Possible Pregnant Jackson 🤔 need advice.

Joy&waldo

New Member
I went to a pet store a few times and each time I was in there I saw this fat little Jackson chameleon in the bottom corner of this pen. She had no real branches to climb on no real plants to hide in just a large plant dripper that always had nasty dirty water in it. She looked so miserable and uncomfortable I had to take her home. She was dark when she was at the store and she rubbed her nose on the screen till it looked like she had red lipstick on. Now she has been here a week finally drinking better because her urate was a small orange ball when I got her home now we have white in there. She was scared to death of misting but now drinks from her leaves. Her eating is off I think this is where I need the advice. She is fat bellied but underweight she only eats 1-3 bugs weither it is a horned worm, or dubia roach, or lobster roaches she just really is not interested it seems. Her hips by the base of her tail semi shows. She definitely was not taken care of properly and I felt bad so I had to help her the best I can. They had no real info on her in the store so I am clueless as to her age or background. These are some pictures of us bringing her home. They put her in a small rat box to travel home so my son felt bad and let her hang on his arm for the ride home. She was moving and scratching the box when he opened it she was completely black so out she came and finally was relaxed. That is when we finally realized she had triangle patches.
 

Attachments

  • 20210319_190339.jpg
    20210319_190339.jpg
    260.6 KB · Views: 109
  • 20210318_174926.jpg
    20210318_174926.jpg
    219.3 KB · Views: 108
  • 20210318_175923.jpg
    20210318_175923.jpg
    263.4 KB · Views: 96
  • 20210318_184652.jpg
    20210318_184652.jpg
    158.8 KB · Views: 104
@JacksJill @Kaizen

Definitely looks gravid to me....but I'm no expert on Jacksons.
I thought so myself. I just hope someone with Jackson gravid knowledge helps with the feeding advice. I just want to make sure I help her the best I can. I would take her to my vet but I'm nervous to stress her more than she already has been.
 
So you want some good new or bad news? If you don't know this Jacksons are live bearers. They also store sperm from their previous sexual encounters and can give birth at any time. There is a possibility that when the store got her she was already pregnant. If that is the case then she may give birth anytime. You may have to be prepared to take care of a dozen or more babies and if not find someone who could. They should never be given to any one as pets until after 6 months old and the other thing to be aware of is they can have a high mortality rate which means a few may die before 6 months. I hope this helps you in some way. Glad to know that the your Cham has a good home now.
 
So you want some good new or bad news? If you don't know this Jacksons are live bearers. They also store sperm from their previous sexual encounters and can give birth at any time. There is a possibility that when the store got her she was already pregnant. If that is the case then she may give birth anytime. You may have to be prepared to take care of a dozen or more babies and if not find someone who could. They should never be given to any one as pets until after 6 months old and the other thing to be aware of is they can have a high mortality rate which means a few may die before 6 months. I hope this helps you in some way. Glad to know that the your Cham has a good home now.
Yes I am aware of the live birth I do have another pen for them to go in and a friend of mine is willing to help out once they get 2 months old to separate males from females. I'm just not sure if she will even have any live ones is my concern with her not so wonderful care before.
 
Good deal. Keep us updated if you can. Would love to see how she progresses and hopefully recovers under your care. :)
 
It's good she is eating and drinking. If she is heavily gravid she ca't hold much food at a time so 1-3 a day is ok. If she over stuffs she won't have room to breath. Most of these come in pregnant so I just assume she is.
Ok now I feel better about the eating thing I just want what is best for her. At this point I was happy with moist poop and white urate. But excited about the food intake as being ok now.
 
Good deal. Keep us updated if you can. Would love to see how she progresses and hopefully recovers under your care. :)
I just hope after some time she will put healthy weight on in the tail hip area. Once this ordeal is over she will see my vet I may even ask if he will do a home visit for her now that she is doing better.
 
You said..."just not sure if she will even have any live ones is my concern with her not so wonderful care before"... This is what I'd be concerned about too. More than that...I don't know if they can become "eggbound" so to speak and not be able to give birth. @JacksJill ...do you know?
 
They can have problems that are similar. They need strength to push the babies out and lacking calcium or hydration can cause serious problems.
 
You said..."just not sure if she will even have any live ones is my concern with her not so wonderful care before"... This is what I'd be concerned about too. More than that...I don't know if they can become "eggbound" so to speak and not be able to give birth. @JacksJill ...do you know?
I have done some research on it but it is so hard to find complete answers about it but they do talk about miscarriages in them. That is why I asked on this forum looking to see if I could get some good answers.
They can have problems that are similar. They need strength to push the babies out and lacking calcium or hydration can cause serious problems.
I have her drinking now with white finally. Like I said before she only eats 1-3 dusted bugs a day. I have own colonies of roaches that I feed all fresh greens, squash and some roach chow to for gut loading besides the powder. My vet scared me away from crickets years ago with reptiles. What signs should I look for to be nervous? She seems ok just awkward from fat belly and nervous from being in a new environment.
 
I feed a variety of pinhead crickets, fruit flies and bean beetles to start. I feed twice a day, I supplement as i do the adults but only one feeding per day gets supplement. My Jackson's Supplement Schedule
Mama can have a bit more food for a few days but if you over feed her she will make another large clutch. 2-3 feeders daily is plenty.
 
Back
Top Bottom