CATS and chameleons...?

[Jeweledchameleons]

Now I realize how silly this is going to seem right from the start
but I've been wondering about something I've noticed.

Has anyone else noticed that adult cats aren't all that interested in adult or sub adult chameleons
I've tried to do a bit of searching here and there but wanted to get a general opinion.
Aside from a horror story about a gang of feisty unattended kittens I haven't found anything.

Has anyone else noticed that adult cats are not all that interested in adult veiled or panther chameleons?

Honestly, I've watched different neighborhood cats come up to the chameleon cages
and although they see the veiled or panther they're much more interested
in the random cricket moving up the side of the screen or silkworm.
Many sit themselves down and sun themselves as well right next to the
cages for hours without even so much as looking at the reptile.
(yell at me later for letting the panther be stressed out for so long..)

Even when I've had one of my animals outside their cage and sunning themselves
I've seen a random neighborhood cat notice the reptile "shadowing" on the branch
but not care enough to stop it's leisurely stroll to where it's going.

They generally don't seem to be that interested at all.

A girlfriend of mine 2 months ago let her veiled out among her 4 felines
only to report that they ignored him entirely after an initial sniff inspection.
Continuing to do from that point afterwards -even when playing chase around the house.
(That is, until I took the reptile back from her.. still unscathed).

Now, I not suggesting that people put their animals in any danger by testing this
But does anyone want to chime in on this with any observations of their own?
Perhaps it's just these well fed semi domestic fat american animals that I have around here
but is this something that others have also noticed?

 

[booshified]

i have two assumptions.

the first is size. most cats will try to stick to smaller prey and do not know how to handle the larger stuff. i have seen rats face off with cats and the cats back down.

my second is that cats are attracted to moving things (like how chams are attracted to live prey and not dead). so obviously with a cham being very stationary and slow when it does move it does not attract the attention of say a mouse scurrying around.

 

[Fate X]

my one pitbull goes after chameleons.when i was sunning my chams in the summer she would jump up n put her paws on the table then bark n rub her nose on the screen. so i started keeping her in her cage while they are out.

what mostly got her atention was the male veileds but the male veileds hissed at her and i beleive thats why shes aggressive towards veileds.

 

[herpluva]

that sounds really bad saying a pit bull is "aggressive" towards a veiled. The breed gets enough labels on them to have lizard killer too and I am sure he is more curious than aggressive. My toy poodle sits and watches them when she can. I have a himilayan who has never even noticed them but then again he is a slow cat and cant even catch a cricket. The three pit bulls don't even seem to care but will chase the occasional cricket hopping by them.

 

[lbesok]

I had an older cat, Deuteronomy who really didn't care the least about hurting the chameleon. He would just sit and look at them.
One day at my parents, I walked into my room and our female panther, Jill (who free roamed for most of her life at our house) was on his back She seemed a little stressed, but the cat could care less. Awwww I miss them all. Here is a pic of Yemen and Deud checking out one another through the window.

 

[Geckoxp]

I have 3 cats (all great bug hunters) and a dog (who thinks he is a cat hunter) and they do not really care about the chameleons what so ever. I don't mind a stray cricket leaping out of the cage because the cats will get to get real quick...the cats look forward to feeding time more then the chams do it seems. I almost think that if you own a cham you should own a cat or 2 just to get after any bugs that get out.

 

[spike]

I also have two cats and a dog, along with the two chams....my cats are much more interested in the crickets, so I give them one each every few days to keep the attention away from the chams....my dog, on the other hand, loves the chams and wants to play with them....

 

[Geckoxp]

I was just writing the above and looked down and there is one of my cats "Pebbles" going at it with my belt (she looks much bigger on camera then in person, 2 yrs old)....good thing I hate snakes for the cats and snakes sake!

 

[bucky]

lol,my parents have always bugged me about lettin Louie,on my greater swiss mountain dog,missy's back lol,i always said it would stress him out too much and i dont like thinkin bout it

 

[Fate X]

that sounds really bad saying a pit bull is "aggressive" towards a veiled. The breed gets enough labels on them to have lizard killer too and I am sure he is more curious than aggressive. My toy poodle sits and watches them when she can. I have a himilayan who has never even noticed them but then again he is a slow cat and cant even catch a cricket. The three pit bulls don't even seem to care but will chase the occasional cricket hopping by them.[/QUO



the veiled hisses and provokes my pitbull first then she starts barking at the veiled.

 

[bucky]

Louie's cage is in my room,missy dont go up there

 

[PardalisGirl]

Cats and Reptiles......

I would say it all depends on the cat. We have seven cats......yes seven cats. Our cats all recognize that all of my lizards (chams, tree monitors, iguanas, etc.) are part of the family. I have lizards out in the solarium at different times and the cats do not ever hurt them. They sniff them and then walk away. The lizards all recognize that the cats are part of the household and are not afraid of them. Having a cat sniff them does not cause any reaction. But that is our cats. Our cats are not allowed outside and have never hunted anything other than a loose cricket. Other cats may not be like this. Our neighbor's cat is out all day and catches things like crazy out in the yard. I have no doubt that she would see my lizards as a new prey item.

Can't resist sharing pictures..........Here is Bibi in her party ruff. Our female cats have feather boa "ruffs" that they wear on special occassions like their birthday or Christmas.



Here is Bibi giving her approval to Valerio and Gisselle while they are mating:



I love Cats!

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Bibi looks like our Pip.
(but in better shape....Pip is a bit on the hefty side)

-Brad

 

[Lenny]

When I first had Lenny, my roomate at the time had a big black cat (Black Betty) who would lay right next to the cage staring at the crickets. His presence didn't seem to affect Lenny one bit so I allowed him to slep there. But when I moved with my girlfriend who had just bought a little grey kitten (Jasper) Lenny would spot and hiss at him from the other side of the room, and Jasper was a little to curious for my liking. We soon taught Jasper not to touch the cage.

My theory was that chams only see colours, so Betty looked liked a shadow, but Jasper was alot easier to spot because of his light coloring.

Right now me and my girlfriend are in a long distance relationship and will be moving in together again next year, Jaspers is now an adult so we weill have to see then how it works out. Hope it does because Jasper rocks...he's like a dog because I taught him a few tricks and stuff.

Isn't he cute! (Pic during his kitten years)

One of his many yoga positions...(older years)

 

[Chamero]

My theory is that a cat/dog is a mammal and therefore a social animal. I think hey have some sort of understanding of your interaction with the cham and their meaning to you. Not sure if this is true, but my old dog used to play wiht our new kitten but try to kill other cats. Party cuz she knew she would die if she hurt my kitten, but still, I think they realize the cham is attached to the pack some way or another.

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

I would agree with that to a certain extent
but I've had the neighborhood cats also take not notice of the cham either.

Seems to me that they don't hold any interest because they're not some sort
of scurrying or flittering thing but a slow moving scaled thing... no fun to play with.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Reptiles recognize individual cats.........

Another experience with lizards and cats......My lizards recognize the individual cats........We had six cats and then adopted a new younger kitten that was dropped off outside our vet's office. All the lizards were familiar with the six cats we already had. Those six cats could come up to the cages or to the lizard itself with no reaction from the lizard at all. When the new one came into the house the lizards all recognized that it was different and were wary of it for a couple of weeks. The iguanas and chameleons would puff up at it when they saw it come near their cage. So I know that lizards are smart enough to recognize cats on an individual basis.

 

[nightcrawler]

i know this is a way old thread but i found it and i would like to add.

my cham hates my old old symease cat (bootsie), but when my tort shell
(ferter) comes in the room he doesnt care. she just sits there upsidedown.
when bootsie comes in he gets all skinny and trys to hide behind a stick.
bootsie cant see anything so i dont think she will notice him.
and ferter is more insterested in the turtles then my cham.
heck she is more interested his showering cage then him.

as shown.

this is her climbing into a box.

she just likes to climb in things.

and this is her playing CATZILLA! in our dollhouse.

 

[Nicodemayo]

haha the 2nd photo cracks me up. Seems like a cool cat

 

[nightcrawler]

yea shes a really cool cat. i found her on the side of the road when she
was a kitten, when i was about to go fishing. she is crazy.
here is her watching the turtles for me while i clean their tank.