Can a chameleon miss you?

[LizardBoy333]

I’ve been wondering if they have the capacity or ability to miss people.
I’ve noticed when I’m gone all day and come back my cham seems happy to see me and will come to me quickly.
Opposed to when I’m home all day he will mostly stare at me and come to me more slowly.

Just curious about this! Or if anyone else experiences this with their cham.

 

[Steve A]

I’ve been wondering if they have the capacity or ability to miss people.
I’ve noticed when I’m gone all day and come back my cham seems happy to see me and will come to me quickly.
Opposed to when I’m home all day he will mostly stare at me and come to me more slowly.

Just curious about this! Or if anyone else experiences this with their cham.

I honestly doubt it because they don't even seem "affectionate" towards each other. Their mindset seems to be very primitive -we are either reproducing today, or you're getting out of my territory-.

I think what that most likely is, is association with food. Especially if you ever hand feed. I would say even if you don't hand feed and your chameleon even notices you setting up their food in the morning, they likely learn that assocation to a degree.

I would say very similar to how they pick a spot to live in the wild. Oh there's food here each morning? This spot is good. I'm hydrated in the evening? This spot is good.

But this is just me thinking. I really have no idea!

 

[MissSkittles]

I’m going to use my girl Stella as an example because she is fierce and has gone out of her way to inflict the most pain she can. Every morning I go in and greet her and as soon as she sees me, she comes running down off her basking branch and down to the front of her enclosure…and sits right in front of her feeding station. Regardless of if I have food or not, if I extend my hand to her, her first instinct is to shoot her tongue at the possibility that she’s getting some fat finger worms. Once she realizes she can’t eat these finger worms, she will begin trying to bite. If I am not quick enough, I am getting bit. If I still am too slow, she will continue biting and almost even chewing until she has made sure to attack as ferociously as possible. She has drawn blood on at least a couple of occasions. She doesn’t mess around. I’ve had her for four years and have constantly reinforced building trust with her and she has got to know I won’t ever hurt her. Well, she doesn’t have any feeling of fondness for me other than I am the bringer of tasty food. Nor does she have any hate towards me - I am simply not food so therefore need to get out of her house and let her relax and get back to her important work of being a basking beauty.

 

[Steve A]

I’m going to use my girl Stella as an example because she is fierce and has gone out of her way to inflict the most pain she can. Every morning I go in and greet her and as soon as she sees me, she comes running down off her basking branch and down to the front of her enclosure…and sits right in front of her feeding station. Regardless of if I have food or not, if I extend my hand to her, her first instinct is to shoot her tongue at the possibility that she’s getting some fat finger worms. Once she realizes she can’t eat these finger worms, she will begin trying to bite. If I am not quick enough, I am getting bit. If I still am too slow, she will continue biting and almost even chewing until she has made sure to attack as ferociously as possible. She has drawn blood on at least a couple of occasions. She doesn’t mess around. I’ve had her for four years and have constantly reinforced building trust with her and she has got to know I won’t ever hurt her. Well, she doesn’t have any feeling of fondness for me other than I am the bringer of tasty food. Nor does she have any hate towards me - I am simply not food so therefore need to get out of her house and let her relax and get back to her important work of being a basking beauty.

She sounds SO aggressive lol But yeah this is basically what I keep hearing from experienced keepers. At the end of the day, we are going to have emotional feelings for them, but that will likely never be reciprocated. Unless you count the fact they become 'comfortable' with us (because of food). I see it as more of a trust relationship. They seem to tolerate us once they learn we aren't exactly enemies, but we're "food zoned" lol

And while I personally am very emotional (and practical) with my pets, and I always kind of feel like there could be something there, I like to just look at the behavior in the wild. The biggest clue for me is they do not even feel affection for each other. So I really do not think they're even capable of feeling affection for us if they can't feel it for their own kind.

 

[bruce the cham]

i don't really think they miss people whenever I'm gone a a few day trip I come back and Bruce is super bright and happy cause I'm not in my room lol

 

[Beppo]

i don't really think they miss people whenever I'm gone a a few day trip I come back and Bruce is super bright and happy cause I'm not in my room lol

Sounds about right

 

[LizardBoy333]

Weird! My cham has always been super friendly and weirdly social compared to most chams. He enjoys coming to me to just be held even when I have no food. He has also never once tried to bit me or hissed at me.
And yeah I know they can’t reciprocate the same feelings we have for them but I was just curious if they could understand missing someone.
I like to pretend my cham loves me instead of just liking that I bring him food lol