Ryker's New Enclosure and Pics of him right now

[Andee]

This is Ryker right now as an adult. His burn scar is the white thing on his flank that looks like shed, every time he sheds it gets better so soon I am hoping it will just be different colored skin. I still find him beautiful even with his scars, he's got probably the best personality of any chameleon I have found or heard of. He's eager to come out any time (he thinks it means outside time all the time which most of the time it does), he's never bitten anyone on purpose (not even the vet), is easy to move around, never hisses, has only gaped a couple times, and eats like a horse. He needs to gain some weight again. But this is because I was gone for a couple weeks and the person who was watching him didn't feed him his worms which is how I get those extra few calories in him. He gets numerous silkworms, hornworms when I have them, and a few wax worms a week. He loses weight very quickly, but gains weight very slowly. His metabolism is freakishly fast and I feed him almost every day, except one day of the week when I give him a rest. Once to twice a week he gets 16 large crickets which he eats all in one sitting. Usually his feeders consist of 4 adult dubias, or 6 large dubia nymphs, with two or three worms added on. He's a pig, I have never heard of a chameleon eating as much as him. Yet he is still a relatively small chameleon, which I think is because he's such a blend of locales... I'm not sure though. He is about 16 inches, and weighs 120 grams on a good day. Last time I got a fecal done he was clean, which was about a year ago so he's due... ANYWAY enough blabbing, I promised photos ad here they are XD:




The sad thing is I don't know what his fired up colors look like anymore .___. I have only seen him half fired as an adult. So I know there is some blues, light green, and bright oranges in it, I think the bright orange is the base color. But he doesn't flare up at his reflection or a camera or a phone or anything. He did it when he was a teenager, but now he could care less lol. I don't even know if he would breed well lol. Too chill. So the colors you are seeing are his resting colors... I need to get a picture of his pajamas though, because those are GORGEOUS <3.

I changed his enclosure set up, because I was putting in his new Mistking, which I love and he loves. When he figured out the Mistking is about to go off, he moves up to the top branch of his large ficus so the mist directly hits him and he just sits there and has the happiest chameleon look on his face... as happy as his face can get lol.

 

[JaxyGirl]

What a beautiful boy you have there and his setup is awesom! He's a lucky Cham

 

[JoCarp]

He is a good looking boy! I think his scar gives him character, I know if something like that happened to mine, I wouldn't trade him for one without it and I'm sure you feel the same about Ryker! (really like his name btw)

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Andee]

JaxyGirl- I like to think he knows how lucky he is sometimes, but if you really think about it, I doubt he does. I think he just is a happy boy and shows his love in a chameleon way, by being healthy and as friendly as he can. I swear if I did reptile shows he has the perfect personality for it. I took him to a contest at petco once to see if he would do well, and oh god he was a ham. He cruised from person to person, without showing any stress signs, ate from people's fingers (though I only brought silkworms so of course he would lol) and he got sunshine so he was uber happy.

JoCarp- Yeah, the name took a while to figure out, I had a list of four I wanted to use and it took about a week to narrow them down once I watched him. For some reason Ryker just stuck. Not for any particular reason, it's not like he was named after the guy on Star Trek or anything which people think. He just seemed like a Ryker lol. My Blue Tongue Skink on the other hand is named Chronos for a very specific reason, he acted like a little Titan when he was a baby ^^. Now he's very tolerant of me lol

 

[JaxyGirl]

How old is Ryker? It's so great to have one so good natured. I'm looking forward to the when my chams get aren't like..OMG! She's trying to touch me again!!

 

[Andee]

He's about 2 years now... too old in my opinion >.< he's always been pretty calm, even as a baby he'd let me handle him, but he'd be much more exploratory and I'd have to be more careful that he didn't wander off and I'd lose him. When he turned 16 months that all stopped and though he's still really active when I'm handling him he'll just calmly sit on my shoulder most of the time. Usually if I have him out though, he's put outside in his screened in free range for some sun time and he gets so excited when he sees the sliding glass door. At least I think it's excitement. He'll start pacing on my shoulder and then go down my arm as I pull it open but as soon as we are out in the sun, he goes back up to my shoulder and turns darker, he gets these absolutely black streaks running down his body and he just starts soaking up the rays. He knows exactly what his free range is, as soon as I put my hand in the door he climbs down and into it and settles in to soak up some sun before exploring lol. Who says chameleons aren't smart? XD The only time he wasn't that big on being handled was when he was around 8 months to 10 months and shedding. He went through an over-sensitive itchy phase. Now he doesn't care.

 

[ulamachula]

he's a great looking guy our cham is also very chill now. when he was very young, he was biting everybody, hissing like crazy and jumped off our hands just to get away from his humans, but now that he's almost 8 months old, he's so chill - he rarely fires up, no hissing and doesn't really mind handling. he even ignores his own reflection in the mirror!!!

 

[pgr7]

Ryker looks content, handsome and happy in his new enclosure. Very nice looking all the way around!

 

[Andee]

Thanks guys <3 I am so happy with how quickly he took to his new enclosure, usually when I add a completely new plant he takes a week or so to get used to it, so he's rather pouty for that week. But this time it only took a two days. I am guessing it's because he has so many pathways and so much foliage to hide in. The new mister helps too ^^ I'm thinking about adding a few more bendy vines on pay day. But until then he seems pretty happy.

 

[pgr7]

Thanks guys <3 I am so happy with how quickly he took to his new enclosure, usually when I add a completely new plant he takes a week or so to get used to it, so he's rather pouty for that week. But this time it only took a two days. I am guessing it's because he has so many pathways and so much foliage to hide in. The new mister helps too ^^ I'm thinking about adding a few more bendy vines on pay day. But until then he seems pretty happy.

Love some payday bendy vines

 

[JoCarp]

My Blue Tongue Skink on the other hand is named Chronos for a very specific reason, he acted like a little Titan when he was a baby ^^. Now he's very tolerant of me lol

Haha, is that Chronos from God of War??? I have a good picture of that personality if that's where the name came from!

 

[Andee]

Love some payday bendy vines

Only reptile people understand me.... I swear I spend almost half my paycheck on my animals just updating their enclosures lately XD, my whole family thinks I am crazy lol

JoCarp- Yes, Chronos from God of War, he would throw tantrums when he was little and any time I tried to touch him he'd bite me. Back then he was such a little one it didn't hurt. Now he just hisses on occasion but grudgingly puts up with just about everything I do to him. Chronos is in his teens and will become quite a lovely Blue Tongue once he's an adult I think. He's a big push over and likes to complain, that's it lol. He grows like a weed though. I need to weigh him, I think he's about 11 inches now, close to 12, he is only like 9 months XD

 

[pgr7]

Only reptile people understand me.... I swear I spend almost half my paycheck on my animals just updating their enclosures lately XD, my whole family thinks I am crazy lol

Haha no worries.

 

[JaxyGirl]

He's about 2 years now... too old in my opinion >.< he's always been pretty calm, even as a baby he'd let me handle him, but he'd be much more exploratory and I'd have to be more careful that he didn't wander off and I'd lose him. When he turned 16 months that all stopped and though he's still really active when I'm handling him he'll just calmly sit on my shoulder most of the time. Usually if I have him out though, he's put outside in his screened in free range for some sun time and he gets so excited when he sees the sliding glass door. At least I think it's excitement. He'll start pacing on my shoulder and then go down my arm as I pull it open but as soon as we are out in the sun, he goes back up to my shoulder and turns darker, he gets these absolutely black streaks running down his body and he just starts soaking up the rays. He knows exactly what his free range is, as soon as I put my hand in the door he climbs down and into it and settles in to soak up some sun before exploring lol. Who says chameleons aren't smart? XD The only time he wasn't that big on being handled was when he was around 8 months to 10 months and shedding. He went through an over-sensitive itchy phase. Now he doesn't care.

I think chams are a lot smarter then we give them credit for. So far my little panthers are just reactionary to my every move. However, my male Jacksons that I had for almost 8 years was really smart. He could recognize people, definitely knew who fed him and knew how to get my attention when he was hungry. I think with age comes the ability to learn. He free ranged all his life but at one point when I lived alone he had the whole house. He'd walk across the floor and sit on my couch like he owned the place..he actually kinda did Lol
I would find him in strange places..and eventually he would go back to his free range to bask, get water and beg for food. New was a cool old boy and I just hope that my new chams will be half as smart as he was. I think if givin the chance our chams can really surprise us!

 

[JaxyGirl]

Only reptile people understand me.... I swear I spend almost half my paycheck on my animals just updating their enclosures lately XD, my whole family thinks I am crazy lol
XD

I hear you! I just did the same thing..it all adds up big time!
That's why I'm on here. You guys understand the reptile obsession

 

[Andee]

Ok just weighed and measured Chronos, Chronos needs to gain about another 50 grams to be where he should be for his length so I think I need to increase his protein or overall food intake, he's 13 inches right now, weighs 225 grams. Though trust me getting those measurements were not easy, he was squirmy the entire time lol.

JaxyGirl- I agree babies are kind of like derpy little accidents waiting to happen. When Ryker was 4 months, which is when I got him he fell in his cage I think a total of 5 times before he realized how to get around without falling lol. The cage was his baby cage so it wasn't huge, but he graduate to his adult cage around 4 and a half months which is sooner than I expected. I think it would've been better to start him off in his big boy cage because he has always been super active and I think the smaller cage was more detrimental to him than helpful. Though I think that's just how he was. He's always been an oddball.

 

[pgr7]

I think chams are a lot smarter then we give them credit for. So far my little panthers are just reactionary to my every move. However, my male Jacksons that I had for almost 8 years was really smart. He could recognize people, definitely knew who fed him and knew how to get my attention when he was hungry. I think with age comes the ability to learn. He free ranged all his life but at one point when I lived alone he had the whole house. He'd walk across the floor and sit on my couch like he owned the place..he actually kinda did Lol
I would find him in strange places..and eventually he would go back to his free range to bask, get water and beg for food. New was a cool old boy and I just hope that my new chams will be half as smart as he was. I think if givin the chance our chams can really surprise us!

Totally true, I caught my jacksons escaping,twice,I fixed the issue though. So he can't get our but man it was quote a feat. I didn't have his uvb placed quite right so he was having a harder time getting it,each time he crawled out and under the uvb. So I fixed where he got out,and the basking areas for the light,now he sits dead center of a bendy vine in the morning.