why do they color up at night?

[billford]

hey everyone.common sense tells me that chams should be dark at night so that nobody notices them.why then do they color up at night?i can see that being dark during the day helps regulate the temp.

 

[mc9423]

It probably has something to do with being seen as toxic prey, not so much as not being seen at all.

 

[ghettomike]

Maybe it has something to do with being really relaxed.

 

[renzo0684]

their sleepy colors are from being very relaxed....what i dont get is how awesome their grip is while they sleep

 

[tigermaniac22311]

I was wondering the same thing. My veiled gets a bright green/yellow at night while he is very dark green sometimes brown during the day when he basks

 

[saltwaterguy02]

their sleepy colors are from being very relaxed....what i dont get is how awesome their grip is while they sleep

It is amazing to how they can sleep upside down with out falling during the night. I love watching my female get ready for bed when I turn off her lights. She has her special sleep leaf and once I flip the switch she curls her tail up and snug’s her little legs and feet under her almost like a cat.

 

[pantherlover]

agreed, it has to do with relaxation in some way or another. also cooler temps seem to produce lighter colours as basking colours are darker. i wonder about the relaxation thing tho seeing as how they colour up for prey, males colour up for a female or when theyre pissy. i think the brightening up for hunting has to do with attracting certin insects to them too.

 

[AReptile]

Mine's her standard lime green when she sleeps. She slept upside down hanging onto the screen once, I was surprised to not find her on the floor when I woke her up next morning.

 

[jojackson]

Not being seen at night wont prevent nocturnal predators that dont rely on sight (snakes) eating you.
Its because in the relaxed state, melanaphores in the skin are not under the animals direct control, unless it wakes up.
Color change in chameleons is more about communication with each other during the day (being diurnal) than about camoflage.

 

[dodolah]

Check Question #11 and Dr. Ferguson's answer to it.
I believe this will clarify things a bit.
http://chamworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/chat-with-dr-gary-w-ferguson.html

 

[Kaianuanu]

darker colors are to absorb light and heat. The darker the color, the more energy it takes the cham to produce. So when they're asleep, that should be their lightest color. My panther is white at night.

 

[shadowcon39]

Check Question #11 and Dr. Ferguson's answer to it.
I believe this will clarify things a bit.
http://chamworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/chat-with-dr-gary-w-ferguson.html

Heres your answer for those who didn't want to click the link!

The behavior (movement, repositioning expansion etc.) of chromatophores (pigment bearing skin cells) is an energy dependent process. At night chameleons simply shut down the active process, chromatophore pigments contract, and the animal lightens. Because their natural nocturnal predators are not dependent on color vision, there has been no natural selection for them to maintain the active process while they sleep, just for them to save energy. We are new "color-vision" predators that exploit the conspicuousness that results when they are sleeping. Rest assured that should we be around long enough to exert significant natural selection, nocturnal cryptic coloration will possibly evolve in those exploited species (1000 to10, 000 generations or so down the line).