Color Enhancers... Good or bad?

[Amanda.lynn]

So I've seen these suggested but what are people's favorite brands if you use them at all. Are there foods to feed your insects to help with this?

 

[Carlton]

Because color in chams is constantly changing and that range is an inherited trait, I'm not sure that nutritional "enhancers" would do all that much. Their skin color isn't exactly the result of a pigment on the skin surface, its a skin cell layer shift that causes a change in the reflection/refraction of light that occurs in response to stress hormones. A healthy cham will express the color range it inherited from the parents and the bloodline. If you gutload your feeder insects correctly and the cham is kept in the proper environment (temps, humidity) it will show somewhat mild colors most of the time....when it is relaxed. You won't see the brightest colors unless the cham is upset or angry about something. Obviously you wouldn't want to try to keep the cham upset just so you will see those bright colors more often. Choose a small production gutload from one of this forum's sponsors...that's your best bet for good nutrition.

A recent article about color change.
https://www.livescience.com/50096-chameleons-color-change.html

 

[Amanda.lynn]

So it's a good sign if he's just his neutral colors? I just see all these pictures of brilliant chams and I'm wondering if I should be worried.

 

[Amanda.lynn]

I'll check out the gutloads. I have a power green mix. I did sweet potatoes. Strawberries. I try to alternate different things and keep fresh fruit in the insect enclosures so they don't get sour.

 

[Carlton]

So it's a good sign if he's just his neutral colors? I just see all these pictures of brilliant chams and I'm wondering if I should be worried.

Yes, if he's healthy, relaxed, and contented where he is sitting, he'll show milder colors. The pics you see online are often staged. Taken when the cham is super pissed or displaying to another cham, to show the extremes.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Some of my most amazingly colored chameleons tool the longest to develop their color! Hang in there, he is probably a late bloomer!