MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is hard to post, but I pray it may have some therapeutic benefit in my grief.
Yesterday morning I had to send my beautiful Grumpy off to her eternal rest. She was such a strong girl and tried hard to fight, but in the end the bloat became just too much for her. I hope I succeeded in making her last days and weeks comfortable. She was so very special to me and her loss leaves a big hole in my heart. I’m fond of the idea that she’s got a beautiful tree in Heaven all to herself and hissing at anyone passing by as she’s enjoying the all you can eat bug buffet.
Four years ago, this is the first pic I took of the alien green creature that I obtained when stepdaughter no longer wanted it. I knew less than nothing - didn’t even know gender or species much less husbandry. As with all creatures that enter my home though, I vowed to give it the very best life I could..
Google told me that I had a female Yemen, or veiled chameleon and she could eat crickets. I couldn’t find out how many, so pretty girl quickly filled out on the literal dozens of crickets I was giving her twice a day. This was 3 weeks after getting her. Getting chubby!
Most Google searches led me to a chameleon forum. Being a natural introvert, I made my account but just lurked. I’m a middle aged woman and don’t need to invite any ridicule from ‘the cool kids’ or young jerky guys. I used the name I had planned for my girl…Miss Skittles. That name never did fit her well, so she simply became Grumpy. She was full of personality and I was quickly falling in love with her.
As I was learning quickly, my Grumpy lady was getting lots of husbandry improvements and was thriving. It wasn’t long until she developed her gorgeous big girl colors. By this time I realized the chameleon forum was actually a good place with good people and meekly started posting here and there.
She was always amazing me with her beauty. I couldn’t believe I could love a lizard so very much.
I’d always find her doing silly little things. My favorite is when her back legs would just be hanging in the air as she’s be using her tail to hold her back end. I was never quick enough to catch a good pic.
Always looking distrustful of me, but starting to learn I was the provider of food and therefore kind of ok. The forum blog on how to build trust was soo helpful. I was starting to feel comfortable in offering a small bit of help on the forum about the things I knew.
As she got her much larger enclosure and new decor, she enjoyed looking down upon her servant. Look at how long those claws are! Yikes! She was always careful and never dug them into me though. Such a sweet girl.
It was hard to tell when she was gravid as she never turned black like all the pics I’d seen. Instead, just her dots would darken.
Always watching from a safe distance and unbelievably cute.
Yesterday morning I had to send my beautiful Grumpy off to her eternal rest. She was such a strong girl and tried hard to fight, but in the end the bloat became just too much for her. I hope I succeeded in making her last days and weeks comfortable. She was so very special to me and her loss leaves a big hole in my heart. I’m fond of the idea that she’s got a beautiful tree in Heaven all to herself and hissing at anyone passing by as she’s enjoying the all you can eat bug buffet.
Four years ago, this is the first pic I took of the alien green creature that I obtained when stepdaughter no longer wanted it. I knew less than nothing - didn’t even know gender or species much less husbandry. As with all creatures that enter my home though, I vowed to give it the very best life I could..
Google told me that I had a female Yemen, or veiled chameleon and she could eat crickets. I couldn’t find out how many, so pretty girl quickly filled out on the literal dozens of crickets I was giving her twice a day. This was 3 weeks after getting her. Getting chubby!
Most Google searches led me to a chameleon forum. Being a natural introvert, I made my account but just lurked. I’m a middle aged woman and don’t need to invite any ridicule from ‘the cool kids’ or young jerky guys. I used the name I had planned for my girl…Miss Skittles. That name never did fit her well, so she simply became Grumpy. She was full of personality and I was quickly falling in love with her.
As I was learning quickly, my Grumpy lady was getting lots of husbandry improvements and was thriving. It wasn’t long until she developed her gorgeous big girl colors. By this time I realized the chameleon forum was actually a good place with good people and meekly started posting here and there.
She was always amazing me with her beauty. I couldn’t believe I could love a lizard so very much.
I’d always find her doing silly little things. My favorite is when her back legs would just be hanging in the air as she’s be using her tail to hold her back end. I was never quick enough to catch a good pic.
Always looking distrustful of me, but starting to learn I was the provider of food and therefore kind of ok. The forum blog on how to build trust was soo helpful. I was starting to feel comfortable in offering a small bit of help on the forum about the things I knew.
As she got her much larger enclosure and new decor, she enjoyed looking down upon her servant. Look at how long those claws are! Yikes! She was always careful and never dug them into me though. Such a sweet girl.
It was hard to tell when she was gravid as she never turned black like all the pics I’d seen. Instead, just her dots would darken.
Always watching from a safe distance and unbelievably cute.
