Target practice?

pssh

pssh

Avid Member
I was cleaning out Pan's cage today and he pooped on a leaf that was really close to him. He doesn't like me being in his cage so I had to distract him (hopefully) so that he wouldn't bite me while I was cleaning the leaf. I decided to use a green bamboo rod that wasn't sharp so that he'd look the other way while I cleaned and I added fruit flies on the other side of the cage just in case. I stuck the bamboo rod in and while I was cleaning he shot at it!

I thought maybe he thought there was a bug on the end since I used to feed him with a chopstick with a bug on the end or maybe that there was a fruit fly close to it and he missed, but she shot at it again two more times so I pulled it out just as I finished cleaning.

Do you guys know why might have done that? I know they shoot at shiny objects and drops of water sometimes, but I dont know why he would shoot at a dull dried green bamboo stick instead of fruit flies...
 
pssh said:
Do you guys know why might have done that? I know they shoot at shiny objects and drops of water sometimes, but I dont know why he would shoot at a dull dried green bamboo stick instead of fruit flies...
Click to expand...


Becase he thought is was food; sounds like it might look like a hornworm.
 
I've never bought hornworms for him, though I plan to soon. I just wanted to make sure he was big enough to eat medium sized ones before I bought them. I'd hate to buy them and they'd be too big in a few days.
 
It dosent matter that he has never had them before, at one point he had never eaten anything but it figured that certain things look good to eat, recently your hornworm looking stick being one of them. If you keep those worms cool they will grow rather slow, warm them up and you can watch them grow like a balloon blowing up.
 
Okay, thanks! Do you think that he'd learn he can't eat it after a while? Not that I plan to stick it in there anymore...
 
Hard to say... I have a veiled that trys to eat my fingers every time I clean his cage. Though shooting at sticks and like items is not typical. Your good.
 
well my 7 month onld male cham ( happy birthday as of yesterday) ....sometimes shoots at the back of the anolog hydrometer i have in his cage....theres like a little gold piece and hes shot at it multiple times....i just fed him and he hasnt done it since....( i have a anolog one aswell)
 
My female panther does this, it almost seems like shes tasting the foreign object in her cage from a distance lol. She shoots it and then leaves it alone when she figures out its nothing yummy
 
When Guido (our first Veiled) was maybe 6 or 8 months old I was slowly introducing a bamboo stick into his cage to try to get him to climb out onto it. He didn't shoot his tongue at it but your post reminded me of that day. Instead he flared up as big as he could and put on a color show! His body was stripes of almost irridescent greens and yellows and he had a vibrant purple stripe down the length of his back. He has never done this again and I have never seen any other cham put on those colors. I think in his mind, that slow moving bamboo stick was a snake coming to get him so his color show was a last ditch effort to scare the snake away. Must have worked. We still have Guido and I have no idea where that bamboo snake got off to.
 
Pat, one of my melleri likes to try and shoot at my eyes when I am close by him.... I have always noticed him and put my hand out before he shoots... but looking up at him while his tongue is locked and literally ready to fire, with both eyes focused on my eye ball is not fun LOL..... I think your cham thought the stick was food... just as Pat thinks my eye ball moving around is food. :cool:
 
summoner12 said:
Pat, one of my melleri likes to try and shoot at my eyes when I am close by him.... I have always noticed him and put my hand out before he shoots... but looking up at him while his tongue is locked and literally ready to fire, with both eyes focused on my eye ball is not fun LOL..... I think your cham thought the stick was food... just as Pat thinks my eye ball moving around is food. :cool:
Click to expand...

I would agree. I had a female panther that shot at everything that moved. I had to take the digital thermometer out of her cage because she would try to eat the probe:rolleyes: I mean anything that moved!!! Kevin, I would hate to be shot in the eye by a melleri because I know how it feels. She got me 2 times one day when I had her out. She was going to her outside cage and the phone rang. I was just letting her crawl around on me and all of the sudden.......BAM!!!! I was like Holy:eek: WTF!!! Then again........BAM!!!! It felt like someone was flicking me in the eye with their finger. She would follow me around in her cage to whatever spot was closest to me looking like this.:D

Picture439.jpg


Funny story, Sandy:D
 
My panther Rocko will stick out the tip of his tongue in front of him while walking on a branch like he is tasting it or maybe smelling it. My melleri doesn't do it.
 
That pic from Cainschams is awesome!
Flash has never struck at me or tried to bite me. He flares occasionally when he doesn't want a bug or me getting close, but most often he heads right towards me and wants out for a stick-walk and crawl on me...:)
If he looked at me like that, I'ld start worrying.:D:D:D
 
sticks? eye balls? wow...

all I know is that Splat will one day give up eating such small insects like crickets and butterworms.
he's already slowed down eating anything smaller then a large female cricket.

but if he ever goes after my fingers or eye balls, I'm gona have a hell of a time trying to get the monster to stop.
when Splat wants something, he gets it...even if I say no. :rolleyes:

now if he would only stop growing...he's like 8" STV already, and I'm sure he's not done yet with his growth.
he's 10.5 months old now.

please tell me my nose is safe...I do wiggle it from time to time. :p
please tell me it's safe to bring over young kids, and they wont get eaten my my big bad Splat. :rolleyes:

anyway, I hope everyone's eye balls have a safe and happy holiday. :D

Harry
 
haha sandy thats pretty funny.

Jared, that is exactly how Caddie looks at my fingers if they are close... and how Pat looks when I look up at him....
 
Ahaha. That's funny. That bamboo stick makes him move faster than anything... I'm definately getting hornworms soon to see how he likes those. I can't imagine being struck at for just looking at a chameleon! Is it only you or does he/she do it to anyone?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Spikemomma
Spike in his new plant
Replies
2
Views
127
MzLaurie
M
F
Sudden health issues
Replies
9
Views
295
jannb
jannb
A
Small Black Spot On Sambava Leg
Replies
7
Views
210
Beman
Beman
PetNcs
Bamboo alert
Replies
1
Views
811
elizaann2
elizaann2
M
New panther chameleon owner
Replies
19
Views
532
ERKleRose
ERKleRose
Back
Top Bottom