New Jackson's

dewy024

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - his name is Dewford AKA Dewy, Male Jackson's, I was told he is 4-5 months old. Bought him at the pet show yesterday.
  • Handling - Only handled him at the show, and to introduce him to enclosure.
  • Feeding - I gave him 8 calcium dusted crickets as soon as we got home. He immediately ate most of them before bed time. Today I threw in 10 more, no dusting. I haven't really gut loaded them yet, gathering supplies to have that ready tomorrow.
  • Supplements - ZooMed Repti Calcium without d3(he had about 5 or 6 dusted crickets yesterday), and ZooMed reptivite(haven't used it yet)
  • Watering - Monsoon Solo Misting kit, Watering the plant. getting a humidifier on friday.
  • Fecal Description - No testing, Yesterday it was short and white, today it was larger mostly dark color with a lighter end.
  • History - Vendor had him in a box behind the table with several other chams, someone may have mentioned them being wild caught.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Screen, 16"x16"x30"
  • Lighting - ZooMed Double hood, Reptisun UVB 5.0 bulb, 60w ZooMed Daylight blue. Turned them off at about 6:30 pm last night, on at about 6:30 am before work. I placed them to the right side of the cage, front to back.
  • Temperature - Cage floor stays roughly 70-73 during the day, saw 63 this morning. Basking spot is about 84, got in the higher 80's when i got home from work. I have the ZooMed digital thermometer with the probe in the basking area, and I have a digital Accurite thermometer with humidity display.
  • Humidity - Yesterday it was low at maybe 40%, today I brought it up to 60%. I setup an ExoTerra monsoon solo kit(using one nozzle) have it spraying for 30 seconds every hour towards the opposite side of the lights. Getting a humidifier by the end of the week. I've also been adding water to the plants soil.
  • Plants - I have a live Dracaena, and a fake bush in the basking spot. Fake vines and a grape vine.
  • Placement - Cage is on a glass table roughly a foot away from the wall and window behind it. Window gets afternoon/evening sun. Only my girlfriend and I, not much traffic.
  • Location - Northeast USA

Current Problem - So this is our first chameleon, I have been interested and researching on and off for a little over 4 years and finally budged. Unfortunately I got him at an expo. We had everything setup once he got home, except for crickets, I havent gut loaded any yet. I have read other posts on gut loading recently and will have that well established by the end of the week as well as a humidifier as i feel the misting isnt enough. I'm also considering a temp/humidity controller to mainly control the heat better. also ill be adding more plants over the next few days.
So my concerns are mainly behavioral, I understand the first few days may be stressful especially being from an expo, the majority of the time at the expo and ride home he was mostly a darker brownish with yellow/green patterns. He goes to his lighter shades and mostly green with yellow hints across his abdomen
sometimes usually when hes at rest. I'm concerned with how he sits low while hanging out, I feel like I've read that they should stand somewhat tall unless they are going to sleep. Also he seems to be afraid of the misting, although once the cycle is finished he approaches the water and drinks.
So is there something I'm missing besides what ive mentioned? Anything I should know about the stance?
His darker colors i mentioned:
;
dark.JPG
lighter green/yellow:
light.JPG
Medium:
medium.JPG

Thermometers(mist had just hit the yellow basking thermometer bringing the temp down, and about to be lights out):
thermometers.JPG

cage:
cage.JPG
darker feces(dark pic sorry, and got darker once it dried)
dark feces.JPG
lighter feces i think:
lighter feces.JPG
 
Welcome to the forums and congrats on the extremely cute new addition to your home! There are a couple thingsI noticed reading through the information you provided.

First of all, your lighting. I recommend getting rid of that blue bulb (they distort the colors in your chameleon's environment - imagine how different the world would look if our sun was blue!) and replacing it with a typical incandescent light bulb of the same wattage. Secondly, it looks like you are using a coiled UVB bulb and these are not at all recommend. Not only do they have a history of causing eye troubles in reptiles, but they also provide only a very localized area of UVB - that is to say, in an enclosure as big as a chameleon's, it will only cover a small area of the enclosure. This bulb ought to be replaced with a linear 5.0 UVB, which provides much better UVB coverage and avoids the potential for eye problems.

It sounds like you have good plans to up your humidity and adding more live plants, like you mentioned, will definitely help. Just keep in mind that Jackson's have especially high humidity need (60-80%) so monitor it closely. The last comment I'll make is that you really want to be sure to add a lot more horizontal branches/vines/walkways of your choice way closer to the top of the enclosure. As it is now, your chameleon cannot get nearly close enough to the UVB/heat lights to benefit from them appropriately. Looks like he can barely get to the halfway point of the cage, height-wise. Whether this be in the form of live plants or branches/vines/whatever, just keep in mind that chameleons are naturally inclined to want to be as high up as possible and that is the point of having tall enclosure :)
 
Welcome to the forums and congrats on the extremely cute new addition to your home! There are a couple thingsI noticed reading through the information you provided.

First of all, your lighting. I recommend getting rid of that blue bulb (they distort the colors in your chameleon's environment - imagine how different the world would look if our sun was blue!) and replacing it with a typical incandescent light bulb of the same wattage. Secondly, it looks like you are using a coiled UVB bulb and these are not at all recommend. Not only do they have a history of causing eye troubles in reptiles, but they also provide only a very localized area of UVB - that is to say, in an enclosure as big as a chameleon's, it will only cover a small area of the enclosure. This bulb ought to be replaced with a linear 5.0 UVB, which provides much better UVB coverage and avoids the potential for eye problems.

It sounds like you have good plans to up your humidity and adding more live plants, like you mentioned, will definitely help. Just keep in mind that Jackson's have especially high humidity need (60-80%) so monitor it closely. The last comment I'll make is that you really want to be sure to add a lot more horizontal branches/vines/walkways of your choice way closer to the top of the enclosure. As it is now, your chameleon cannot get nearly close enough to the UVB/heat lights to benefit from them appropriately. Looks like he can barely get to the halfway point of the cage, height-wise. Whether this be in the form of live plants or branches/vines/whatever, just keep in mind that chameleons are naturally inclined to want to be as high up as possible and that is the point of having tall enclosure :)
Thanks for the reply. I do have a bamboo piece i plan on cutting and placing horizontally. I had figured id set things lower since I have to set the lights on top of the cage, but ill make sure I upgrade the UVB light and switch for a better heat light as well. I'm making a bracket to hold the heat lamp a couple inches away from the screen then bring the vines and bamboo higher.
we just want to make sure hes happy.
 
Thanks for the reply. I do have a bamboo piece i plan on cutting and placing horizontally. I had figured id set things lower since I have to set the lights on top of the cage, but ill make sure I upgrade the UVB light and switch for a better heat light as well. I'm making a bracket to hold the heat lamp a couple inches away from the screen then bring the vines and bamboo higher.
we just want to make sure hes happy.
I've had a Jacksons chameleon since right before Christmas. As far as the dark colors goes, my little guy was the same way for almost the whole first month .it's a combination of you needing to get a few things dialed in his cage and him adjusting to his new environment. The last commenter mentioned that you needed a lot more crawling space around there ,expecially close to the top and I agree. With Jackson's their temperature requirements are pretty specific as well. One tip is to get the smaller heat lamp hood so you can direct the basking lightning a very direct or focused point. That way only his basking spot is at that 85. For the rest of the day they like mid 70s with about 80 percent humidity. At night the temp needs to drop to low 60s with high humidity .
I just recently Installed a mistking system for my little guy and was needing guidance for misting schedules. They need to be misted a minimum of 3 minutes at a time to stimulate drinking and eye cleaning. Proper hydration is key for them.
Also they need "rainstorms" at least 1 time a week for 30 minutes, sometimes 2 times depending on the area you live in. I put a fake plant in the shower and blast the shower on the wall next to it so he and the plant get the overspray. He loves it. Hot water, get that shower steamy.
Add a bunch more foliage, bump up the listings and give him a basking spot right at the top of the cage and he will lighten up for ya.

The hudifier helps a lot too, just make sure it's a cool mist humidifier.
 
Forgive me for All thrnposts, but I had a problem with humidity for my fella with the all open screen. When they're babies they need more humidity so I closed off the entire back, the lower third of the left side, lower 2 thirds of the right side and the lower panel on the front with corrugated plastic from home Depot. It helped a lot.
 
You need way, way, way more foliage in there. I would also second the suggestion of blocking off most of the sides to raise the humidity. Unfortunately montane species really don't make great first chameleons because their husbandry is stricter and fairly different from more common chams like Veilds or Panthers.
 
You need way, way, way more foliage in there. I would also second the suggestion of blocking off most of the sides to raise the humidity. Unfortunately montane species really don't make great first chameleons because their husbandry is stricter and fairly different from more common chams like Veilds or Panthers.
So if we can handle Jackson's, Panthers shouks be no problem right?
I'm guilty of not doing enough research before I got my little guy. We didn't even order him. We both really wanted a panther but knowing we hadn't had a chance on, I wasn't keep on dropping 400 bucks and having him die. So the plan was to go down to Petco and pick up one of their chameleons. The last time I had been there they had veiled chams in stock so was expecting one of them. I had read up on veileds and was ready. Got there and to my delightful, I saw they had Jackson chameleons in instead of the veiled. So we grabbed him. Got him home and realized I was nowhere near ready for a mointain species and hadn't done enough homework. So it was a scramble of reading, researching and modifying our setup, ordering misters and all that stuff.
My little guys is really sensitive and you know really wuixk when something isn't quite right. It's a fast learning curve. Learn fast and implement or he will die.

Best of luck! I love our little guy and am thrilled we got him.
 
So if we can handle Jackson's, Panthers shouks be no problem right?

I would say so. Panthers, in my opinion, really are the best "first time chameleon." Their care is more simple than other species, their display those amazing colors people often think of when they hear chameleon, and they're tend to be much easier to socialize. Just make sure you do your research first this time ;)
 
You said..."I'm concerned with how he sits low while hanging out"...they can rest sitting low like that...it's when they walk around that they should be standing up fairly high on their legs. I don't think it's anything to worry about.

You said... he's afraid of the misting....that's normal for chameleons. I don't think they're afraid of it they just don't like it. I would set up a dripper as well as misting the cage. It's just another opportunity to drink and all you need is a deli cup with a tiny hole in the bottom so it drips at the rate of one or two drips per second.

Good luck with him! He seems to be in good condition!
 
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