Could he be depressed?

[Miss becky]

I have a young male yemen cham called as amigo as some as you may know. well i had him on my shoulder a little while ago n he was happy bright green as he prittie much allways is looking around loving it but i walked past a mirror and noticed it really got his attention and seemed really interested so i stood there and let him stare for a little bit as he stayed bright green and still seemed really happy but as soon as i moved and he couldnt see the reflection he turned a really dark brown n black basicly no green on white and he's still like it.he's gone dark before but not like he is at the moment or stayed it for such a long time and seem prittie missrable, could of what i did make him really sad? should i get him a female?

 

[Tygerr]

I don't think anyone has ever done any proper studies on chameleon depression, and quite frankly, they might never...

I don't really think you can attribute human emotions like depression or even happiness/sadness to a cham. Besides having far simpler brains than we do, reptile psychology seems to have evolved a lot differently to that of mammals.

It's possible that when you put him in front of the mirror, he mistook his reflection for another cham. Veiled (Yemen) chams are very territorial and seeing another cham in the area usually makes them quite angry. Even after you took him away, he was probably on the alert for possible intruders into his territory and that's maybe what explains the colour change.

As for getting him a female, that would probably be a bad idea. First of all, they couldn't live together anyway. Most chameleons species (including Yemen) are solitary creatures and prefer to live alone. They only ever come together to mate.
And that brings you to the second problem: your cham is probably still far too young to mate. In general, chams shouldn't be mated until they are fully developed (this is about 12 months for Yemen chams).

So don't worry about him being depressed. As long as he has a well furnished enclosure with the right lighting, and he gets enough water, food and supplementation, and you leave him undisturbed in his cage as much as possible, he will be perfectly happy - if chameleons even get happy...

 

[Miss becky]

well i was told when i bought him they like being alone but seem as he allways wants to come out of his vivarium and wants attention and to be held as soon as he see's you i fought getting him a companion might be a good idea as long as i had a big enough flexarium ofcorse

 

[Tygerr]

Nope, even in a really big enclosure, you can't put in a companion for him.

If you get a female, you'll have to keep her in her own cage, out of sight of the female.

You don't want your cham to end up looking like this:

(see Chameleon's Dish: Can chameleons be kept together?)

 

[Miss becky]

shit well i guess in that case amigo will have to live a solitary life lol seems such a shame as he sems so social lol