restlessness.

[nightcrawler]

ok so my cham will never sit still unless he is basking.
he used to always travel to the lower right ride of his cage,
and i to my stupidity realised that their is a mirror (not really a mirror but a bar sign that reflects) over on the wall about that height.
i found out because he was out today and he ventured across my turtle tank and sat there and looked at himself for a while.
he didnt get all crazy colors or anything, he just looked at himself as if he was something to look at.
i took it down but he is still climbing the walls like crazying going up and down.
he will go down to the bottom try to get where the mirror used to be
and then go up and then do it all over again.
should i be worried of something? do you think he needs more cover?
im trying to find something to put up so that he will climb that instead of
the screen because he is already missing two toenails,
but it is winter and i cant make a netting of sticks, and all the screen
or fencing i have will rust.
is he just trying to find a mate?
he is about 9-11 months old or more.
hes also been diying to come out everyday now.
everytime i open he makes a break to get out.
when he gets out he goes right where the mirror used to be.

 

[jamie and jarrett]

Maybe he thought his reflection was a female, and he just wants to mate. Thats why he keeps looking for "her" in the same spot where he last saw "her".

 

[Justin Carl]

I had the same problem!
Its the age I'm sure.
My guy at 10-11 months would not sit still for anything.
Forget basking all together!
He was up and down allllllllllllll day!
Its sexual maturity at its best.

 

[AFH]

Mine does the same thing. Up and down the front of the cage. I had to move the plant closer to the door just to get him to wander around on it sometimes.

 

[dindy]

would a female be doing this too cause mines about a year old and she is always at the front of her age, all day moving and she always tries to get out when i open it up.....? does this mean shes gonna lay eggs?

 

[murray0827]

I would be putting in a laying box just in case

 

[chris]

some of them are just crazy like that. one of my chams in particular no matter what when anyone comes in the room he is right at the cage door dying to get out. when its feeding time he always runs out of the cage and wants to hang out on you somewhere. i look at it as a good thing though, he is always active and a great breeder. lots better that being a fat and lethargic cham.

 

[summoner12]

My boy Fred acts the same as the OP described. When I have him out in the sun, indoors (I have a tree outside and inside) he will hang out.. move around the tree... then make his way for the mirror in the bedroom. I keep an eye on him... but sometimes he makes a run for it before I notice he has left the tree. One time I caught him dancing.... I just started laughing and put my hand down next to him and he climbed up my arm.

I too think of it as a good thing. If I open the cage and offer him a stick he'll climb out and hang out with me until I get sick of him. Thats better than him hating me I think.

 

[summoner12]

Here he is looking at himself in the mirror after I picked him up. He doesn't get this colorful when he sees my other male. Kinda strange that he shows off to himself and not other males.

 

[jamie and jarrett]

Seems like a typical male to me.

They love to show off in front of the mirror

Muscles in humans, colors in chameleons.

 

[nightcrawler]

well that is good that it isnt anything bad.
i let him out today to see if he did the same.
and yes he did. he went over there and was like where did she go
it was nice out today and all the snow is melting so i went out and got a
bunch of sticks. so i made a ladder to put on one side so he can climb that
and i got a new super bushy umbrella plant and put that on the side
where he thinks his lover is. ill post some pics someday.
thank you all.

 

[AFH]

I let my male (that is always on the front door) out the other day. (I have a whole chameleon building for everybody so I don't worry about him getting into too much trouble) Anyway, I left him on the plants that run down the center of the lizard house, thinking he'd be happy just roaming from plant to plant. I came back about a half hour later and Marie and Xerxes were in total freak out mode. Apparently, Baltazar had gotten down out of the plants and was crawling up the back side off everyone else's cages. Marie is still retaining sperm from their last mating and was showing gravid "get the F away from me!" colors and Xerxes is about 6-7 months old and was way freaked out at another veiled male twice his size in his territory.

I guess my point to this story is that Baltazar is one of those males that would probably claim my whole 240' sq building as his own territory. I think that's why he is constantly trying to get out. Plus, it's mating season.

 

[nightcrawler]

yea whenever i put him anywhere in my room he always wanders
to where "she" used to be.

 

[chamlover]

My veiled did the same thing when i took him out of his cage. He kept on going back and forth, but he was all poofed up. I told my husband that the day before he happened to get a glimpse of another male while he was outside his cage and even though he couldn't see him anymore it was still like he had to proof something. I just let him do it until he got tired, 1 hour later, when he realized it wasn't going to come back and get in his territory he settled down and looked out the window for the rest of the afternoon. I think he is trying to figure out why all the trees outside are white. lol.

Debby