Playing dead

[Heika]

I have needed to take pictures of the superciliaris for a while, and I finally made the time to do it yesterday. Two of them were pretty convinced I was going to eat them.

This little female was almost convincing. I actually had to take her stiff little body and stand it up before she finally gave up and opened her eyes.

Here she is a couple minutes later:

This chameleon was really dramatic about it, and held this pose for a few minutes... note the eye peeking to see if I am buying it:

And again, a few minutes later:

 

[Vampire.queen]

Wow, that´s amazing!

 

[jleahl]

Hieka, that's great! I like the pics you posted a while back of a brev playing dead...then peeking to see if you'd gone away....

 

[pohchunyee]

Awww............they are so so so cute!!!

 

[Jewel]

That is priceless, especially the peeking.

 

[firecat998]

awww cool ur chameleons are so cute i have a vield chameleon shes 8 months old

 

[Mel]

Awesome pics!!! Love it!!!

 

[Scrappy]

LMAO Heika ... that is priceless!

 

[Heika]

Thanks everyone. I thought it was pretty funny..

Hieka, that's great! I like the pics you posted a while back of a brev playing dead...then peeking to see if you'd gone away....

Actually, that was Brandy. Up until this event, I had not seen a leaf chameleon truly play dead. Here is the link, but she took down the great pics of her temporalis.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/bad-accident-1750/index2.html#post12037

 

[boothy]

oh yea thats hilarious heika iv never seen a leaf cham do that befor i guess you learn something everyday

 

[rcagosto]

That is really cool. I never seen that either. I learned something knew today. Nice pics.

 

[bugboy]

awesome pics

 

[Brandy]

Lmao great photos they always make me laugh when they do that ... I just reuploaded my images of the temp for anyone who didetn see its just too funny. I still laugh at these. those pigmys are looking good Heika keep up the good work.

oh crap did she see me!

gone yet?

 

[jleahl]

Brandy, sorry I didn't remember those were your pics. It cracks me up! I don't know that I want my brevs to do that, though; I think I'd have a heart attack...

 

[Mikew2006]

My veiled done the same thing on the weekend. i had her out and she was on my jumper, she started moving and fell about 6" onto my lap (soft landing on my jumper) and i think she may have been winded? she just laid there, eyes closed and just rolled around with her arms in tight...i s**t myself thinking id just killed her, popped her back in her tank and what was really weird is that she lost use of her front legs for about 2 mins. she was pushing herself along the branch with her hind legs and rubbing her mouth and belly while doing so.
I was SO relieved when her front legs started to function again...PHEW.
Dont think there was any perm damage.

 

[cutiespower]

oooooo

i wish mine too would play dead... theyre soooooo cute . Love the pics. cheers

 

[Nani]

Just wondering...

Do all chameleons play dead or just certain species?

 

[Marc10edora]

Lol... where can I buy one of these and how long do they live?

 

[Brian S]

People talk about them doing that, but i have never seen them doing it! Great Pics, the first one is rather convincing.

 

[Heika]

those pigmys are looking good Heika keep up the good work.

Thanks, Brandy! They are a fast favorite.. really cool species.

Do all chameleons play dead or just certain species?

It seems to be a leaf chameleon thing. Hopefully, someone else can answer this more in depth. These chameleons are actually the first ones that I have ever seen do it.

Lol... where can I buy one of these and how long do they live?

I purchased mine from Mike at FLChams as WC. They are pretty rare in the United States, maybe 100 animals... or less? Anyone who is seriously considering keeping this species should also consider the responsibility of networking with other keepers for offspring exchanges. The end goal should be to have a large enough breeding pool that these animals will survive in captive populations if Madagascar no longer exports them. Up until recently, there were no (or only a very small number) of keepers with this species because they hadn't been imported in several years and no one had worked to create breeding programs for them. I am not sure how long they live in the wild or in captivity. Roo has offspring growing up already, and he should be able to answer in a few years.. lol.

Thanks for all the compliments, everyone!

Heika