Chameleon question ?

[Jeremy l]

just courious but my panther walks around and sometimes he barly licks things. he drinks all the time and eats a bunch. is he tasting the branchs or searching for water ?

jeremy l

 

[bucky]

Mine does that too, just at random places,he sometimes licks my arm I dont know why he does this, im curious too.

 

[SoCaliSon]

It could be a couple reasons... If he is well hydrated and already drinking well... I have heard that they are to tasting to see if anyone else(chams), has been there, It is a way of investigating their territory. You will see them do this a lot if you put them in a new area.. or introduce a new plant. I am just speculating... But I would imagine if he is of the mature age... then he might me trying to track down a female...maybe...Just a thought.

~Joe

 

[Jeremy l]

i think i made some people mad eirlier, hope fully they will still help me out
please

jeremy l

 

[Jeremy l]

hes the one in my avatar pic hes only 5 months old i think mike at flchams said

 

[SoCaliSon]

If you just got him he is just doing this to investigate his surroundings and get used to his new turf.

 

[Jeremy l]

no ive had him for a couple of weeks but i did completely re-do his cage and put a schefflera in it

 

[mika]

I've read somewhere, I don't exactly know where off the top of my head right now, that in the wild, panthers (I think it was panthers) would rub their cloaca on branches etc to mark their territory.

Then other chams would go & lick the branches to see if someone else is living there.. Yuck!! LOL

I know beardies would lick out of curiosity.

 

[Jeremy l]

well i just have never seen my veild do it so i was just courious

 

[mika]

Different folks, different strokes.. j/k

At least he's not eating the bark

 

[Brian]

I see my panthers (male and female) lick the branches as well. Even when its completely dry. I think there tasting there territory or something.

Brian

 

[bluegeorge]

My panther started doing exactly the same at around 6 months. He would 'taste' everything so I posted a similar question and this is the best reply that I got.....

"it's tasting it to see if other chameleons have been there. Look closley when he does it, I think its a panther right? They have a fork tonge almost like a snake. you only see it when their tasting things though. Pretty cool to see isnt it."

 

[Trace]

Chameleons have a rudimentary vomeronasal or Jacobson's organ on the roof of their mouths (you can see it if you look close) so they are "tasting" their surroundings like snakes. Because a large portion of a chameleons' brain is devoted to the sense of sight; taste and hearing have become somewhat unimportant.

Did the Jacobson's Organ play a bigger role in chameleons in the past? Is it disappearing in todays chameleons? That would be neat stuff to know.

Cheers,
t

 

[Jordan]

I guess by now you can gauge that it is some what common with Panthers. Some even will start to bite branches. Others have been reported to eat bark. Just a heads up if you see something like that in the future.

Eating bark could be some what problematic from a medical stand point. Kind of hard to stop a chameleon since it does not understand the words no or don't like a dog.