Sad chameleon?

[draetish]

Your cham is still young and should be fed more. Your feeder gutload needs tweaking, you should be using collard or turnip greens instead of lettuce as it has no nutritional value. Leaving the lights on from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm is too long. You should try to mimic the real sunrise and sunset as much as possible with their lights (10-12 hours is good). Analog thermometers are not that accurate, switch to a digital.

Here are a few questions:

How do you feed (cup, free-range, etc.)?
What size crickets?
Do you observe him roaming at all?
How often does he poop?
Do you think he is getting weak or clumsy?
Can you post a pic of your set up (cage)?

Maybe it's just winter and he's like alot of chams right now. However, it's better to re-check all basic husbandry so you don't run into a problem later. They are good at not showing any signs of illness until it's pretty bad. I always say "if you think something might be wrong, then go with your instinct and re-check things". Better safe than sorry.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Are you certain of that?

-Brad

Do you think he misses his mommy ,...


Their brain is not that complex , so I will go as far and say I am certain . Although we all know none of us are.


he looks more indifferent to me, maybe a little smug.

 

[morpheon]

The stance on anthropomorphism for different people varries. Me personally, I believe everything can have feelings, there is no proof that they can not. I may sound paranoid but I believe that humans do not like the thought of any other species being any better than they are and therefore they tend to forget that they themselves are just another species. Who are they to say what other species can or cannot do? I have seen it multiple times, other animals showing signs of emotions or "anthropomorphism", so that is where I stand.

As a matter of a fact, humans tend to overestimate the extend to which others share their point of view (Nickerson, 1991), to forecast others’ behaviour without taking account of the fact that they are not in possession of the same knowledge as themselves (Royzman, Cassidy, & Baron, 2003) or to use stereotypes for explaining intentions and expressions of others perceived as out-group members (Ames, 2004).

This can be seen when people think their animal has feelings without any real proof of it...

On a side note, i do believe that the tendancy you mentionned (that humans are above everything) does exist, but at what intensity? I don't know, but i do know that narcissism exist under multiple forms. But, this narcissim tendancy is probably a lot less frequent than the quotes i cited earlier.

Just my two cents!

 

[morpheon]

I'd add that this picture, following the human usual way to read other people's feelings (ie emotional intelligence), does lead to think that he may be sad. However, on a cultural way (and chameleons must have a different culture than humans), i do not think that it may be correct to read their feelings the same way than we do with other humans.

Plus, this picture is not a whole video and many things may explain the "static look of sadness".

First, its mouth is slightly getting lower at the end. For a human, this shows sadness, but since this chameleon is ALWAYS like that (it's in his physiology), it can not be taken into account. Second, this left eye is looking at the ground. Of course any human doing it may be showing some sadness, guilt, or shame, but chameleons do it over a thousand of times per day just to look if there is any food available on the ground (or predators)! Once again, it can not be sure that he is sad. Third and last factor i have found, the way he is sat shows a drop in his level of energy. But then again, this behavior can be caused by numerous factors (bad health condition and/or bed time coming mostly).

Just my 2 other cents!

 

[Carlton]

To me, a depressed (or sad if you prefer) cham will be dark colored, eyes half or completely shut, and not responding to changes in light, temp, or misting. The picture shows me a relaxed cham with not much to think about (nothing to react to). When a cham has eaten enough, basked well, gotten the drink it wants, it can spend much time just chilling on a branch. After all, movement gives their location away and a cham's defense (and offense during hunting) is to be still and hard to see.

 

[kthhwtt]

ooh so he's just chill, like happy and just relaxing? ...or is him being "chill" bad?

 

[morpheon]

I really don't know. It's hard to guess just from one single picture...

He could he relaxing, he could be almost sleeping, he could be sick, and maybe something else!

Nevertheless, one of the most important thing in having a chameleon is keeping an eye on him, on his behaviors and being aware of anything that has changed. It's like a puzzle: you have to put pieces together to get a good diagnostic (not medical diagnostic but situational diagnotic).

 

[draetish]

ooh so he's just chill, like happy and just relaxing? ...or is him being "chill" bad?

Hey Katt can you go back to my response and answer the questions? I really think having the lights on from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm is way too long.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Good point. I know my cham is ready for lights out after 11hrs of lights on. He heads for his spot and curls that tail. Same place and almost the same time everyday. Its amazing how animals can tell time internally.

 

[Matt1851]

Good point. I know my cham is ready for lights out after 11hrs of lights on. He heads for his spot and curls that tail. Same place and almost the same time everyday. Its amazing how animals can tell time internally.

Ya same here. I turn on the lights at 7am and he usually climbs into his vine at 9:30pm on the dot

 

[sallyb]

AAaaaww that gorgeous little boy could melt the coldest of hearts He looks so cute.

Gizzy sometimes does the chin on the vine thing when she`s having a laze or getting ready for bed. He doesn`t look unhappy at all.

 

[ChamNoob]

what time is it when you took the picture ? i have my 5 month old veiled on a 12 hour light cycle, on at 7 off at 7. maybe he is tired and is ready to go to bed ?

edit* maybe he is tired from lack of sleep the night before also. ( if the pic was tooken in the morning or day )

 

[kthhwtt]

i use both a cup and free range crickets for him
oh gosh, i know i should know the size of the crickets, but i just get "mediums"
yeah he walks around in his tank allot, and when i have him out, he's very active
im not sure how often he poops, but ill keep an eye on it, but when i do check out his poop, their very nice (awkward to say but true)
nope, he seems to have a very strong grip and getting stronger with age and very aware of what he is doing, not clumsy at all
note: i will have my UVB bulb up and running, i recently had to switch the light i was currently using.

 

[draetish]

I like your set up. Your guy is 5-6 mos old and should be eating and pooping like a machine. Unless.....he's older than that, then his eating and pooping will slow down. I know you probably posted his pic not expecting some backlash and that's not what I'm trying to do. Like I said "if you think he's sad or something is wrong, then it probably is".

 

[kthhwtt]

thank you! haha yeah he eats allot! and yeah he's just turing 5 months now pretty much
maybe i was just over reacting, becuas ei know they are only saposed to get like 12 hours of light, and atm hes getting like 14... soo im going to cut down his light and see if that helps

 

[unknown]

That probably explains it. His body was tired but since the "sun" was still up he had his eyes open?

 

[kd83930]

Presley is a very healthyl and happy chameleon, he is fine whenever i have to handle him and is very social. I have all the nessicary essintials for his 16x16x30 terrarium witch include (Heat lamp with 60 watt heat bulb, Reptisun 5.0 UVB lightbulb, Dripper, Calcium, Calcium with D3, and herptivite witch is given to him on a monthly scedual, and a combination of real and fake plants. I'm not to sure why he looks sad... maybe he's just relaxed? but about half the time i look at him when he's in his terrarium, he's in there laying resting his chin, and just looks really sad.. is this normal?

 

[kinyonga]

Can you post some photos please?
BTW…Herptivite lacks prEformed vitamin A. Reptivite with D3 is recommended to use twice a month because it has prEformed vitamin A as well.