I am new to the forums so hopefully the gratz isnt too old to hear. I bought a gravid Jackson from a pet store and now am scrambling to try and guess a few things which I havent been able to find on the forums. How long does the female carry her babies? I bought a scale to help monitor her and shes gained about 10 grams from last week.24-36+. She is pretty docile but will react to the fake birds in Petsmart in a very aggressive manner. We found this out today by accident. I have a swing outside and I take her outside and swing in the sun while she basks for some true sunlight. I also have some fake plants in a 2 1/2 foot tall wire cage (reptile brand name cage) for her to climb on. She has a basking bulb, nighttime bulb and a uvb bulb. I also have a automatic mister.
Oh, whats the max she may have for babies and how long does she carry her babies?
Thanks for any info.
Thank you for the gratz. Mine had 10 babies and all are doing well. They can be pregnant for 5-10 months. It seems to usually be close to 7 months. I am not sure how long mine was pregnant for because she came that way from the store. They can have anywhere from 5-50 babies but 10-30 is more common. Here are some pointers I will point out.
You should not have a nighttime light. The temperature should drop at night and is ok even if it gets mid to low 60's. So get rid of the night light.
About a week before mine gave birth she ate little to no food. She would quite often sit there with her mouth open gasping and I am told this was normal. It is best to leave them alone as much as possible during this time but monitor her to make sure she is good.
You want to get prepared sooner than later as she could have the babies at any moment. I happened to have a spare 12x18x18 cage that I house all the babies in. You want to make sure you are going to be able to provide the amount of feeders they are going to require. Luckily I already had a colony of pinhead crickets going so I was good to go. They should be eating throughout the day tons if the little pinheads and also flightless fruit flies are a good feeder. I provide like three 2oz feeder cups throughout the cage full of pinheads with sticks leading to them so the babies have easy access and its good to also let pinheads free range. You want more than one feeder cup because I noticed some like to hog and guard a feeder cup getting aggressive to others if they try and get too close. Also you want some free ranging because some will not feed out of the cups but only the pinheads roaming around the branches. I make sure the cups and cage have pinheads throughout the day and that it never gets empty. That way they can eat as much as they can.
They tend to dehydrate easily and will die if they are too hot. That is why it is extremely important that they are plenty hydrated and the top basking temp does not go over 80 degrees. They really do not do well when hot. If at all possible keeping them outside getting the natural UVB is highly recommended if you can make sure it does not get too hot and always make sure part of the cage is in shade. You should not use a basking bulb as it can easily cook the babies so you only need the UVB untill about 3 months of age.
It is very good that you have an automatic mister. The best way I found to set it up is make sure the mister mists half the cage leaving the other half dry. This way they can get away from the mist and also allowing you to position the Feeder cups on the other side preventing the feeder cups from collecting water drowning the pinheads as they will drown at the tiniest drop of water. It will take some playing around with to get the cage setup just right. I changed the frequency that the mister goes off to every 1 1/2 hours as some really love it and it keeps the cage humid longer. I let it run for 10 minutes at a time as sometimes it takes time before the Cham will start to drink. You will also require a dripper dripping on a leaf or something that can collect water giving them options to drink. Also it is highly recommended to have a live plant of some sort to help with humidity. You want it between 70 to 90 RH at all times during the day and again never allowing it to get hotter than 80 degrees. You want the temp to be lower throughout the rest of the cage.
Hmm also make sure and provide lots of sticks along with a live plant or two so they have plenty of places to walk so they do not walk all over eachother. I have a small schefflera tree that fits perfectly in the cage and has plenty of branches for the babies. That is all I can think of right now and if you have any other questions feel free to let me know. It requires a lot of work especially at first to get the system down.
If you have not already you should start a cricket colony. It is really easy to do and will save you hundreds of $$ as I am telling you it is crazy how many they will go through a day. If not you will find yourself running to the store every other day just to keep up.
I will let them hunt the food on the cage and keep a close eye on them making sure all eat plenty. Then I will determine if I need to feed using a feeder cup. Thank you very much for the info. Is there a good writeup here specifically on Baby Jackson's care? Again thank you
