Why is he going flat as a board?

[BocaJan]

I was getting ready to mist and saw my male veiled trying to hide by looking like a branch. WOW I have never seen him go this flat before. He is well fed and weighs about 170 grams. The longer I keep these animals the more fascinating I am by what they are capable.

 

[kenya]

I love the things they can do with their bodies. They must have really flexible ribcages, huh?

 

[BocaJan]

They seem to have personalities. I get off on seeing my female sleep on a string that holds up a stick. Her gravid belly now lays on one side of the string because she can't lay it flat any more. Looks so silly!

 

[jannb]

My guys does that sometimes when he's out in the sun. They are fascinating creatures!!!! Jann

 

[Rocky]

mine gets flat all the time Its really funny he goes from this short fat kid to a really tall scrawny one

 

[Eyal]

I think its because its afraid/stressed. That is a defense mecanism. To "become" a stick. How high off the ground is your cham? Equal to your eye level? How much do you handle him?

 

[AndrewH]

They will try to go flat and rotate around a branch. This is often called "shadowing" a way to hide from predators or cameras. they also flatten out their bodies while basking to increase more surface area.

 

[Justin Carl]

Was he in natural sunlight when he did that?
For some reason my adult veileds all do that when I put them outside.
It's like they turn into completely different animals.

 

[BocaJan]

He was basking in the sunlight. He was not stressed. He does do this sometimes, but since I wanted to post a picture I thought I'd see who else sees their chams do the same thing.

 

[veiledchamguy]

my veiled does the same posture when he finds a nice warm spot in his window...especially when i sneak up on him he tries to hide behind the smallest branch or vine lol its also a basking technique to absorb as much heat as he can! flat out like a lizard!