My Chameleon wont change colours

[Selem]

Hello! I have 3 month old male Vailed Chameleon that doesnt change colours and yes i know he change is on mood temperature and lastly for chamoflage but he just doesnt. Here is a pic https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1465841_10201650628881924_1730112086_o.jpg only the white lines are going a little bit darker from time to tome and that is it. So is this normal or i have a gecko in disguise

 

[NosyBe15]

Give him some time. Still young.

 

[Selem]

Thank you for the replay i tought i could be relayed to the age but couldnt find info about it.

 

[jdanielson69]

They don't change colors for chamoflauge in their environment.

 

[camimom]

Veileds that young have no colors besides green and brown, or when angry the black bars.

Also, it's a myth that chams change color for camouflage. It's not how it works, at all.

As your Cham ages you'll see new colors, but eventually you'll only see a color change when angry or stressed.


He will eventually have yellow bars, with blue and or orange dots. That's it. Just like all other Veileds. He may go dark when angry or cold. But that's it.

 

[SuperFastSlug]

They don't change colors for chamoflauge in their environment.

Yes they do, although it's mostly mood and temp. Recent studies show that chameleons will actually assume certain colors depending on a few variables, such as location, the potential predator, etc.

 

[Jupiter]

Could you post a link to those studies? They sound interesting.

 

[rshewfel]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2610148/

Fluxlizard had posted this under the tread about myths. I assume it is the article being mentioned. I haven't read it yet.

 

[ridgebax1]

It does not make sense to me that an animal would possess this capability and NOT use it for camouflage from predators.

 

[leedragon]

It does not make sense to me that an animal would possess this capability and NOT use it for camouflage from predators.

to me it does, it have other uses, as comunication

 

[carol5208]

What I think Camimom is saying is that they are really not going to change to the color of what they are on like the Valspar commercial. Like if they are sitting on a red plant out in nature, they are not going to turn red. I have people ask me that all the time and I tell them no. If I have on an orange shirt and I hold my chameleon up against the shirt, he is not going to turn orange.

 

[SuperFastSlug]

What I think Camimom is saying is that they are really not going to change to the color of what they are on like the Valspar commercial. Like if they are sitting on a red plant out in nature, they are not going to turn red. I have people ask me that all the time and I tell them no. If I have on an orange shirt and I hold my chameleon up against the shirt, he is not going to turn orange.

Yeah, that's true. I'm just saying that they actually do change color in order evade predators in addition to mood and temperature. But yeah, they don't change colors like that.

 

[Tyaeda]

In that picture you can see the yellow bars starting to appear on his side. As he ages and sheds those colours will become far more prevalent. But yeah, all baby veileds look like that, so no need to worry.

If he gets scared or really peeved, he'll get dark black spots all over him. You don't want to try and provoke him though, because stress can be deadly to a chameleon.