Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I am new to this group and could use a little information. I have read about every caresheet I could find, but none addressed specific care of a pregnant Jackson.

She is supposedly 2-3 monthes into her pregnancy. With the stress of shipping, should everything turn out OK? Aside from a well setup cage, a good diet, and some peacefulness should I do anything else?

I have collected egg clutches from a Veileds using a laying box and am familiar with thier care. What do I need to do special for a live bearer? Does the base of the cage need to be a soft substrate or should it be smooth and hard? Should I keep my eyes on the plant bases when she is ready to give birth or should I be looking at low hanging branches over the cage bottom?

Thanks

Any gravid cham is tricky, especially one just shipped. Have you asked the person who sold it to you all these questions? Shipping ANY gravid female is very risky and you should be ready for problems. To be very frank I would not be too thrilled with anyone willing to sell and ship a known gravid cham. This is a stressful time for the female even in an established home. Veileds and jax are quite different to raise. I'm not a jax expert but have rescued 2 gravid jax and watched them expel undeveloped follicles. It was hard on the females and they tended to have chronic nutritional problems. One retained some nonviable follicles and ended up with peritonitis. I would put a big bushy schefflera in mom's cage so there is privacy and lots of small branches to deposit babies on. They are deposited in a sort of sticky membrane so the substrate is not a big concern. As soon as you see babies remove them so mom doesn't mistake them for food. The health of the mother will have a lot to do with how well the young do. Baby jax often die quite young for unknown reasons. It can be heartbreaking to watch. Be ready to separate the babies as soon as even one starts to decline. Good luck!

Thanks.....N/P