Chameleons recognize their owners...

FFSTRescue

FFSTRescue

New Member
I don't care what people say, chams do recognize their owners. I have a juvenile Flapneck with one good eye, so I give him extra special care, I put ointment in his bad eye, I hand feed him, etc, and he has learned to accept it and does really, really well when it is time for his treatment and feeding. So my niece who is really into vet medicine wanted to treat him, and he would have nothing to do with it... he turned his black spotted and white very upset color, climbed all over her... she could not hold him if her life depended on it and she is great with chams. He kept trying to climb over to me and had his arms stretched out to me to get to me, so I took him and he climbed over to me on my chest and curled his tail, went back to normal color, and kept his one eye on her for the next 20 minutes that I held him. I was curious to know if it was something else that had panicked him, so I handed him to her again and he turned black spotted and white and scrambled back over to me as fast as he could, crawled up on me, curled his tail, and went back to his normal color. It was so adorable I just had to share this cute story with everyone.
 
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AAwwww!!!! Poor guy :p!! I'm with you on this. My cham's know the difference between me and my husband, we both wear glasses and well, his hair is a little shorter :rolleyes:. My Tula already runs for the door to come out when I'm downstairs. She doesn't for my husband. Frogg doesn't like anybody, but wouldn't bite me if I put my finger in his mouth. He gapes and hisses and lunges but never tries to bite me. My husband on the other hand, he has struck at several times. Luckily, has never got him.
 
I do have to agree with you. Hubby said reptiles didn't care as long as they were fed. That worked until the first time he was left to care for my "reptile". My children proved him wrong, 2 of them did not eat the 5 days I was gone, but both ate as soon as I walked in. Hubby is a believer, he also spends some time with my kids prior to me going on trips.:D:D:D

Most of the guys are going to bash us.
 
Most of the guys are going to bash us.[/QUOTE]

Lol, I know... but deep inside they agree whether they want to admit it or not ;)
 
I have had Larry for almost a month now and he is learning to like me...slowly. When I took him to the vet for his checkup, Dr. Anderson (female) wanted to see him so I told her she was more than welcome to try to get him out of his home. She picked him up easily, he looked at her, and turned bright green. I was absolutely amazed. I don't know if women give off a chameleon pheromone that makes them behave but it totally blew me away.
 
I have to say I agree that they can tell the difference between people and there owners. Mine do different things for me that they don't usually do for others. When there out and I am in the room they'll come climbing to me to be held instead of who has them.
 
I agree! Took my chams to the vet and my nosy be who never even puffs up or gapes at me, almost bit the vet lol.
 
Jonah S said:
She picked him up easily, he looked at her, and turned bright green. I was absolutely amazed.
Click to expand...

I've seen a cham "decide" a new person is OK or the Devil almost instantly too. They are very like birds that way (well, I think chams are very like birds in many ways actually). I saw my first melleri in a pet shop and noted she was usually stress spotted and spooky to the store staff. I'm sure a lot of it was not knowing how to handle a cham without upsetting it, but the first time I asked to see her she reached out for my arm, climbed up on the back of my neck, hooked her tail around my ear, and turned that beautiful leaf green. From that day on she was just a sweetheart. If she was ever given to someone else to hold she spent all her time trying to get back to me and would sometimes choose to climb up onto my shoulder from a couch or windowsill. I felt so honored! She could be pretty nasty to others.
 
When I got my two Sternfeldi girls, one took to me and one took to my husband. This happened almost right away. "His" even gaped at me once, the little brat. They were very easy to handle, so never a problem with either of them, but they clearly chose who they liked more.
 
agree

absoutly, i totally agree, and have seen proof of it with my Chammys; their instincts and scents plus the vibrational sounds in their matrix are cordinate with our universal energy.
They are the most awsome critters ever, being territorial means they are devoted to their common surroundings, and being their Keeper is the cloest relation for them in captivity; therefor they do recgonise many daily evenys, like THEIR TREE, their cups, and your hand, i tell U they R the best LuvBugs Ever
 

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I have no doubt whatsoever that chams recognize people, based on what's been said in this thread and numerous other posts. HOWEVER, I must say my last panther, Thaxter, gave no conclusive evidence of it. He liked to climb and sit on people, and it made absolutely no difference whether it was me, my husband, his sitter, the vet, or somebody he'd never seen before. Male, female, adult, child, long hair, short hair, glasses or no...
It's a little early to tell with McGinty yet.
 
No doubt about it my chams recognize me and my husband. Some of my daughter's cham recognize me and my home and the fun they have here. :D
 
I believe it 110%! my male Veiled Chameleon (Darwin) hates to be taken out of his cage but once hes out hes happier than a clam :) and if i try to have other people hold him he turns away and crawls up my shoulder. he did it last night except ventured for my face... he made it but i took him to my hand and if he goes to my shoulder hes all over my back :) its a dif. story with Delilah though... she absolutely could care less who is handeling her.. she turn dark on me once but that was when i first got her two weeks ago! :) she is sweeter than you could imagine. she doesn't mind being handeled either. but she refuses to come out to free range in her house plant!
 
I have to admit though, most of my chameleons hate me because I am always the one to do medical procedures and not-so-nice things to them like tube feeding because I am always taking in sick chams (and reptiles in general). I swear they remember FOREVER and hate me because of it. Most of my chams frantically reach for the person standing next to me, and once they are there, they calm down and give me the ol' stink eye. I hate being the bad guy. So when my Flapneck actually wanted to be on me as opposed to a stranger, I felt privileged :)
I don't underestimate the intelligence of any animal, it is just that in each species, certain parts of their brains are more active than other species (I made a power point presentation about this with different pictures of MRI scans of the brain of each animal in the study, I will try to find it and post it), thus leading humans to think that just because they do not act exactly like us, they are "stupid creatures who don't even know they are alive"... an actual quote from someone. They are so much like birds, and my Macaw has the IQ of a 4-6 year old child, so they can't be that drastically different in intelligence, just behaviors. (My macaw tucked me in the other night, he came into my room when I was going to bed, pulled the covers up to my neck, and then turned around and waddled back to his cage... it was so hilarious)
But anyway, I was intrigued by the article about bees recognizing people. Truly amazing. I saw an episode on Discovery about Pigeons being able to identify the difference between males and females based on their facial features. The part of their brain that is involved in memory and recollection is well advanced. (Speaking of memory, I was one class shy of double-majoring in neurology back in college yet I can't remember the different locations of the brain that are responsible for what :eek:). A pigeon would probably remember :rolleyes:
 
At the zoo, they often use one person as the bad buy and the others stay out of sight....so if you had a "mask" or something you could do the "bad stuff" with the chameleon and then take it off to be the good person.

I only posted a couple of sites about recognition...but there are loads of sites telling about so many different critters that recognize people....and remember when someone did something bad to them.

More sites...
Elephants...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/unforgettable/emotions.html
http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Senses/Grieving/grieving.html
Dolphins...
http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=6014
http://www.americanpendulum.com/2010/02/dolphins-recognize-names-by-whistle/

Whales...
http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/trainingmarinemammals.html
 
This is a great thread. Animals without muscles of facial expression (fish/herps) frequently get the short end of the emotional/intelligence stick. They are surely no lassie, but reptiles definitely have more going on upstairs than most people give them credit for.

I had a kingsnake that was completely puppy dog tame. Never tried to bite anyone in its life. One day a friend was over who was afraid of snakes and he asked if he could hold a friendly one. I said sure just put your hands out and let him hold onto you. Well, as soon as the snake looked at him, he dropped it. A few weeks went by and he wanted to try again. I went to give him the same snake and the snake took a strike at him! I don't think he will ever get over that one. :D That snake is now 18 and despite numerous school children lectures he has never bitten anyone else.

My veiled lives on an open canopy and will eat from my hands but very few other people. However if strangers use tongs, he is more than happy to eat for them!

I frequently get reports of people (women) with male tortoises who regularly...expose themselves... but only to their female owner and no one else.

I have seen on numerous occasions reptiles that appear to prefer to die of loneliness than go on living without their favorite companion. These can be a cagemate (even of a different species) or a human companion.

Keep the stories coming...
 
It is interesting that a living being might take note of the positive aspects of certain objects in there presence. It makes a lot of sense they would note the good vs. bad. It might have something to do with evolution. Being capable of identifying good vs. bad can get you far in you life... making you the one capable of breeding and spreading that instinct.
 
zwhitman said:
Animals without muscles of facial expression (fish/herps) frequently get the short end of the emotional/intelligence stick.
Click to expand...

It has been shown that chameleons use color change to express their emotions.... I think this makes them a lot easier to gauge their mood and 'emotion' than other reptiles.

My gecko... I have no idea what mood she is in... my chams... easy. :cool:

Lisa, the gecko.... I can only tell if she is too warm by her moving to a cooler spot in her tank.... other than that... shes hungry when she doesn't hesitate to eat and thirsty when i see her drinking... She is really neat... but I need to get to know her a bit better before I can 'speak' leopard gecko. :eek:
 
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