Melleri Speak

[summoner12]

Today I placed Sam, a newer WC with Chris and Lenny in the new free range. The first time I put him into the range he went after little chris. He was flapping his lobes and shaking his head... chris gave him the 'oh sh**!!!!!' look and kinda ducked... then stood his ground and flapped back at him..... but before Sam could charge Chris and knock him off the branch I grabbed him and held him. Sam then started to like... hump my arm? he was pressing his butt into my arm and squirming around and gripping at me. I held him for a bit and put him at the far end of the range to see his reaction... this is what he did:



And then he got closer....



It's kinda cute, you can see little Chris in the back flapping his lobes with Lenny and Sam.... like "HEY! I got something to say too!"

I put Sam away after his ranting. He pretty much keeps these colors:

These were taken just after i made the vids seen above.

This was taken a few days ago... he was hardly 300g when I got him almost two months ago. He is always very eager to eat and poops well. He doesn't have a very strong grip... which worries me... but he is active and seems to be doing well.

 

[Rocky]

Those are really cool videos I've seen my male panther do the same thing to my girlfriends and it was really interesting. I think it's neat how fast they jerk their heads.

Hopefully one of these days I can have a big enough house to where I can have a melerri set up. I probably move in january so maybe then

 

[Montium]

Very interesting

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

He seems to be sporting breeding colors and hoping to find a mate.

But animals display breeding behaviors to establish heirarchy, too. The humping may have been a display in an attempt to establish himself as the alpha male.

IMO you have an alpha male there. If you want to put him and Lenny together, even temporarily, you may need to remove Chris. It is possible that Sam recognized Chris as a male, and as a rival for Lenny's affections.

Are you hoping to free range the 3 together? It may be possible, but you would have to be very watchful. And it probably depends on how Chris responds.

 

[summoner12]

He seems to be sporting breeding colors and hoping to find a mate.

But animals display breeding behaviors to establish heirarchy, too. The humping may have been a display in an attempt to establish himself as the alpha male.

IMO you have an alpha male there. If you want to put him and Lenny together, even temporarily, you may need to remove Chris. It is possible that Sam recognized Chris as a male, and as a rival for Lenny's affections.

Are you hoping to free range the 3 together? It may be possible, but you would have to be very watchful. And it probably depends on how Chris responds.

I would like them to get along together. I was thinking Sam is a male. He is about as big as Henry.... just not as fat. He was very aggressive out of the 'box' (when i put him in the range at first I mean).

Chris and Lenny have established themselves together. I don't know if chris is a boy girl..... he walks all over lenny and she lets him. I sometimes think its just a 'oh hes little whatever' but maybe he dominates her? lol or she lets him just think it

 

[laurie]

I love little Chris,he is just always looking like he will walk over and talk to you. I also like Chris's colors. Sam is pretty interesting, wonder why he stays those colors, does it mean anything? I hope all 3 decide to get along.

 

[summoner12]

I love little Chris,he is just always looking like he will walk over and talk to you. I also like Chris's colors. Sam is pretty interesting, wonder why he stays those colors, does it mean anything? I hope all 3 decide to get along.

I hope they are mating colors.

 

[Vegas Chad]

He love you long time.

 

[Pure]

The really interesting thing is that Lenny stayed a nice bright green.

 

[summoner12]

He seems to be sporting breeding colors and hoping to find a mate.

But animals display breeding behaviors to establish heirarchy, too. The humping may have been a display in an attempt to establish himself as the alpha male.

IMO you have an alpha male there. If you want to put him and Lenny together, even temporarily, you may need to remove Chris. It is possible that Sam recognized Chris as a male, and as a rival for Lenny's affections.

Are you hoping to free range the 3 together? It may be possible, but you would have to be very watchful. And it probably depends on how Chris responds.

I dug up this thread cause it caught my eye... watched the videos and reflected... Sam and Lenny have been living together since this video was made. Chris was removed from the free range a bit after the videos were made. he lived in his own cage up until recently. After chris was removed from the free range Pat was introduced and everyone seemed to get along. A while back Pat passed on due to a fall in the middle of the night . As I said recently chris has been in the free range. After Sam settled in with Lenny and then pat Sam seemed pretty chilled out and respectful of lenny and pat. Lenny is a known female and Pat wasn't identified as male or female until she died and eggs were found during necropsy. Sam always seemed timid around pat and lenny, and I think he has to do with them being females. Lenny is for sure the dominate of the melleri who live with her. Sam has taken the back seat even with Chris in the free range. I am unsure of Chris's sex, but just like pat, roams the free range with little interest of the other two. Lenny does assert herself at times with chris, but since they have lived together in the past, I think he has a pretty good understanding of his limits with her and they get along pretty well. Sam keeps to himself for the most part.

In the video where Sam is thrashing his tail, he is trying to establish himself. I had a similar display once when I introduced Henry to Sam. Boy was that a tail slapping show. Both here fierce in their display. I had the video reviewed by a very experienced melleri keeper and she said it was a pretty stressful encounter for the two of them and suggested that not be done again. Henry is a total loaner and I do not subject him to other melleri (or chams) for that reason. Although, one time Lenny wandered out of the free range in the cham room and ended up in Henry's free range in our bedroom. My GF reported that Henry was very tolerant of her and was not showing stress coloring. They were sitting at opposite ends of the free range and just perched comfortably. My GF removed Lenny after a while... but we were both shocked that Henry wasn't displaying stress coloring. Even with the instance with sam and henry, henry stayed a very stressed out yellow, black and white mess of spots and blotches .

 

[JAdrig]

I learned with my 2.2 CH adults that the only time that melleri get along is if they cant see eachother.
I switched them around with different combinations together...they got along when they were younger, but after they matured...no room for two mellers in the same enclosure.
None of the 2.2 have the last 2 inches of their tales anymore ...
I have 1.1 together now, but the female is not too happy with the idea of sharing quarters with the little horny goat. she stays on the opposite side of the cage as him...she should start to produce eggs soon though...
She layed her first infertile clutch in January. I was thinking of putting vaseline on their tails this way they cant snatch them up and gobble them down.
The tail biting thing really burns me up. The 3 of them were perfect and unflawed, but now they have stump tails...
They might get along better in a free range setup, but as long as they are in the same tree...they are DEFINITELY annoyed/stressed with eachother.

 

[summoner12]

I learned with my 2.2 CH adults that the only time that melleri get along is if they cant see eachother.
I switched them around with different combinations together...they got along when they were younger, but after they matured...no room for two mellers in the same enclosure.
None of the 2.2 have the last 2 inches of their tales anymore ...
I have 1.1 together now, but the female is not too happy with the idea of sharing quarters with the little horny goat. she stays on the opposite side of the cage as him...she should start to produce eggs soon though...
She layed her first infertile clutch in January. I was thinking of putting vaseline on their tails this way they cant snatch them up and gobble them down.
The tail biting thing really burns me up. The 3 of them were perfect and unflawed, but now they have stump tails...
They might get along better in a free range setup, but as long as they are in the same tree...they are DEFINITELY annoyed/stressed with eachother.

It is highly suggested that melleri be given ways to hide or shield themselves from one another. I think this is critical.

Were your melleri all from the same clutch? I assume not if you are allowing them to mate? I've never witnessed any biting with the three melleri I house in the same free range. Lenny seems to be the one in charge, Chris wanders and is the goof and Same just keeps to himself on one side.

 

[JAdrig]

1.1 from one clutch...I have the WC mother separate too. I have 1.1 from two separate clutches as well. So it is 3 animals from 3 separate clutches. They are all around 2-2.5 years old. The two females are larger and more aggressive towards food, but every now and then the smaller males get a bug in them and will not leave the females alone. There are some video links of my male misbehaving in one of the recent threads.