Jackson's Chameleon

trioceros  jacksonii

Houdini, our male Jackson Chameleon

The Jackson's chameleon is a medium sized African lizard belonging to the family Chamaeleonidae.  They are primarily from the humid cooler mountain regions of Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa.  The Jackson's chameleon is one of 3 subspecies, the Jackson's Chameleon, the Dwarf Jackson's Chameleon and the Yellow crested Jackson's Chameleon.

The Jackson's male has three horns protruding from the front of his head while the female generally has one or none. They are a combination of green blue and yellow in color with different variations of dark patterns.

Like all Chameleons their color can change depending on environment and stress factors. For more information on color changes in Chameleon see this article in the classroom magazine the National Geographic Explorer.

The males are not as territorial as in some species and rarely get into an actual physical fight although they will put on a display of color and act aggressive to try to scare the intruder away.

Jackson's Chameleons are arboreal so they do not get water from pools or puddles.  They drink from drips of dew or rainwater from the leaves. Their diet consists of small insects such as crickets and meal worms.
They can grow to lengths of up to 12 - 14 inches and live for up to 9 years.  They reach sexual maturity at about 5 months but females shouldn't be bred until around 12 months  After a 5 - 10 month gestation period, the babies are born live.  They eat fruit flies when first born and gradually eat larger and larger insects.

Chameleons at Camp

At Cub Creek Science Camp we have a Jackson's Chameleon named Houdini. He is very interesting to watch and great fun to feed.  When he is hungry and food such as a meal worm or cricket is offered to him, he will search the area with his eyes for any danger and then focus on the moving insect.  When he is ready and the insect is in range then his long tongue will flick out and the insect will end up in his mouth where he takes a couple of munches, swallows then looks for another one.

For more information on Jackson's Chameleons and how to set up an enclosure for a pet Chameleon see FLChamps