Any other ways of sensing other cham's presence?

Echoezra

Established Member
So, maybe this is a silly question, but okay, so they'll get stressed if they can SEE another chameleon, and they can only feel vibrations, not HEAR, so what about smell, can they smell at all? Or any other way of sensing another's presence, either nearby (ex. cage beside cage) or like previously in that cage that they are now in?
I was just thinking, in case I got two instead of one, I would probably end up putting cages side by side, with a visual barrier between. But could they sense another one beside them?
Also, I was figuring what if I had one outdoor cage and alternated their outside time? Would they be able to tell another cham was just in there, and would that bother them? Like any sort of pheromones or smelling fecals or anything like that I should know about?
(not that I'm considering getting two or anything. Lol.)
 
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I think its very likely they can smell just fine, for their needs.
Folk make much of them being stressed by seeing another, however I dont think this is always the case. Mine share the same room, no visual barriers other than the plants in their own cages, about 2 meters apart, easily within veiw of each other, and 6 months in, no apparent stress whatever, normal active healthy chams, no stress colors, and Im home all day to observe them.
Exceptions to every rule and different individuals and different species, may react or fail to react as the case may be.
Naturally this may well change once the female becomes sexually mature/receptive, at which time I'll deal with it as required.
It may be they tend to react more to visual signals (color change) and that in my case, the immature female is of no consequence to the male. :)
 
Chameleons can hear BTW.
Chamaeleo senegalensis and quilensis...
"The results indicated poor sensitivity in comparison with lizards in general, yet the performance was not far below that found in many species with conventional sound-conducting systems. The frequency range extended from 100 to 10,000 cps, with the best sensitivity in the region of 200 to 600 cps."
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...TRY=1&SRETRY=0

The ear of the chameleon: The round window problem...
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...96034/abstract

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115747/hearing123.htm


http://www.anapsid.org/reptilehearing.html
"There is some evidence that some (or possibly all) true chameleons produce very low-wave sounds that may be used to communicate."

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article...ound-reception
"The chameleons, of those species studied thus far, have only a few sensory hair cells (40 to 50) in the auditory papilla."



Read post #3 in this thread...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/can-chameleons-hear-37895/
 
They can hear

Yay, that means I'm not a complete moron for talking to them? Lol.
So then, if they are communicating with each other through low wave sounds that they're making, that would make side by side cages a bad idea, right?
 
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