New Jackson's owner

[klangford]

Wow - glad I found this site - tons of helpful information in a matter of minutes. I'm a Florida native and grew up owning tons of anoles, frogs, snakes, turtles and even an alligator for a short while - now I'm down to two dogs and as of yesterday a Jackson's Chameleon. You would've thought I had done my research but I already see I purchased the wrong enclosure (all-glass). I know you are already cringing but fear not - I've just ordered the 24x24x48 open air setup from www.FLCHams.com (great people who even took my call on New Year's Eve).

As I anxiously await the full setup I have tons of questions about feeding - even with the current glass enclosure I've learned crickets are the Houdini of the insect world - they can escape anything. With the aluminum setup on the way crickets will come and go so I'm concerned about live feedings.

Any thoughts, tips, tricks, concerns, do's/don't will be appreciated.

Please be as elementary and basic as you would like in your replies - assume I know very little at this time (a safe assumption).

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Here's a good place to start reading.
Good luck!

http://www.geocities.com/chamjacksonii/

-Brad

 

[Julirs]

What part of FL are you from?
Successful Chameleon keeping has alot to do with the initial set up. Jacksons also require a bit cooler temps than Veileds and Panthers. You have already discovered the glass cage is a no-go, and this is especially important with the Jacksons. Chameleons only eat live food, so I was a bit concerened with that comment. Rest assured the FLChams screen cage is essentially cricket escape proof-so no worries there. In the mean time do not get the glass enclosure too hot while you are waiting for the screen cage. Do you have proper UVB and supplements?

 

[klangford]

What part of FL are you from?

St. Johns Florida - between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, south of Mandarin if you know the area.

Chameleons only eat live food, so I was a bit concerened with that comment.

Good to hear - I have live crickets and easy access to mealworms, etc with a pet store on every corner near my office.

Rest assured the FLChams screen cage is essentially cricket escape proof-so no worries there. In the mean time do not get the glass enclosure too hot while you are waiting for the screen cage.

That is good news; I've re-captured 3 crickets in the past few hours. My daughter's cat serves as a great cricket alarm - I find her smacking the little buggers around for her enjoyment until I catch and release them back into the enclosure.

Do you have proper UVB and supplements?

On the bulb end I think I'm covered, I purchased an exo-terra UVB 26 watt Compact Flourescent for now. As for supplements they are included with the new setup but I did not pick anything up initially. Based on the advice here I can head out to the local reptile store to fill the week or so gap (or is that necessary?)

Thanks for all the great questions.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Compact fluorescents are not a good idea .... especially for chameleons.
Read here:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

Articles on lighting, plants, etc. here:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

The second link is veiled specific husbandry, but a great deal of it applies for many species.

-Brad

 

[hallenhe]

Until you get your screen cage, you can put crickets in a cup ("cup feeding") and either hold it out to your cham, set it in the cage, or find a way to hang it - my crickets await their fate in a one pint Baskin Robbins container, hanging from a pothos vine with a string. They are physically capable of jumping out but, after the first half minute in there, the thought doesn't seem to occur to them.

Welcome to the forums - my first cham was a Jackson's. They're wonderful lizards.

 

[klangford]

... one pint Baskin Robbins container, hanging from a pothos vine with a string. ...

This sounds great - having trouble visualizing it - any pictures or diagrams of how to do it would be helpful. Right now they are scurrying around the enclosure (4 or 5) but I remove them at night per the various readings I've done.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Here you go:

http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=79

-Brad

 

[klangford]

Compact fluorescents are not a good idea .... especially for chameleons.
Read here:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

Brad - thanks for the link - I have the Reptisun 5.0 UVB Tropical 5% UVB, 30% UVA - I don't see mention that the 5.0 was causing the same issues so I'm a bit stumped as to what to do until the new kit arrives. Thinking of returning my chameleon at this point

 

[chequepoint]

Not sure why you would return your chameleon.
I'd turn the light off, it will do fine for a few days without UVB, just get the right bulb as soon as you can. In the meantime if you have a D3 supplement I'd use that until the right bulb arrives.

 

[klangford]

Not sure why you would return your chameleon.
I

Sounds like throwing in the towel early but here's the facts as I see them:

1. Purchased the wrong enclosure; chams die in all glass.
2. Did not purchase supplements.
3. Purchased wrong type of bulb.
4. Purchased from pet store vs. breeder; all literature and web sites say this is a big no-no.

When I bought him at PetSmart the girl handed me the receipt and said, "Remember, we have a 14-day no questions return policy - just bring the reptile back in the box provided". I feel like the box she gave me is soon to be his casket if I don't get things right!

The feeder cup was a total bust. I built it just like the link showed - very easy to do; installed screen, installed suction cups on back so I could adjust height if necessary, etc. I then introduced 5 crickets on the screen; they all jumped out within 20 seconds. I must have much smarter crickets than folks here - mine were not exactly perplexed by the openness of it all and aren't sitting around waiting to be eaten. Now the crickets run freely in the bottom of the enclosure and in two days I have yet to see him feed. Yes crickets are disappearing but no feces yet in the cage other than an initial one an hour or so after putting him when I first got him.

Other observations: when I mist him with warm water he immediately changes colors, gapes, hisses, and swells up to posture aggression showing his disdain and displeasure. Five times a day the book says to do this - what I thought was the equivalent to scratching a dog behind his ear seems to be as welcome as shoving a pill down a dogs throat - the cham doesn't exactly seem to relish the misting. I've tried varying degrees of pressure and tried from as far as 12 inches away to 4 inches - all met with the exact same flight/fight response.

Based on hours of reading I'm convinced I'm dealing with a wild capture cham - yet another challenge.

To be honest I feel like a case study in the making.

 

[Julirs]

Well-it sounds like you are starting out alot like the rest of us did!
My first was a Petstore Veiled, way too young, pet store set us up entirely wrong in a glass cage with 24 hour lighting, wrong supplements, bad UVB, etc...
First of all, your new guy will be OK in the glass cage until the screen cage gets here. Just make sure your temps are staying low-you don't want to cook him.
I would take some of the supplies right back to Petsmart and tell them what morons they are, including the cage when you get the new one. You could take the cham back too-if you want-although you are probably saving his life, but I am sure you paid way too much for him-I see Jacksons for like $129 at our Clearwater Petsmart and laugh since breeders sell them for $60. Next-he is adjusting-he could go a week without food. Water him only 3X a day with a warm mist-fill your sprayer with HOT water and it will come out a warm mist, mist the plants around him, maybe he will open his mouth and take in some water, maybe he will be a closet drinker.
Now-in the interest of time I have a brand new Reptisun 5.0 18" and new supplements that I just ordered from LLL Reptile-I can bag up some supplements that would last you months-I can ship those to you tomorrow in the interest of time and you will have them on Saturday or Monday at the latest. You only need to get a fixture that will hold the 18" UVB-I buy $7.00 undercounter lights at Walmart and pop off the plastic cover-work great! UVB bulbs cost $13.99-so for $20(total-this includes the shipping-not trying to make a $ here) I can ship these right over to you. My concern would be that you will either pay $30.00 for the same bulb from a Petstore and Petsmart here does not carry the Reptisuns, or you will wait over a week for LLL to ship. Just let me know-I am happy to help.

 

[klangford]

Thanks for the encouraging words - if you think the little guy could take upwards of a week to adjust then that leaves time for the FLCHams setup to arrive - I ordered the entire 24x24x48 kit that darn near includes everything except a chameleon!

As for the large glass exo-terra terrarium I bought I think I'm going to keep it and let my son use it for the oodles of anoles and snakes he catches around the house during the year. He's thrilled with that idea since the cham is hands off.

I'll step down to misting 3x per day - I've removed the compact florescent and will definitely return it ($47!) and just move him outside for a few hours each day until his condo arrives.

 

[Julirs]

I would be careful about putting him in the sun in the glass cage-they heat up terribly fast. Just monitor temps carefully-a good digital thermometer or heat gun is a chameleon keepers best friend!

 

[Sang]

IF you have a large ficus, or midsized plant, you can put him on it outside, as opposed to keeping him in the glass.

ficuses work best, and schefflera come fairly large *if you can find a big one*
hibiscus is a good plant to. there is a TON of literature you can read.

jacksons are a fun chameleon, i havn't had much luck with them here in AZ. it can be quiet difficult to keep them at least here with low humidity.


Have fun and GL. you'll get it right.

 

[hallenhe]

They're "difficult" lizards - but not impossible. He'll certainly hold in there 'til you get all the right equipment, and it's a learning experience for everyone. People - including us - will tell you that chameleons are tricky, and they do take more time, effort and preparation than a leopard gecko - but a lot less than a puppy, and a whole lot more people keep puppies/dogs than lizards. It's just finding the right perspective. Don't give up on him yet.

The attached thumbnail shows one of my feeding cups, which is a somewhat different design than the link Brad posted. I "upgraded" to a deeper cup at some point after the picture was taken.

 

[klangford]

Well this story has a happy/sad ending depending on your perspective. The short version is I wound up returning the cham to PetSmart. This time when I went there was a guy named Jason who was very familiar with chams and apologized for me being sold the glass aquairum, water bowl, etc. Jason said the cham had just arrived when sold to me. I did not weigh him when I got him but I know he was deteriorating - in the 7 days I had him (and I was on vacation to spend MANY hours watching him, studying chams, etc) I never saw him eat/drink. In the 7 days I had him he went potty only once. Regardless I learned a valuable lesson about pet stores - now I have the taj mahal enclosure on the way and hope to find a cb cham on the classifieds that will enjoy a nice new Florida home.