Chameleon Color

[Jaeg]

I read in one place that when a chameleon is brightly colored it is not stressed and in other places they say it meens they are stressed. Which is it?

 

[RESGuy]

I think it depends on the species and on the gender of the chameleon. For example, my male Veiled gets brighter colors and little black dots all over his body when he is stressed, you can see it in my avatar.

 

[Jaeg]

So darker colors meen it is more relaxed. O man this meens I have been misinturpting the color. Thanks.

What about this color?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/files/6/3/5/mozart.jpg
Soon after the stripes where no longer visible.

 

[RESGuy]

Well I am not sure like I said at the begining of my previous post "I think ...".

 

[lowendfrequency]

So darker colors meen it is more relaxed. O man this meens I have been misinturpting the color. Thanks.

What about this color?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/files/6/3/5/mozart.jpg
Soon after the stripes where no longer visible.

No, darker colors do NOT mean relaxed. They mean stressed (unless while basking). The colors that RESguy is speaking of are display colors. There is a difference between stressed and display. When a cham is trying to color up for a mate or look aggressive towards a predator, they puff up and show vivid coloring. The chameleon in your picture definately has stress coloration on, most likely because you are handling it.

 

[RESGuy]

Yeah see, I wasn't sure about that. Thanks for clearing that up lowendfrequency.

 

[Jaeg]

So when your handling the chameleon and it is fairly bright green he is stressed. Will he be a dull green when he calms down?

 

[Frank Castle]

So when your handling the chameleon and it is fairly bright green he is stressed. Will he be a dull green when he calms down?

How old is your cham? If it is a young cham with not a lot of colors the bright green might be his display colors. Black/Gray coloration is Stressed/Unhappy unless the Cham is cold and Basking. A good way I have noticed what my chams "Happy, Non Stressed" color is, is when he is sleeping. He is a good bright green with a little of his Yellow bars starting to show. He is only 4 months old right now so he doesnt have a lot of his adult coloration yet. My Picture in my Avatar is of him sleeping, or until I flashed the camera a few times. Those are the colors I am talking about.

Frank

 

[Jaeg]

He has shown colors much like the one in resGuys avatar. The picture I showed you was after being held a little while. The yellow bands that come side to side on his sides in my picture is all-the-time colors.

 

[Frank Castle]

I just noticed the link to your pic. From what I see, and I am not an expert. But the Gray color in his head, and where the yellow bars should be on his side indicate to me Stress/Unhappy.

The yellow bars that you are talking about will become more prominent and permanent as he gets older.

Frank

 

[Jaeg]

After awhile they went I guess that means he calmed down?

 

[voxxom]

When my chams are "happy" from what i know, they are a bright nice, green.

and when i hold my male, since hes still very cautious of my hand, he turns a dark green and puffs up.

and when they bask, i see they turn darker green, is that to absorb more heat?

 

[MicheleSmith]

When my chams are "happy" from what i know, they are a bright nice, green.

and when i hold my male, since hes still very cautious of my hand, he turns a dark green and puffs up.

and when they bask, i see they turn darker green, is that to absorb more heat?

When chameleons darken their color it is to bask and absorb sunlight/heat. When they lighten their color they deflect the light.