Won't even eat silkworms :(

[pssh]

Go field sweeping. I dont know if you live in an area where jacksons are wild, but if you do I would keep him outside. If he was sold for $5 I would imagine that he is actually wild caught unless he was a baby when you got him. Only crickets, mealworms, and silkworms is a very plain diet when you may possibly have a huge amount of (safe) variety just around the corner, figuratively speaking. A guide to the native insects would probably be helpful in determining if the insects are good to feed or not.

 

[burnedrose]

I purchased my Jacksons from a dude selling them out in front of Waipahu H.S. We were driving home from my son's soccer game one day and right before we got on the freeway, we saw a sign for $5 Jacksons. We thought it was too good to be true and ended up purchasing 3. We knew nothing about Jacksons back then, and laughed at the fact that he had about 60 or 70 Jacksons all cooped up in a single 3x3x4 cage hanging from a tree, spinning in the wind. Of course they were all black and stressed out, but I didn't think anything of it then.

I don't remember the sellers name, but he said he's been raising Jackson's for 18 years, and collects grasshoppers to feed them. I didn't realize it at the time why he was selling them for so cheap, but it was basically a rescue.

Thanks for the tip about the fly traps...too bad I live on the other side of the island, but I will try and hang it in my backyard. We still get our fair share of flies and I love Jackson's love 'em. I don't think fungus is the problem, I thoroughly clean out the cages weekly. I don't think Tiger was sick, I think he just hated his cage. I switched him with Jax, and they both seem fine now...here's some pics I took a few hours ago. As you can see, he's looking healthy as ever (his eyes are closed cuz I was misting him so he would be distracted)...he finally gave in to the silkworms! Think I'll be ordering more in the near future.

haha oh Waipahu! Never ceases to amaze me what you could find for sale there after some football games - I've seen people trying to sell the pakilolo after the games! On school property nonetheless.

He probably wild caught them or if he's breeding them, it may have been the mom and pop and babies all in one cage. Jackson's give live birth, so the mom may have popped out the kiddos and he just kept 'em all together. There is a guy who does captive bred up near Kailua on the windward side. If you take kalanianiole between Kailua and waimanalo, you see a big sign in his front yard. Good guy, good prices. Breeds 'em well. But your boys got some beautiful horns! You doing something good!

 

[JaxKiwiTiger]

haha oh Waipahu! Never ceases to amaze me what you could find for sale there after some football games - I've seen people trying to sell the pakilolo after the games! On school property nonetheless.

He probably wild caught them or if he's breeding them, it may have been the mom and pop and babies all in one cage. Jackson's give live birth, so the mom may have popped out the kiddos and he just kept 'em all together. There is a guy who does captive bred up near Kailua on the windward side. If you take kalanianiole between Kailua and waimanalo, you see a big sign in his front yard. Good guy, good prices. Breeds 'em well. But your boys got some beautiful horns! You doing something good!

Thanks brah! I definitely hope I'm doing some good...I'm actually hyper critical about the horns so I'm not sure if I'd 100% agree w/you...guess I'm just OCD in that way, but it's always nice to get those kind of compliments.

And yeah, I think you're spot on about the guy I bought 'em from. I do know about the guy in Kailua, he's the one with the "Jackson Chameleon" street sign, right? I've seen for sale signs, and actually I wonder if it's the same guy, and he just decided that maybe since business was slow on the windward side, he would try marketing the leeward side a bit.

I'm actually camping out at bellows this weekend so perhaps I'll make a stop along the way!