He's scared to death!

[Rosie42892]

Today I put a new vine (bought from Petsmart) in my 5 month old Ambilobe's enclosure. I wrapped it around a couple of his branches and through his plants. All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks (didn't puff up, but colored up very bright). I thought he would soon go explore (he is usually brave with new things) and then be fine with it, except when I came back over an hour later, he was in the SAME spot! Still colored up and all. I tried to distract him with his favorite, a silkworm, but he just continued to stay perfectly still and stare at the dark brown vine! I gave up and unwrapped it from his branches (at that point her booked it into one of his plants) and took it out of his enclosure. Now he is exploring all over the screen seeming like he is scoping out if it left! Maybe he thought it was a snake? (Total guess.) Anyone else have this happen to them?

 

[Rosie42892]

He is still patrolling....

 

[Miss Lily]

They don't take too kindly to change! A couple of weeks ago I took out Tommy's almost dead Ficus and replaced it with a nice tall, leafy Schefflera. I also added the vine that he had in his old cage and a new branch. He didn't like the new things (you would think they'd be grateful!) and it took him a whole week to stop sulking and go back to his normal happy, outgoing self, bless him! It can take them a while to get used to new things in their cages.

 

[yoza717]

I remember the first time I put a Hibiscus in the cage with one of mine. The plant decided to bloom after a couple weeks (bright red flower). My chameleon (8 months old at the time) did the same thing. Froze in his tracks for a whole day trying to assess the situation. .
Now they are all familiar to the blooming and carry on like normal.

 

[chameleonneeds]

I think it has nothing to do with change of cage. He has probably mistaken it as a snake. He may be cb but they still freak out at things looking like birds or snakes. I have seen where chameleon have stoped in their steps when they saw something that could be a threat. They stand so still because they hope it never saw them moving. Or if it can it will roll over from what its sitting on and just peak over to watch it..... Same thing happens when a cham sees a cat