Questions about the Jackson

[splinter]

I just took him out to take some sun light and he went nuts. At the beginning he just move a little to stay out of the light and then he started to move all over the cage. When he stop he opened his mouth width and stay like that for a while. Then he went down to the dripper receiver ( I don't know if it was casualty) and he puts his mouth down ( it seems that he was drinking but I could not see) and felt in the water. I took the misting water and mist the cage but he went away like he did not like that, so I decided to take him away from the sun and put the dripper again in the cage but he did not went for water. Is it normal for them to open their mouth like that or it is a sign that he is thirsty?

I feed him 3 crickets a day and the guy seems to be hungry all the time. When he move up to the light he spent some time try to catch some insects that fly around the bulb. Am I giving him to little food? I don't know his age cause I forgot that question when I bought him but he seems to be pretty young. He is about 4 to 5 inches without the tail.

I also have turtles and took some of the dried worms from their food and put them in a topperware lid to see if the chameleon eat from them but he did not want to eat from that I also try some canned crickets but their are too big from him and seems I cut them in half, he did not eat them either. Is it posible to teach them to eat dead food? He seems to like everything that moves around him but nothing stationary.

Another thing that I'm not sure how to use is the mist bottle. He does not like to be mist so I just wet the plants around him. I believe that the purpose is to turn up the humidity so I do it like that. Is that the correct way to do it or should I wet him also even if he does not like it?

thanks for any help.
BTY I'm in Puerto Rico so the Temperature here is a bit higher (around 90 to 94 all the time so I only put him some UVB light)

 

[molson101]

You need to feed him 10-15 crickets a day. Thats why he lways seems hungry.

 

[splinter]

Isn't it too much for the little guy? He is too little to fit 15 crickets inside and I'm giving him medium size crickets. the ones I bought (canned ones) are much bigger and seems to be bigger than his mouth. Remember he is like 5 inches long.

 

[cuso]

I have a jax my self and iv never had a problem taking them out in the sun. And when a cham opens there mouth it usually means that there to hot and there trying to cool off. Maybe u should try cup feeding ur Cham with a couple crickets one day and keep and eye on him to see how much he's eating.

 

[molson101]

Yeah take a container stick 10-15 crickets in it. And out of the 15 crickets see how many he eats. However many he eats just feed him that much each day.

 

[splinter]

I have a jax my self and iv never had a problem taking them out in the sun. And when a cham opens there mouth it usually means that there to hot and there trying to cool off. Maybe u should try cup feeding ur Cham with a couple crickets one day and keep and eye on him to see how much he's eating.

Yes that's what I though and I took him back inside. It was too hot and very high humidity.
About cup feeding. How big should the container be to avoid the crickets to escape? Or should I put the 10 - 15 crickets in the cage? Anyway I think I can do it one by one.

Does anyone have one that eats canned food? I can't find a place here to buy worms and he does not want to eat anything that does not move.

Thanks a lot

 

[yokman]

.............

 

[allencg101]

imo you should feed baby growing chams twice a day once in the am and then around 3ish they need the food for their big growing stage in that part of their life. the jacksons i had were like black holes they wanted food and eat all the time. when you see crickets in the cage thats when you stop giving them to him. if you want to monitor and see how much he eats use the rubber tote method place a piece of branchy grape vine and put in some crickets and see how much he eats in one session so that way you can get a feel for how much he will eat at a sitting it may differ between cham to cham but thats a good method if you are new at this and will help you learn.

 

[allencg101]

but do that a couple time so you can get a good estimate

 

[cuso]

Can food? I'm think that any thing coming from a can is not the greatest idea and u should prob stay away from it. If u can't get ur hands on live worms then sticking to live crickets is the best way to go, a wide verity of feeders is good for ur Cham but as long is it's getting the right vitamins feeding it crickets will do just fine

 

[cuso]

Cup feeding is very easy to do I simply just put a small cup in my chams cage, some were that he can be above the cup and put some crickets in it.make sure the cup is plastic and deep to where the crickets can't jump out I also put a leaf in the cup from one of my fake plants low enough to where he can climb out if he would ever fall in to the cup and high enough to were the cricket can't get to.

O and to the misting question u asked. I mist all my plants so that my chams can drink then I mist my Cham. Not a lot but he seems to like the water. U could try misting yours to but they could not take to it. Try using water that isn't hot and isn't cold kinda neutral temp. But if they don't like it it's not big thing

 

[stevie]

live food is still the best and gutload the crickets , he's juvenile feed him as much as he can eat and that 5 days in the week if he doesnt like the mist than mist him at night in the wild the humidity risis when its dark, he sleeps so he cant run away , now try to give him water with a pipet out of your hand it might take a wile butt jacksons will do it, think about the origing of your montane kam!! he needs o cool down at night . leave him outside at night normally he would love it .
grts from belgium

trioceros jacksoni xhantholophus
deremensis
rudis
hoehnelli
montium
quadricornis
cristatus

 

[splinter]

Thanks a lot for all the responses. I will do the cup feeding as soon as possible. I guest that I should get a bigger cricket keeper as well. Anyway I can't thank you enough. I really like tha cham and my kids would not like to see him die so soon.