Mellers behavior

[nick barta]

My Mellers from Mike at Florida Chams is now 18 inches long and very personable. He will readily feed from my hand, and has no issues climbing on me to be moved to the Chameleon free range gymnasium.

Yesterday i was letting a neighborhood kid hold out a silk worm for feeding him, and The Mellers focused on the silk, and then began flapping his lobes rapidly. He did this for about 30 seconds, gave us the evil eye, slurped up the silk and went back to ruling his universe.

The kid had a black shirt, so I don't think it is color motivated, and I had just fed him with no flapping going on. I guess it is possible he "recognized" it was not my hand, but he has eaten dozens of bugs at the hands of others.

The kid asked what it meant, I told him that the Mellers was warning him to stay back, or the young man was looking very attractive............

I swear I heard a clicking sound as the lobes moved, anyone heard this, or am I imagining it?

Nick

 

[nick barta]

I'm not bumping, but....

 

[fluxlizard]

Ok- I'll give you my take.

I see this similar pretty often when I'm hand feeding my male- but not for 30 secs- more like 4 or 5, and it's kind of faster and shorter motions compared to when he's talking to the female. I think it's a dominance thing. Just a way of saying he's comfortable with his surroundings and he's reigning supreme. Male Iguanas and bearded dragons sometimes do the same thing with their owners. It's a kind of lizard hello. The duration though surprises me if that's all it was. Actually come to think of it, the duration surprises me no matter what he was thinking.

Unless his mouth was open slightly (or lots) at the same time he was doing it, and especially if he wasn't flashing spots or dark coloration, I don't think he was telling the kid to keep back.

If he brightened up a bit and kept his mouth closed and nodded rapidly along with the flapping- maybe he was attracted to the kid for some reason. LOL

I haven't heard any noise from mine at any time.

 

[summoner12]

I don't think i've heard clicking...... but they do tend to shake the vine they are on, could it be the vine rubbing or tapping on something? Sometimes they do send harmonics down the vine when they are flapping. I forget the name of it when they send those tremors. But it is a way to communicate to the others.

Pat, also from Mike, does a clicking sound when he chews his super worms. I don't think it's the worms splitting open... He will have chewed up the worm to mush and you still hear clicking as he plays with his food in his mouth. So maybe your guy was doing what Pat does... whatever it is lol.

As for the flapping. I have had this happen with my melleri when other people have fed them. It also happens if I am wearing something they don't normally see me in.

 

[summoner12]

Here is a vid of Lenny when I first got her. this might be a day or two after we got her. It is in the morning and my GF just came into the room after a shower.... Lenny started flapping after seeing my GF. I think I was offering her food but I can't remember. I had to run and get the camera.... so she was flapping long enough for me to run into the other room and capture that video.



This is a negative reaction to the camera...

 

[draetish]

That is the coolest thing I've ever seen. I didn't know melleri did that, Lola never did. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kinyonga]

I think the black shirt could have something to do with it...dark colors are threat colors.

 

[summoner12]

I think the black shirt could have something to do with it...dark colors are threat colors.

When I got Henry from his previous keeper, she told me he was pretty freaked out by black. My other chams don't seem to mind black. Sometimes I wonder though, he almost has the same reaction with most colors as he does with black. He is just a very shy cham... so maybe it isn't black he is afraid of?

 

[nick barta]

Here is a vid of Lenny when I first got her. this might be a day or two after we got her. It is in the morning and my GF just came into the room after a shower.... Lenny started flapping after seeing my GF. I think I was offering her food but I can't remember. I had to run and get the camera.... so she was flapping long enough for me to run into the other room and capture that video.



This is a negative reaction to the camera...

Kevin,

Your second video is the exact coloration during my Mellers "flap attack." Pretty comical, and strange I had never seen it before with 8 or so people having fed him in the past.

Nick

 

[summoner12]

Kevin,

Your second video is the exact coloration during my Mellers "flap attack." Pretty comical, and strange I had never seen it before with 8 or so people having fed him in the past.

Nick

That is her "I DON"T LIKE THAT" flap. She isn't a fan of the camera... well at least not the little POS PAS. I don't think she minds the big DSLR so much.... not sure why though.