Chameleon Intelligence

[thechameleonnextdoor]

Hi guys, I am wondering if anyone knows the intelligence level of the chameleons species? My chameleon seems to be pretty smart; she knows whenever someone is in the room, she seems to know when its me holding her versus someone else, etc. She even has a boy chameleon tricked into thinking she really likes him. I was just wondering how smart they are and if it would be possible to train my chameleon to do any tricks. I would like to teach her to go to the bathroom in a litter box, or even feed herself. She would probably have to lift some weights first so she can get the lid off the mealworm container, but I dont want to bring her to the gym if she will never be smart enough to do these things in the first place. My ultimate goal is to train her to be a spy for certain reasons I cannot mention on this public forum. Thanks for your consideration and help!

 

[kinyonga]

Trolling??

 

[thechameleonnextdoor]

No, this is not a joke. Have you never heard of Pavlovs classical conditioning? This is simple psychology.

 

[ChameLIonLover]

You want to train you chameleon to be a spy for "certain reasons you can't mention on this public forum". Sound sketch man; Chams are naturally spies how it is. I'm not sure what behaviors you wish to teach your chameleon, but I also wonder what the extent of their intelligence is.

The problem with conditioning a chameleon to perform a behavior is that you have to find a pleasurable enough motivator to get it to do what you want. My guy, as far as I know, will climb on to my hand or follow me around only if I present meal worms, but I can't feed those often because they aren't nutritional or healthy (or so it seems).

You don't want to interact and sway their judgments too much either. Always allow them to make the choice to perform a behavior on their own and don't force it; forcing or trying too hard may come off as stressful to your chameleon, and may do the opposite of what you want. Above all else, you need to gain trust with your cham.

 

[leedragon]

chameleons miss the part of the brain that allow imagination, or better explain it, if a cricket goes behind a leave so the chameleon dont see it but it sees go away that chameleon would not know what happen, unlike a cat or such.

chameleons are wonderful animal but are more for obcerbing people, not for people who like them to act like parots, cats or dog, when they are treated like cat, dogs or birds they die rather soon so in short terms do not try to make your chameleon in to anything else than a chameleon

 

[ChameLIonLover]

i believe that's called object permanence. Human babies learn or gain the skill of object permanence at around 6 months. That's why when you hide behind a blanket or something and go Peek-A-Boo! they get so excited and wonder where the heck you came from. Also, if you hid a toy under a pillow or blanket, they would know that that that toy still exists, and is just under something; It did not magically disappear, but still continues to exist.

I did not know that chameleons lack object permanence. I don't know about chameleons enough to confirm what leedragon says, but I would still give it a try. just don't do anything or try to get your chameleon anything that could be potentially hazardous to it's well-being.

 

[kinyonga]

" She would probably have to lift some weights first so she can get the lid off the mealworm container, but I dont want to bring her to the gym"...this is not simple psychology or anything like Pavlov did....its trolling.

 

[thechameleonnextdoor]

Ok guys if trust is important do you have any good suggestions for human-reptile trust excercises?