please could someone tell me

thanks

i wil try to explain , when they get in to sleep mode the tail curls and when they are feeling treatend (scared) they curl the tales to looke bigger, ifn he does that he's probabelly afraid or angry
grts

ok thanks and also he has like white lines on him, markings, what do they mean? they go when hes green but when he turns grey they come out

Rico is a 3 month old Ambilobe panther chameleon and he starts doing this every night between 7:30 and 8:30 pm when he’s getting ready to go to sleep. Lights are out at 8:30 pm and he's generally close to being asleep if not already asleep. He keeps his tail curled up tightly as he sleeps through the night.

Without knowing definitively, if I had to guess I would hypothesize that chameleons do this in order to protect their tail from being mistaken as a light night snack by predators that might be crawling around in the trees. If it were kept extended and possibly dangling it might attract more attention than they’d like! It makes sense to me that they’d want to protect their tail but that’s just a theory on my part though. I have no idea why they really do it. Chances are there’s a much more scientific reason for it such as helping t regulate their body temperature while they sleep, for example.

What I do know is that when Rico does start curling his tail up it’s a sign that he’s getting ready to hunker down for the night.

Stevie mentioned that they will do it when they feel threatened in order to look bigger as part of a defense mechanism and that would make a lot of sense to me as well. I've not seen Rico do it for that reason but he's never really been threatened though.

In one of my chameleon books it said when have them in your hand and their tail curls that it means they are relaxed and/or enjoy setting in your hand. But thats not my opinion. I dont really know, I think it can mean alot of things. Like when a dogs tail wags, Its not always happy.

And of course thats what they do when they sleep. Like curling up for bed time.

The tail curls for two reasons, to keep balance (im assuming its to make a heavier counter balance) and when they are relaxed.

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Oh Whale

Obama does it wen hes chillin sometimes, wen hes threatened (wen Nova the "special" kitty walks in) he goes skinny and tall and extends his tail out, but in all reality nova is NO threat at all, hes not like other kitties, hes OBLIVIOUS to everything in all reality. hes still cool tho, looks like a lil bobcat, retarted bobcat at that

I remember reading that in a very outdated book too. Can't believe that to be true at all. A cham being held in a hand might possibly want to look dead, not be relaxed.

Mine only curl their tails for sleeping and when they feel uneasy/threatened. When they're relaxed they stretch out their tails. This has been my experience with my 5.

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Chameleon Info: My Personal Blog, Here & the Chameleon Care Resources, Here | Keeper Of: F. pardalis & T. melleri