Interesting behavior from my chameleon

mirrinias

Member
Hi everyone, today I encountered a behavior from my 1 year old male veiled that I've never seen before!

I took him outside with me while I took the trash out, and on the way back in, Jean-Luc looked at me head on, puffed out his chin as far as he could, and did a weird little head jiggle at me! He also vibrated a little (you know what I mean by this, hopefully). It was pretty comical from my point of view.

My thought is that it was a territorial display or an "I'm big and scary now get away from me and bring me back inside" display. I've heard of head bobbing at female chameleons before, but I'm having a hard time finding videos of territorial displays of male veiled chameleons.

Has anyone else seen this from their chameleons, or know what this behavior is?
 
It sounds like he may be getting ready to shed. They will open their mouths wide and kinda shake their head from side to side and distort their body. It is kinda weird that he chose to do it while you were holding him, but that is what it sounds like to me.
 
As funny as it sounds my two dont like direct eye contact especially if it catches them off guard maybe he just got startled?
 
He just finished shedding. His mouth wasn't open. It looked like a more deliberate movement, directed at me, but I could be wrong. He has been puffing up when I look at him lately but this was the first time he jiggled his head at me.
 
Random question as you both have it how do you get the things at the bottom saying what chams/reptiles you have?
 
Sounds like he was startled by something you did Charlie (female) flares and snorts if I catch her of guard with quick movements and Freddie (male hates the sight of me so I can't win either way
 
They do weird things when about to shed as carol said, but if he has just finished shedding it sounds like he was just startled for a moment.
 
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