Lets Solve another Wives Tale...

Ashley

Ashley

New Member
So yesterday I heard this for the 3rd time, not really beleiving it, but lets discuss it..:)


" I keep my Chameleons Surrounded by Blues Red Yellows oranges, when they are little so they remember The colors when they are older"

" Today i saw the Female Veiled on teh Red and Pink Flowers and she was trying to bring out her colors.."

Thats what i keep hearing...

So is it True? or are they just retarded :)
 
Question....Do they attempt at all to change colors according to their background? Do they get darker on dark backgrounds or lighter on bright backgrounds? Have never taken the time to look at this. David
 
i think it mostly just depends on the temps and if they are stressed or not. i dont realy think it is entirely all about what background they are in.
 
HAHA thats funny!! A veiled standing on a pink flower trying to turn pink? I am no expert but I have never seen my veilds look like they were trying to change colors. It is even hard for me to understand why an animal that is supposed to be a camouflage master would wear colors like Bright Red, Yellow, and Orange! Those are the colors we wear hunting and Jogging so everyone sees us! And also isn't Red in the animal world like an Alarm Color meant to be seen? Hmmm maybe I'm just confused and over thinking :D
 
no i think you might be somewhat right it shows to preditory animals hey dont eat me i have bright colors and i will make you sick.
 
In my experience chams do not try to mimic the colors of their surroundings. Some animals do (Octopus species are perhaps the best), so its not impossible, but I've never seen it in person or on TV or even read about a cham species that does it with the type of regularity that would suggest and intentional action.

I wouldn't rule out that one or two species might do it to a certain degree, but I've never seen it, so until I do I will assume it doesn't happen.

BTW - what i'm imagining is one that turns green in green foliage and brown when surrounded by brown. The pink flower thing is obviously bogus.

Fun topic! A nice change of pace from hybridizing and health crisis stuff!
 
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It doesn't make sense but it works. I've looked several times for many minutes trying to locate my light green, dark green, bright yellow with blue stripes veiled in my all light green cage. Then I find he's right up front in plain view. It's the breakup of the pattern I guess. David
 
Yep that could be but then they wouldn't be camouflaged at all. I only have had veileds and in my opinion they have a very Camo color and pattern but still i don't think he is trying to look like his surroundings I think he changes colors mostly based on his mood and temps and health. But then again I know that all my Chams seem to have a hunting Color and pattern that they wear when they are chasing down some food. But I remember before I ever had a cham I kinda thought that he would change colors to what ever color was in his cage or something like that but that was a fantasy.
 
dectr6 said:
It doesn't make sense but it works. I've looked several times for many minutes trying to locate my light green, dark green, bright yellow with blue stripes veiled in my all light green cage. Then I find he's right up front in plain view. It's the breakup of the pattern I guess. David
Click to expand...

That's exactly right; it's called disruptive patterning. Afterall camouflage is not really about looking like your environment; it's all about not being recognised as yourself.
I used to study the behavior of carribean reef squid - it's amazing how a dozen of them can 'hide' in the middle of the water column! And they weren't the color of the water or of coral rubble below them.
 
but really thats not what i think they were talking about...


They are saying like you have a baby veiled, and its green, they surround it with all kinds of colors so they will have the colors when are older. Does that make sense?

How i see it, they are born with such color morphology and dont really "learn" it, but i could be wrong....


though the input is good :)
 
Ashley, i think they confuse chameleon with octopus.
The only animal that is a true master of camouflage is octopus.
Octopus does mimic the environment pattern.
Some also mimic other animal.
one species are a master decoy. They change their skin pattern to black and white stripes to mimic a sea snake.
They also can perfectly mimic a lion fish way of swimming.

Chameleon, on the other hand, do not change their skin to blend with the environment.
They blend with the environment that looked like their relax skin color.

Putting them in a pink enclosure won't trained them to "remember" a pink color for future reference :).
 
Ashley said:
but really thats not what i think they were talking about...


They are saying like you have a baby veiled, and its green, they surround it with all kinds of colors so they will have the colors when are older. Does that make sense?

How i see it, they are born with such color morphology and dont really "learn" it, but i could be wrong....


though the input is good :)
Click to expand...


When Kitty was little I surrounded him with plaid fabric so that he would grow up to be plaid.

-Brad
 
Chameleons DO NOT change color to match their environment.
Nor do they pick a color to be when they grow up.
Whoever you heard this from is just plain wrong and hasn't done much, if any, research on chameleons.
The End.

-Brad
 
The background definately plays some role in the color changing of your chameleon. I have a male veiled and I experience this everyday. I have 2 screen cages which I have attached together to make 1 very large one. The screen cage on the left has an Exo Terra jungle foam insert background, which is mostly brown and mossy. On the other hand, the cage next to that one has no background and is just screen. I witness him many times a day transfer back and forth changing dark brown and then going back and turning green again. I am absolutely convinced that its surrounding play a roll in this, at least in Veileds...
 
JDunkz6501 said:
The background definately plays some role in the color changing of your chameleon. I have a male veiled and I experience this everyday. I have 2 screen cages which I have attached together to make 1 very large one. The screen cage on the left has an Exo Terra jungle foam insert background, which is mostly brown and mossy. On the other hand, the cage next to that one has no background and is just screen. I witness him many times a day transfer back and forth changing dark brown and then going back and turning green again. I am absolutely convinced that its surrounding play a roll in this, at least in Veileds...
Click to expand...

I actually don't believe this at all.
I think it would have more to do with proximity of the basking light and temperature variation.

-Brad
 
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