of species are more prone to over supplementing than others. I go very very very lightly with D3 and phosphorus free calcium every feeding. My animals get housed outside a good amount during the warmer months. During the 4 or so months I cant take them outside they might get calcium with D3 two or 3 times during that period. In Washington state you should have good weather for a jacksonii!!! Housing outside is very beneficial but you need to take all necessary precautions.

You can feed him a decent amount at the moment but do not over do it. He doesnt need 15 feeders a day if they are of appropriate size, not too big or too small. 6 to 10 should be plenty. When he is an adult he should be able to maintain a nice body weight with around 6 appropriate sized feeders every other day or equivalent too. Of course it will depend on what you are offering. If it is a larger or smaller item. You can skip more than one day in between here and there also. The key is to keep him wanting and wondering when food is coming. Also to have him maintain a healthy body weight without over feeding. You just have to get a feel for what that takes for each individual animal.


BEAUTIFUL pics and I am now a "liker" of your FB! love the pic of the roach going down and I totally agree with your words. Spot on!:D
 
Thanks for the info. I had already picked up on the over-supplementation issue. I have been focusing more on feeding the crickets well rather than dusting them all up. I am looking forward to some warmer weather where I can take him outside for some real sunshine, and maybe a little hunting. It will be nice to take him out to get some real rain from time to time even.

I will have to see this summer what kind of WC insects and spiders I can come up with from my back yard. There's not much out there now, but there will be soon enough.
 
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