A chameleon who acts like dog and cat

[dodolah]

is it true that the chameleon species Melleri is very sociable to its handler?
I heard rumor that they will follow you everywhere and love to perch on you (if you put him in a free enclosure).

They might not look as pretty as panther, but everything that they lack in the
fashion department, they made it up in social department.

I am just wondering... but it seem hard to take care of them, no?

 

[BigTex]

i am very interested to find the answer to this question as well

 

[bluegoldfish]

My panther cham seems quite tame towards me, maybe a bit too much when he comes out of his viv he will climb up my arm and sit on my head, he doesnt mind sitting there or on my shoulder n doesnt hiss at me if i go to take him out viv, but huffs n puffs at other people. Maybe its that he recognises? that im the one who feeds him those yummy wax worms!

 

[studiocham]

Chameleons are individuals. I have owned and bred a few melleri, and they ran the gamut from super-friendly-can't peel-them-off-you to complete loners who would rather not be looked at, let alone approached. CBs that are hand-raised with consistency in their lives are mostly the uber-friendly, calm end of the spectrum.

If you get a melleri, or any chameleon, you have to accept whatever personality it ends up showing. With food rewards and basking rewards, and strategic approaches (from below and in low light), you can condition most any personality to accept exams and brief handling when necessary. Your cham will show you when you've breached its tolerance.

Yes, melleri do require a bit of pre-planning and care to keep them content and healthy. An automatic mist system is a basic care requirement for this species, IMO. They do best with that plus showers and supplemental handmisting. After you get everything set up and in a routine, they are actually fairly easy.

There is a friendly community of melleri keepers, you can find links to them through my site. It's great that you are asking questions before you buy one!

 

[studiocham]

... he doesnt mind sitting there or on my shoulder n doesnt hiss at me if i go to take him out viv, but huffs n puffs at other people. Maybe its that he recognises?

Keepers have reported recognition behavior in chameleons. A chameleon is a visual animal, it survives by its eyesight and memorizing the differences between prey, predators, and mates. Your unique appearance = source of prey, security, and possibly other pleasant things like outdoor basking and showers. Any other person is, to your chameleon, most likely a predator.

Have you experimented with changing your appearance, not speaking to the cham, minimizing any gestures, and seeing how it reacts to you?

 

[Will Hayward]

www.melleridiscovery.com

While I do think that Melleri can have plenty of personality and seemingly odd behaviors (The site above translates and details what some of them mean), I don't think they could be compared in the slightest to a dog or cat. I'd hardly call them sociable, as many raise their caution colours at even the slightest sight of you- but that is entirely dependant on the individual and may even change over its development. However their signaling and communication seems to be much more prominant than what is known for many other species, so in ways- they could be considered more complex than other species.

They are a difficult species, but CH or CB will give you a better fighting chance.

Here is Godzilla:

 

[Will Hayward]

Well during the time I was writing that post, Kristina, you pretty much said it all!

 

[FaunaBgirl]

What I have noticed with many species, is that the experience you give them may well dictate how they feel about you. That is why I am very careful to move slowly and softly around them and stay verbal. Verbal warnings as to what my next movements will be are well received by them. I try to keep all experiences extremely pleasant.
There was an instance where I bumped my veiled in the mouth with the eyedropper I was having him drink from. After that, there was no accepting the unforgiven eyedropper. So from then on, for others, I make sure my hand is proped and there is no room for accidental bumps. I'm just really careful, as I am determined to have a harmonious, serene life experience for all my cham's, creating a mutual enjoyment.

 

[studiocham]

What I have noticed with many species, is that the experience you give them may well dictate how they feel about you.

With many animals, you get back what you put in. I have owned chams who were previously abused, and they never completely got over it.

That is why I am very careful to move slowly and softly around them and stay verbal. Verbal warnings as to what my next movements will be are well received by them.

It's good that you use voice cues. Voice works with chameleons, but not in the way it works with dogs and cats. Chameleons feel your voice, they can't make out the words. This doesn't mean that your verbal cues are useless. You probably have a greeting tone, a feeding tone, an I'm-going-to-pick-you-up tone, etc. when you speak. Chams hear on an infrasonic level, so only the most vibratory parts of your speech are perceptible to them. Verbal warnings probably help you more than the cham, as it prepares you for the next task, keeps you calm, and thus your heartrate (which they can feel) stays normal. I've talked to other keepers who have noticed that reptiles stay calmer if you keep your heartrate normal.

Something I do to warn infrasonic reptiles of my approach (or feeding time) is to lightly stomp on the floor or substrate, but use the same rapping pattern each time. They do respond positively when you give them a calm heads-up before "jumping" into their view.

 

[davemailcall]

My cham doesn't really like me hanging around. My guess is that since I don't have a misting system I have to hand spray him. He probably associates me arriving with getting sprayed. So I try not to spray just when I come in the room but random times.

I do give that punk food, so you'd think he would chill out!

 

[pohchunyee]

I just play "fetch the cricket" with my chameleon.... only thing is that the chameleon never return it back.

 

[dodolah]

Keepers have reported recognition behavior in chameleons. A chameleon is a visual animal, it survives by its eyesight and memorizing the differences between prey, predators, and mates. Your unique appearance = source of prey, security, and possibly other pleasant things like outdoor basking and showers. Any other person is, to your chameleon, most likely a predator.

Have you experimented with changing your appearance, not speaking to the cham, minimizing any gestures, and seeing how it reacts to you?

Yes I have...
When I wear black shirt, he hisses at me..
but he turned tame when i wear bright color shirt.

 

[Will Hayward]

I grew a beard for the winter. The Bearded Dragons didn't appreciate it as much as I did.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Kristina, I liked what you had to say. More on that is a curious thing.... in that I have different calls for different expectations that I have of my chameleon. I have a call that I do that brings him to the top where I can see him. It works.
I also have a new curious thing going on. I sing to him a certain way and he comes over to my face and enlists my fingers to stroke his face. Lately he's been wanting to love bite me. Soft bites. It's becoming a daily ritual with us that we have this singing/touching thing now. What are the possibilities of what is really happening?

 

[christyo2o2]

Kristina, I liked what you had to say. More on that is a curious thing.... in that I have different calls for different expectations that I have of my chameleon. I have a call that I do that brings him to the top where I can see him. It works.
I also have a new curious thing going on. I sing to him a certain way and he comes over to my face and enlists my fingers to stroke his face. Lately he's been wanting to love bite me. Soft bites. It's becoming a daily ritual with us that we have this singing/touching thing now. What are the possibilities of what is really happening?

your sleeping??

LOL must be nice that your cham will let you touch it... Our scooter is a beeeotch!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

My oldest male veiled lets me stroke the spikes under his chin. He tilts his head upward slightly when I do this like a cat might do but he doesn't move away from me.

I'm not sure if he sees this as affection or just allows me to do it so I'll leave him alone! LOLOL

Dyesub Dave.

 

[studiocham]

Kristina, I liked what you had to say. More on that is a curious thing.... in that I have different calls for different expectations that I have of my chameleon. I have a call that I do that brings him to the top where I can see him. It works.

It's good that you are paying attention to these cues and sharing them. Do you keep a journal? You can start testing your ideas by using a blind and playing recordings of your vocal cues, and observing his reactions (remotely via camera would be even better). I've talked to a few keepers who say their chams climb to a certain part of their enclosure on cue. It's a good minimal-stress management technique when you need to fix or clean a part of the cage.

I also have a new curious thing going on. I sing to him a certain way and he comes over to my face and enlists my fingers to stroke his face.

It's probably the rhythm of the tones that he is responding to, along with the rhythm of how you breathe as you sing, and how the singing calms you. The unconscious parts of your communication are most likely what he's reading. I have noticed, but lack video evidence, that when wrens sing outside their cham-room window, the chams take interest, even as the wrens are out of sight. They also become positively excited at the song of cicadas in close proximity. Rhythmic or trilling sounds are immediately noticed and significant to chams. This includes some music, try it for yourself.

When you say, "enlists", do you mean, he walks under your hand and shoves his face into your fingers? Does he rub his skull crests (orbital, parietal, temporal) and eyes back and forth on your fingers? Or does he sit still and "look" as if he wants to be rubbed, then accepts it when you pet him? If it is the last one, that is not the cham, it's most likely your interpretation.

Lately he's been wanting to love bite me. Soft bites. It's becoming a daily ritual with us that we have this singing/touching thing now. What are the possibilities of what is really happening?

What is really happening is open to a number of interpretations, depending on the school of behavior theory one ascribes to, I suppose. I don't hold a degree in ethology or general behavior, so take with a grain of salt...

Just my opinion based on my observations, but I haven't seen anything I'd label "love bites" in chameleon behavior. I'm not sure I like the term, even in mammals, because it's not love that they are communicating. They are trying to assert dominance, learn about a novel texture, practice killing prey, etc. Mouths are their organs of touch, just as we have hands. Rather than "love bite" to indicate and enhance a bonding emotion, some mammals will groom. Since chams don't groom with their mouths, and opportunistic eating of another cham's shedding skin is not grooming with intent to bond, that option is out. From what I have seen, the context of cham bites, no matter how gentle, is one of these:

1. tentatively trying/testing a prey item or leafy or woody browse
2. exercising kill bite on branches
3. asserting or testing rank (only in groups, such as young chams being raised together*)
4. unreceptive response to courting male
5. some species' males will bite the females during mating
6. competition for mate and/or territory

It's important to remember that chameleons are creatures of minimal wasted energy. They don't do anything unless they absolutely need to, which means the little gentle bites are not accidental. I suspect it's either curious about your texture and potential as a food item, or it is trying to convince you, gently, that it is the dominant vertebrate. In either case, a cham doesn't have to bite hard . If your cham is just trying to "get intimate" with you, you will know sooner than later.

I had a giant who would rub his skull crests on my fingers, whenever they were in his range. He would climb over, and scrub the crests like any animal does to scratch an itch against a tree or rock, putting all his body weight into it. He'd rub until his lip on the lower side relaxed and hung open. He never used his teeth. From his web page:

"Ferris had a habit of running his head up under my hand and rubbing, like a cat will. He'd relax his lips, close his eyes, rub the orbital crests and rostral ridge, then his eyes. I have never met another chameleon that would actively seek a petting."

I think when chams are tame and acclimated to people, they might equate us with heat-radiating, mobile trees. They may scratch themselves, taste test, and perch on us as if we are just that. They feel safest with their own mobile tree, while others are so tame they think no "mobile tree" will harm them.

*Group housing is NOT for everyone, and not to be done lightly. Most cham species do best in the limitations of captivity when they are kept singly.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Thank you for your time and interest in helping me assess.

1. tentatively trying/testing a prey item or leafy or woody browse
Most likely testing. I've not let him know how vunerable my tissue is.

5. some species' males will bite the females during mating
This is what had me thinking that he might issue a primitive "love bite."
6. competition for mate and/or territory
territory being the real issue here.

These particular items of explanation rang the bell of truth inside me as they were suspicions already. The later, being because of the introduction of the now growing neonate xantholophus' being transported near his afternoon basking area along my bedroom window. He has two cages. One for morning sun and this one now.

And to confirm, the noise I make that brings him to the top is a trill or a higher pitch than all the other calls.

Inlists my hand is that he actually does both wait for my hand and rub up next to it. But we've only discovered this new touch thing within the last week or so and I will continue to monitor and log these accounts.

Death bite? Now that scares me. He is VERY strong and at 15 inches. He hurts my fingers when he grips them sometimes. '

Another thing you said that struck me, was that chams don't do anything they don' t have to. I don't think of them as lazy. Therefore, how would you explain that?
I've heard it said some parrots have a capacity of two to four year old humans.... where would you rate a cham? Or what comparrison could be used?

Thanks for letting me pick your brain. Experience is the best teacher and I appreciate yours.

 

[studiocham]

Another thing you said that struck me, was that chams don't do anything they don' t have to. I don't think of them as lazy. Therefore, how would you explain that?

It's not that they are lazy, it's that chameleons are efficient with their energy expenditures. It is a lot of work to move quickly; most of its muscle structure is tonic, and it is ectothermic. Their eyes rotate on perpetual lookout for prey, predators, or mates, rather than moving their whole heads or bodies, for one example. They can be very active, but not wasteful. If you ever watch males in combat, they only do as much as absolutely necessary to win. Sometimes, the whole altercation is settled by a display. A retreating male may only move a foot or so away from the winner, just far enough to be comfortable and out of immediate bite range.

Unusual activity, such as pacing, pumping/hyperventilation, biting, etc. is often dismissed as "meaningless" because most keepers have mammal experience. These activities take a lot of cham energy, and they are indicators of mood and condition. Almost every action has significance (like stress), if not obvious purpose (hunting). The point is to conserve energy for when it is really needed in a burst (escaping predators). You don't see chameleons running for the sake of just feeling good, like you see mammals do... even guinea pigs buck for joy. When chams feel good, with a full stomach, they bask, yawn, and maybe court if there's others around.

Not lazy, but chams are careful with their energy.

I've heard it said some parrots have a capacity of two to four year old humans.... where would you rate a cham? Or what comparrison could be used?

I guess somewhere between parrots and sparrows. LOL Some keepers have told me they are on a par with parrots. One thing is certain, they are very smart at being chameleons. Some reptiles have surprising problem-solving skills, you can google for papers on the subject. One thing chams seem to have trouble understanding is a sense of scale, and this leads to one of the exceptions to the "no wasted energy" rule. It doesn't make sense because they learn both hyper-specific visual and spatial details. I know I'm not the only one who has seen a cham defensively display at a small insect just as it does at a large mammal. I've seen adult chams try, for minutes on end, to squeeze into tiny gaps between branches, or perch on thin branches that are bowing beneath them. Adult and juvenile coloration is so different in true chameleons, maybe this perception hiccup helped select for that? Apart from that, they seem to learn well enough. You can get results with food and basking rewards. Sometimes, keepers teach their chams new behaviors without being aware of it; if one takes a cham out of the cage to bask outdoors even 2-3 times, a smart cham will start waiting at the cage door. "Again!"

It's nice to read about other keepers' observations and experiences in cham behavior. Keep up the good work and record as much as you can.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Kristina.... Thank you for the insights.
You wrote:
Sometimes, keepers teach their chams new behaviors without being aware of it; if one takes a cham out of the cage to bask outdoors even 2-3 times, a smart cham will start waiting at the cage door. "Again!"

Surprisingly, My xantholophus female, after only a couple times being transfered to the back window for afternoon basking, actually goes nuts trying to get there if I'm not right on it to take her there myself. I expect that she, despite her physical deformities, lacks nothing when it comes to intelligence/instincts. She's a complete delight. Same with your expletives, thank you again!