Scenting the enclosure

[Mijah139]

So I know that chameleons dont have the best sense of smell, but has anyone tried scenting their enclosures to make them more comfortable with interactions (like snakes or other lizards)? Anyone tried this, or know someone who has?

 

[melble68]

Scent w/ what? I don't think they really care? Unless its the sent of a woman from time to time.

 

[Mijah139]

well ive talked to some reptile keepers (tegu keepers) who will spread their personal scent in the enclosure so as the animal grows, it learns to associate the smell of its keeper with comfort and gets used to them faster. These keepers did this by touching everything in the enclosure to get their scent on it, and leaving worn t-shirts in the enclosure to pass scent as well. Now, obviously the shirt thing wouldnt work in a cham enclosure, but i was wondering if anyone had tried anything like this.

 

[Mredhorse]

http://www.awakeandliving.com/awake...resheners-healthy-living-home-awareness-.html

Read this before doing it..
FYI

 

[Mijah139]

it wouldnt be scenting with an air freshener, just rubbing your hands/neck on vines and leaves so that they smell like you. If the animal grows up surrrounded by your scent, it will be very comfortable with you... Very true for animals that use scent as a main sense. Obviously, chams use sight, but i was wondering if their sense of smell was good enough to try doing something like this.

 

[Mredhorse]

Opps! Sorry, totally misunderstood what you were doing.

 

[Carlton]

it wouldnt be scenting with an air freshener, just rubbing your hands/neck on vines and leaves so that they smell like you. If the animal grows up surrrounded by your scent, it will be very comfortable with you... Very true for animals that use scent as a main sense. Obviously, chams use sight, but i was wondering if their sense of smell was good enough to try doing something like this.

What the scent itself is isn't the only aspect to consider. Scent marking would be most meaningful to social species that consider the presence of other individuals a good thing. Chams are solitary. Intruders are intruders, not friends. Now some chams touch their tongues to traveling branches possibly to pick up the scent of another cham that may have used the same branch, but it isn't because they are hoping for company! Some species may use scent marking (rubbing their vents on branches they use all the time) to lay out the boundaries of their territories...its a type of warning to others, not an invitation.

IMHO putting scents on your cham's branches or plants would most likely mean nothing to him or might even be confusing or alarming. You won't really know the effect and it might not be welcome. I would not bother. If you want to socialize with your cham your visual behavior will work better. They are more likely to react to a color you wear, not a smell.

And of course this does not include phermones that are not really odors.

 

[FlChamMom]

What the scent itself is isn't the only aspect to consider. Scent marking would be most meaningful to social species that consider the presence of other individuals a good thing. Chams are solitary. Intruders are intruders, not friends. Now some chams touch their tongues to traveling branches possibly to pick up the scent of another cham that may have used the same branch, but it isn't because they are hoping for company! Some species may use scent marking (rubbing their vents on branches they use all the time) to lay out the boundaries of their territories...its a type of warning to others, not an invitation.

IMHO putting scents on your cham's branches or plants would most likely mean nothing to him or might even be confusing or alarming. You won't really know the effect and it might not be welcome. I would not bother. If you want to socialize with your cham your visual behavior will work better. They are more likely to react to a color you wear, not a smell.

And of course this does not include phermones that are not really odors.

Now that you have brought up this point, then would a free range used by one chameleon earlier cause stress if it was used by another chameleon at a separate time? Would they detect the scent of the first chameleon and think there was an intruder?

 

[melble68]

Mijah, I'm glad this thread got started. I definitely wasn't understanding at first, but I'm starting to think. Ok that didn't quite come out right. LOL!!!!!

 

[Carlton]

Now that you have brought up this point, then would a free range used by one chameleon earlier cause stress if it was used by another chameleon at a separate time? Would they detect the scent of the first chameleon and think there was an intruder?

I haven't noticed that every cham tests branches for another cham's scent. SOME seem to but others don't seem to care. I'm certain they come across other cham scents in their wild territories. I'd suspect that once each of them is familiar with the scent of the other in their shared free range it isn't going to stress them out horribly. Maybe all the message ends up saying is "I'm one of two chams who walk on this branch" and that's the end of it.

My melleri shared a free range for years and they tolerated each other once they got to know each other.

 

[Carlton]

I haven't noticed that every cham tests branches for another cham's scent. SOME seem to but others don't seem to care. I'm certain they come across other cham scents in their wild territories. I'd suspect that once each of them is familiar with the scent of the other in their shared free range it isn't going to stress them out horribly. Maybe all the message ends up saying is "I'm one of two chams who walk on this branch" and that's the end of it.

My melleri shared a free range for years and they tolerated each other once they got to know each other.

There is stress and there is stress...no life exists without some (no stress at all equals death), and many little stressors get passed off without too much fuss. The better you know your individual chams the better you'll understand what's tolerable and what's not.

 

[pssh]

Mine have never seemed to have any problems using the same free ranges. I've only really ever seen panthers lick branches and then some don't even do it.

 

[Carlton]

Mine have never seemed to have any problems using the same free ranges. I've only really ever seen panthers lick branches and then some don't even do it.

The cham I noticed doing it the most was my verrucosus...a close panther relative. Interesting! Makes you wonder how much of their genetic closeness expresses itself in behavior.

 

[melble68]

I see my nosy be licking his vines every once in a while. I remember my big ole iguanas used to do it all the time.