Just a question about stress

[chameleondaily2022]

Does injury cause physical stress
And does it cause sunken eyes
Ore closing eyes juring the day

 

[MissSkittles]

Yes, injury and/or sickness is most definitely a source of great stress. The rest of the answer is also yes, but can be a bit more complicated. A sick chameleon can very quickly decline to where it‘s eyes become sunken and it just seems to almost shrivel to looking emaciated. If I do something to stress a chameleon, such as holding it for too long, along with firing up, it may suck its eyes in. This is transient though and stops once the source of stress is gone. If I continue to hold the stressed chameleon or maybe it sees my cat coming near, it can reach it’s limit of stress and just shut down, closing it’s eyes and waiting to be eaten or otherwise die. Again, this is transient and once I put the chameleon back in its safe space, all returns to normal. Closing eyes during the day is a sign of sickness for chameleons and sometimes one of the only signs we may initially see. It needs to be determined what is wrong and treatment started as soon as possible. Chameleons are masters of hiding that anything is wrong, often until it’s almost too late to help.