Reptile super show baby

[crapwhereaminow]

I've wanted to raise a Jackson's for a while. So when I saw him at the reptile super show today I couldn't resist. He had a bit of red on his sides, it made him stand out from his siblings.
When it warms up a bit I plan on having this little guy live on my patio (in a cage of course). There are "wild" Jackson's all over the coast around here.

 

[LML]

I love his markings! He's going to be a real beauty. So fun.

 

[squeekz1992]

He's so cute!!!!!

 

[showjet95]

where do you live and where do you see them in the wild?

 

[robmd1]

where do you live and where do you see them in the wild?

was wonderin the same... i know ive heard people say that there is but its always they heard it not seen it themselves..
oh and very nice lil dude ya got there..

 

[crapwhereaminow]

I've never gone looking for them, but this summer's project is to find a wild female. A very good friend of mine has a pair that she caught herself. It took her 6 hours of looking to find one pair. So they're out there, just not common (plus they're tiny!)

I live in so. Cal. My friend found her's in the OC. I'll ask her for a precise location. I've heard rumors of them in Santa Barbra and Palos Verdes.

 

[Action Jackson]

I had someone tell me this weekend about about Jackson's in Laguna although he had not seen them himself. I think they could easily live along the coast but I'd like to see some pictures or hear some first hand reports.

Good luck with the new Jackson's, they can be tricky at that age.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

There is a well documented population in Morro Bay.

 

[SouthCaliChameleon]

Cute little guy....

 

[mphelps]

I've never gone looking for them, but this summer's project is to find a wild female. A very good friend of mine has a pair that she caught herself. It took her 6 hours of looking to find one pair. So they're out there, just not common (plus they're tiny!)

I live in so. Cal. My friend found her's in the OC. I'll ask her for a precise location. I've heard rumors of them in Santa Barbra and Palos Verdes.

I live on the Palos Verdes peninsula, and my wife and I hike all the time on the horse trails here. We have never seen a chameleon. In general, the peninsula is far too dry for jacksons to survive. Maybe a vieled or outstaleti could live here, but I doubt even that.

There are clusters of homes with lawns, tropical plants and fairly heavy irrigation. It is possible that jacksons could survive in such environments, but I would be surprised if a sustainable population is possible.

I would love to be proved wrong.

If there is

 

[crapwhereaminow]

Update, he's drinking and chowing down on fruit flies. So I think he'll be good.

I talked to my friend. She collected two adult pairs of Jackson's from a retirement community in Laguna. She said the males have done very very well. But the females show a problem with their joints. Their legs seem to pop out of place and get dislocated very easily. She feels it's a genetic issue. Since both females have this problem it points to a very small population without much diversity i.e. one pair escaped and their offspring have reproduced with each other. That's our theory anyway.

One female has already died. The other is failing to thrive.

Kind of depressing, but still interesting. There are definitely feral Jackson's in so. Cal. I would not collect any from the population she found because of this issue. But I'd still like to find one of the other rumored populations.

 

[Kent67]

A friend of mine in the aquarium maintenance business down here just told me last week that he was shown new, recent pics of wild males in Clairemont Mesa (San Diego) by one of his colleagues. He said they were clearly high enough up in the tree to have not been planted there by the photographer (at least without good risk of losing them). I've heard rumors of a wild group of them there since 1991/2 but I'm not much closer as the most the other guy would tell him is that they're limited to just a couple of backyards and that they've been there "a really long time."