Depressed?

[squeekz1992]

I know a lot of people on here say that chams don't have emotions and don't get attached to people and don't like to be handled (and so on...)

But Kuzco has always enjoyed coming out (only for me)
Well, since starting my new job, I'm hardly ever home I rarely see my baby before his lights go out.

Everything health wise is perfect, cage is tip top. But he seems depressed. He walks up to the door and just stares at me for a long time when I am in here and he stays his dark colors unless I get him out.

We went from coming out every day, to coming out once or twice a week. I think he misses me. As soon as I open the door he is on me and bright colors again. And he chooses to stay on me until Iput him away (which is difficult lol)

Is it possible he misses me? I'm really starting to think so..

 

[Ted]

I have one panther chameleon that I have spoiled rotten. He has learned to trust me and I do nothing to break that trust. He knows he's in a cage and where the cage door is. If I open the cage door, insert my hand, palm up, he walks onto it quickly to be free. I place them in a small tree, and a rather large room, he knows he's out of the cage. When I try to put them back in the cage he never willingly climbs on my hand, I have to pick him up. I know he enjoys "being out of the cage".

 

[lovepicasso]

Poor little Kuzco, he is depressed, he loves his mommy and spending so much time with her and now that time is gone....I'm sure you feel a little the same way....just love that boy all you can before the lights go out.

 

[Jon114]

As far as I know, chameleons are animals of habit. Any change in their schedeule is bound to stress them out. You can't compare human emotions to a reptile.

 

[squeekz1992]

Poor little Kuzco, he is depressed, he loves his mommy and spending so much time with her and now that time is gone....I'm sure you feel a little the same way....just love that boy all you can before the lights go out.

I know I get him out as much as I can. I miss just having him out like80% of the time he's my buddy.

I have one panther chameleon that I have spoiled rotten. He has learned to trust me and I do nothing to break that trust. He knows he's in a cage and where the cage door is. If I open the cage door, insert my hand, palm up, he walks onto it quickly to be free. I place them in a small tree, and a rather large room, he knows he's out of the cage. When I try to put them back in the cage he never willingly climbs on my hand, I have to pick him up. I know he enjoys "being out of the cage".

Kuzco is the same way he's such a lover boy!! Lol

As far as I know, chameleons are animals of habit. Any change in their schedeule is bound to stress them out. You can't compare human emotions to a reptile.

Yes they are creatures of habit. And yes changes stress them, but I can attach emotions to him if I want to. He's not just a "reptile" to me.

 

[Ulrich]

Don't want to disappoint you but I think you miss him more than he misses you. Our domestic enclosures are usually quite small compared to their natural environments. So the most he might be looking for is roaming a larger territory and some additional exercise.
I love my reptiles too and feel bad when I have less time for them. But they are definitely not like mammals with a social nature (for that kind of bonding dogs or cats are for), no matter how hard we try to interpret their behavior in that way.

 

[amandagreeneyez]

I agree with Ulrich. Chameleons are only reptiles...no matter how much we love & adore our cold blooded friends. They generally associate their owners with positive experiences (hopefully) such as food, free range time or maybe just being a nice warm spot to rest upon (inside my shirt or arm sleeve happened to be a favorite spot of many of my boas & pythons). It's all about survival with them and having the needs associated with such demands met. (We can still gush over them though )

 

[Psychobunny]

It is so easy for us to attach human like feelings and emotions to our pets because they are so expressive, with their eyes, faces and manner.
I stopped thinking of them as reptiles, and even chams after I bonded
(as well as can be expected) with them, and more like dogs or cats.

Smeagie, who is the real character of the bunch, acts much more like a little cat then any reptile.

I am NOT a 'reptile person", I did once have geckos, but I don't like lizards and I hate snakes.
Reptiles that crawl around on the ground, hide all the day long in caves, and only come out at night, are not my cup of java

 

[amandagreeneyez]

Lol! I've always been a reptile girl. My first real rescue (besides freeing any alligator lizards, horned toads, or gopher snakes from my brother's "prison") was when I was 9. It was a king snake that had been ran over by a bicycle. It was all banged up. I swooped it up and with my mom's help nursed it back to health until it was well enough to be set free. Then I rescued a rosy boa when I was 11. It had severe thermal burns and refused to eat; he was a mess. I had to force feed him guppies (they slide right down his throat quite nicely) and applied neosporin continuously. Over time he healed right up and I had him until I moved to Kauai almost ten years later (my uncle took him after that). That's how my love of snakes began. Now that I think of it...almost all of my reptiles gave been rescues! Lol. For me...it's the crickets and dubias that gross me out!!! Ugh!!!