Veiled vocalization at night- Weird!

[Artemis]

I'm hoping to catch this and get a video but recently my 4 year old male veiled started making an occasional super high pitch sound (like a squeal) at night. Has anyone experienced this before? I've tried to research information about sounds and haven't been able to verify that this type of sound has ever been recorded.

He is eating fine, looks healthy, and shows no apparent illness or respiratory distress. I have never heard this sound before and wondered if anyone else experienced something like it.

A few weeks ago was the first time I heard it and when I woke up I wasn't sure where the sound came from. Several days later I heard it again and knew that it came from the direction of him where he had been sleeping in his plant.

I've since heard it again and since he had moved to a different location, I knew he had to be making the sound. Last night I was awake and prepared for it when he went off. He opens his mouth and vocalizes this amazingly high pitched sound in short 3 second bursts. He is awake and not sleeping. Normally at night he is sound asleep and pale in color. Since the vocalization started he moves around a little and is awake at night.

I'm just wondering if this might be a mating call of some type. I know they are not supposed to "hear" in the same manner that mammals do, but there must be some reason he is vocalizing.

Any thoughts on this? I'm sure people will recommend a trip to the vet for a checkup and I'm considering it even though he appears healthy and normal, but really I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

 

[DGray]

scream

first I've heard of it. There was an article about chameleons using leaves as sound-magnifying devices but the sounds were all low-frequency as I recall.

 

[ghettomike]

snoring maybe just kidding lol

 

[xanthoman]

ri?

sounds like a respitory infection to me jmo

 

[dodolah]

Purring? or sounding like a cat meowing?

I agree with Xanthoman.. I would set an appointment with your exotic vet.
http://chamworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/upper-respiratory-infection-warning.html

 

[Artemis]

It is not vibrational like a purr and is best described as a high pitch LOUD squeal.
This does not seem like a distress air movement as in an infection or compromised airway. I'm a veterinary nurse and it does not seem like a respiratory situation at all, or at least any typical respiratory sounds that I'm familiar with. The fact that it is only occurring on random nights has me perplexed.

I will give my reptile vet a call and see if it's something worth looking at. But with over 20 years experience with both animals and vets, I can pretty much guarantee that the vet will want to see the chameleon to rule out anything.

I'm just not sure if stressing him out is worth the trip since he seems perfectly normal in every way and it does not appear to be respiratory related.

Having searched for any other evidence of vocalization and haven't found any, I guess this is an abnormal situation and warrants looking into.

 

[dodolah]

It is not vibrational like a purr and is best described as a high pitch LOUD squeal.
This does not seem like a distress air movement as in an infection or compromised airway. I'm a veterinary nurse and it does not seem like a respiratory situation at all, or at least any typical respiratory sounds that I'm familiar with. The fact that it is only occurring on random nights has me perplexed.

I will give my reptile vet a call and see if it's something worth looking at. But with over 20 years experience with both animals and vets, I can pretty much guarantee that the vet will want to see the chameleon to rule out anything.

I'm just not sure if stressing him out is worth the trip since he seems perfectly normal in every way and it does not appear to be respiratory related.

Having searched for any other evidence of vocalization and haven't found any, I guess this is an abnormal situation and warrants looking into.

The only evidence of veiled vocalization i know of is the one that people have already mentioned. Even then, the pitch is characteristically described as low frequency sound. Human will need a hearing aid to be able to hear that.

But, the high pitch voice like how a cat sound, has been described by a lot of people as symptoms for lower respiratory problem.. Chameleon has a reputation in masking its sickness well. he might not be gasping right now.. but, we never knew.. it is probably best to eliminate the possibility of the cham having an LRI by going to the vet, just in case

 

[jpm995]

If he was sick i wouldn't think you'd only hear it at night. He may be trying to tell you something [more waxworm treats treats or i'll keep wakeing you up].

 

[satch4684]

maybe in only doing it at night he's masking the illness? you know, in some way he's doing that built-in "hide weakness from predators" thing, since it may realize there's no one around at night.

idk, just a thought

 

[joshua n janet]

If he was sick i wouldn't think you'd only hear it at night. He may be trying to tell you something [more waxworm treats treats or i'll keep wakeing you up].

ha ha ha ha!

 

[dodolah]

maybe in only doing it at night he's masking the illness? you know, in some way he's doing that built-in "hide weakness from predators" thing, since it may realize there's no one around at night.

idk, just a thought

think of it like snoring.. it happened when the veiled is asleep.
During the day, he could have gape to breathe..
idk.. rather than speculating, best to check him anyway.