Clothing color and chameleon reactions?

Joann

Member
I know that chameleons eyes are way better then ours, much like a parrots(many more rods and cones).So my greencheeks react to color and patterns.One hates red and purple and the other is super scared of red and white strips in particular.

Since chameleons use color as a means of scaring or intimidating other males wouldnt what we wear affect the way they behave towards us?
Anyone notice anything like this?
IDK just thinking to much.
 
My veiled wouldn't come out of his plant at all for nearly a week because there was a big orange nerf gun in the same room! He went back to normal when I finally figured it out and moved the gun.
 
Ive noticed when I wear black or any other dark bold colors my chams will be much more defensive around me. Esp during spot cleaning or mistings. If I wear brown or white shirts they seem less on guard and more relaxed.

I had a blue & gold for almost 10 yrs so I know what you mean about parrots. Mine loved blond women. He hated men with beards and dark red shirts or dresses.
 
Thats good to know! Now I understand why my Cham attacked the black and white cloth I used to wipe crap off the door of his home! :)
 
Makes a lot of sense, color is a primary identifier for many animals, usually those with bright colors and very good eyesight!

I also noticed he does not like anyone besides myself and my wife near his hab. So he def recognizes people.
 
Mine dont like long sleeves or any kind of glove. Red doesn't seem to bother them. Green nail polish made mine shoot at my fingers, and one of mine will try to shoot at my eyes if I get too close when feeding.
 
Colors and patterns of the clothes we wear definitely affect most species of chameleon!

I used to have a mottled green and black shirt and the Parson's chameleon would head the other way when he saw me coming. Red and even pink seem to bother most of them too.
 
Oh this is not good news... I change my hair color every couple weeks. It's pink and purple right now. Also, I always wear bright, colorful clothes. I probably look like a big scary bird or something! :/

I haven't noticed him reacting to any specific colors yet. He just seems to dislike me most of the time lol.
 
My veiled wouldn't come out of his plant at all for nearly a week because there was a big orange nerf gun in the same room! He went back to normal when I finally figured it out and moved the gun.

That is freaking hilarious. I find that black is bad and white is good but just like if you've ever seen your shirt in a nightclub with blacklights it can be hard to know exactly what your shirt looks like to a reptile. Avoiding eye contact helps as well.
 
My veiled wouldn't come out of his plant at all for nearly a week because there was a big orange nerf gun in the same room! He went back to normal when I finally figured it out and moved the gun.

You hit the nail on the head there- Years ago my daughter had a neon orange Spongebob shirt, and she was wearing it in the reptile room one day, and my male Veiled freaked out displaying colors, puffing up, karate chop hand, tail curling and all. All over that shirt.
 
This thread makes me want to only wear white around my cham's, lol. Everytime I read something that helps I always want to do it right away. I hardly own any white clothes though.
 
Wow so I wasnt too far off.I will have to hang a oversized white tshirt in near the room I will keep him.I can just slip it on over my clothes.Might help me bond with him a bit..I imagine they even see ultraviolet colors we cant see too.

Maybe we should dress in female cham colors then they will love us:)
 
Wow so I wasnt too far off.I will have to hang a oversized white tshirt in near the room I will keep him.I can just slip it on over my clothes.Might help me bond with him a bit..I imagine they even see ultraviolet colors we cant see too.

Maybe we should dress in female cham colors then they will love us:)

awesome thread!! i am totally going to try that too!!
 
my cham normally has no reaction to me except following my hands when they move ( i hand feed him 90 percent of the time for his meal intake)..i usually am in a tank top and blue jeans ( wife-beater , and levi's, lol)..but he does get shy sometimes when eating, so if i look the other way while holding his food he'll shoot at it.lol ..so i do know the no-eye-contact thing does help them relax a lil..
 
I got my meller's on the 19th and I'm still adding cover to his enclosure. He was really happy and climb over to me every day! Then last night and today he has been hiding. Hardly drinking and night eatting! I was starting to get really worried. I read this and got to thinking I put pink artificial flowers in there not long before he started acting weird. I took them out an hour agao and now he's thirst and hungry and no longer hiding!
 
I got my meller's on the 19th and I'm still adding cover to his enclosure. He was really happy and climb over to me every day! Then last night and today he has been hiding. Hardly drinking and night eatting! I was starting to get really worried. I read this and got to thinking I put pink artificial flowers in there not long before he started acting weird. I took them out an hour agao and now he's thirst and hungry and no longer hiding!

Haha, good thing someone mentioned it! It's funny how they react to things we just don't even consider as a potential problem. It took me nearly a week to figure out that the nerf gun across the room was bothering my cham. Glad he's back to normal! ;)
 
Ooo... Interesting... And worrisome - I am always cold girl, and live in sweatshirts. I was just thinking about the colours of my sweatshirts. Yep, black, red, orange..lol. Uh oh. Shopping spree? The upcoming chams ARE the shopping spree! Lol. But then I remembered! The white robe!!! Perfect cham-handling uniform? :)
 
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