why are there chamaleo jacksonii in hawaii?

just wondering why there are jackson native to hawii cause africas thousands of miles away

FiReBaNaNa said:

just wondering why there are jackson native to hawii cause africas thousands of miles away

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they were introduced a while ago. so they are not native to the island(s).

thanx but so where the veileds and they are a pest to the island(s).

FiReBaNaNa said:

thanx but so where the veileds and they are a pest to the island(s).

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Jackson's were released when a herp business went bankrupt if I remember right. Veileds might have been released either as unwanted pets or failed breeders. They are both considered pests along with the many other man-introduced species that cause problems for Hawaii's endangered native species. Chams are insect predators so are considered a threat to several native endangered species. Some of the insects are the ONLY known pollinators for Hawaiian endangered plants...and without these pollinators, we lose the plants too.

They were released in the early 1970's by a petshop owner who imported dozens of them from Kenya. They came in weak and in bad shape so he let them go in his yard in hopes that they would become heathly and could be recollected for sale. This was on the windward side of the big island.

Here are some articles about the Jackson's there...
"“Hawaiian Jackson’s Chameleons have all descended from several dozen specimens. In 1972, a Kaneohe pet shop owner, Robin Ventura, received a Hawaii State Dept. of Agriculture permit to bring in Jackson’s Chameleons for sale. They arrived thin and dehydrated, so he released the lizards into his backyard on Kane’ohe Bay Drive, figuring they could be retrieved later, as needed."...
http://entophile.com/2009/10/28/jacksons-chameleons-killers-of-hawaii-insects-and-snails/

http://www.hear.org/alienspeciesinhawaii/waringreports/chameleon.htm
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t8848p5q03319146/
http://archives.starbulletin.com/1998/07/15/news/story7.html

http://hawaiideptland.custhelp.com/...?p_faqid=244&p_created=1024693793&p_topview=1

http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=87
http://www.lovein.com/JacknJill.html

Feral populations have been reported in California and Florida too BTW.

because they like to surf

History of wild Jacksons in Hawaii

OK so this pet store ordered some jacksons from a so cal importer the first batch came in healthy ino what a supprise so he ordered another shipppment this one came on serverly dehydrated and malnurished so he figured that he could house them in his backyard and retrive them when they were back to health. Well that didnt work out and they chams spread thanks to many factors like people taking them home for pets in their backyard and motorists stopping by to pick up these strange little animals and releasing them into other parts of Hawaii. Another population was established there when the Fish and Game services raided a pet store and a door was left open and away went the chams


source : chameleons by Gary Ferguson, Kenneth Kalisch, and Sean McKeown

They are not native people let them go as pets and they can mate and survive easily. Just like the Veilds in Florida.

http://entophile.com/2009/10/28/jacksons-chameleons-killers-of-hawaii-insects-and-snails/ veileds are now established in the islands as well. any time there is an invasive species it is a cause for concern http://www.hawaiiinvasivespecies.org/pests/veiledchameleon.html although from a cham keepers point of view, i think it rocks, but the state of hawaii doesent share the same view.