why do you do it?

[ryno202]

i am in the process of aquiring knowledge and hopefully soon getting a veiled cham...

i see a lot pictures people post on here of their chameleons all pissed off and puffed up for the camera. often times captions are as follows:

"he really hates the camera! lolololol"
and then everyone adds their comments about the great picture, or how cool the pissed off cham looks...

i am just wondering, if your pet hates things you do to it so much, why do you do it?

"he hates being handled, and hates the camera...so i am going to do both of those things!"

it doesnt make sense to me. seems wrong.

is the stress on them just not that great that it is just somewhat "okay" to do?

 

[DeviousMike]

Perhaps its like NASCAR. Normally they just drive in a circle and that bores people, but when there's a crash people get excited.

Chams just sit there and look pretty dull most of the time but if you get it all fired up, it looks awesome.

Just a theory...

 

[ryno202]

that is a valid point for why others like it

but to continue using your analogy...do you think the car or pit crew who has to fix the car or owner or driver like the wrecked car?

 

[e30nate]

this is just my opinion, but i only handle my cham when necessary, such as taking him out of his cage to clean or put him outside, and i take that time to get pics of him. just like any hobby, its fun to take pics, but with these creatures its not always easy to get them.

 

[Ace]

depending on many factors...but i beleive the majority of people hardly "disturb their" chams and only a small amount of time do people take pictures.....i feel a little "attitdue" isnt that bad...think of it as an incounter with a male by chance.

it is those that "overhandle" or disturb their chams constantly that will follow a health drop in chams....

i also feel a little stress is rather stimulating and not too harmful...unlike if you were handling the cham that doesnt like being handled cosntantly, you handle him "once in a blue moon" .

but thats my opinion

 

[DeviousMike]

Human's exploit their pets. It's that simple. Why else do we make dog's stand up on hind legs or put sweaters on them? Basically because we can.

 

[Ace]

Human's exploit their pets. It's that simple. Why else do we make dog's stand up on hind legs or put sweaters on them? Basically because we can.

lol...maybe...i gotta admit ..thats not a "far-fetched" theory if not a fact

 

[ryno202]

Human's exploit their pets. It's that simple. Why else do we make dog's stand up on hind legs or put sweaters on them? Basically because we can.

one, why is there an apostrophe in humans?
two, why is there an apostrophe in dogs?
three, dogs do that stuff for a treat or for praise and what not. that isnt a fair comparison. if people gave their dogs rabies and smacked them around and took pictures of their pissed off, mouth foaming dog then maybe it would make sense.
(this is making me sound like an ass, but i am a sarcastic grammar nazi, so excuse the tone that is coming across...it is not my intention)

ACE, and e30nate thanks for the responses. that all makes sense.
as a photographer, i would love to take a bunch of pictures of mine if i get one, but not if it is at his expense.

i feel like i would be worried to stress him, or piss him off too greatly, so i am just trying to gather more information

 

[summoner12]

I don't think it's good to agitate a cham for a photo.... but if you happen to catch your cham agitated... why not take a photo?

I can't have my small PAS camera in the cham room... it freaks out the melleri in the free range... Here is Chris' normal reaction to the PAS camera... He isn't happy and this is a mild reaction. I was taking photos for someone who was purchasing two melleri from me... and Chris happen to be near by.....

 

[Ace]

ACE, and e30nate thanks for the responses. that all makes sense.
as a photographer, i would love to take a bunch of pictures of mine if i get one, but not if it is at his expense.

i feel like i would be worried to stress him, or piss him off too greatly, so i am just trying to gather more information

taking pictures wouldnt affect him to the point of death...i think we do not give enough credit for chameleons to survive in the wild..which i do belelive can give quite a bit of stress. though also alot of securrity by foilage

i take pictures a couple times week or every other week. to see my chams progression

also you must give another factor about the chameleons personality some are just worry worts, others "social" or very tolerable, and there is the indifference cham, unless provoked(mine)

mine is ok taking pictues for a certain amount if time, before he gets stressed by puffing up and getting dark and opening mouth do i stop. usually chams gets mildly agitated like kevin suggested...awsome pic btw

so i stop when he gets fed up,

then he turns to normal, still eats off my hand

 

[DeviousMike]

Thank you for bringing up my typos. I'm very anal about my typing and for some reason my apostrophes just popped out.

And as for another theory- People are just proud of their pets and want to show them off.

 

[ryno202]

if you were being serious, you're welcome
if you were being sarcastic, i am okay with that, and im not sure if you intended the anal/popped out joke/pun or not, but it made me laugh either way
i understand people want to show them off, and are proud, but i just wasnt sure how much "harm" was being done to stress and piss them off for the purpose of showing them off.


makes total sense, Ace. thank you!

 

[hallenhe]

I think it's natural for people to want a picture every so often and, while you may see dozens of "He really hates the camera!" pictures, any one cham isn't being constantly tormented. Every chameleon I've had couldn't care less about the camera - but I'd never know that if I'd never tried to take a picture.
In nature, they would be seeing other chameleons and firing up every so often; in most cases, what they're exposed to in an occasional photography session isn't going to exceed the stress and firing up they would be experiencing in the wild.

 

[Cainschams]

one, why is there an apostrophe in humans?
two, why is there an apostrophe in dogs?
three, dogs do that stuff for a treat or for praise and what not. that isnt a fair comparison. if people gave their dogs rabies and smacked them around and took pictures of their pissed off, mouth foaming dog then maybe it would make sense.
(this is making me sound like an ass, but i am a sarcastic grammar nazi, so excuse the tone that is coming across...it is not my intention)

ACE, and e30nate thanks for the responses. that all makes sense.
as a photographer, i would love to take a bunch of pictures of mine if i get one, but not if it is at his expense.

i feel like i would be worried to stress him, or piss him off too greatly, so i am just trying to gather more information

Amibole

 

[NWD]

lol

ur rabis comparrison wasn't so good either very dramatized. Chameleons get like that almost every time you hold them unless they are really used to you. Also the less you hold them the more like that they are gonna be I mean I left my veiled alone when he was young and now he will attack you if you even think about going in his cage. Also seing you're chameleon fired up and taking pictures is fun you want to see the animal you care for and dedicate much time too.....you care for this animal im sure a few minutes for a photo sesh isnt so inhumane seing as how you are the what feeds it. These animals also get fired up in the wild when they encounter other animals or males and such so im sure a little spark of their natural defensive instinct is not all that bad. I think that you are thinking to much it is good to be concerned but common dont go all peta everyone on this forum likes their animals a lot im sure and don't intentionally torture them for their amusment.
...that was longgggg lol

 

[bugaboo]

I took mine out today and held him for about 10 minutes. He saw my little dog and was getting puffy and he opened his mouth when I touched him. He started off his usual pretty turquoise and green which darken when he puffed up. I just stroked his side and under his chin and talked softly to him, he calmed down and brightened up, relaxed and coiled his tail, then I put him backed and gave him a worm. He is almost 5 months old now. I think they do have to be handled a little but I am not going to cart him around like I do with my dragon.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I have plenty of pictures of some of my chams totally relaxed and they look gorgeous in them! But my veiled absolutely hates everything, not just the camera. He gets all puffed up and stressed looking even when I go to feed him (which involves opening the cage, dumping crickets in his cup, and closing the cage - absolutely no interaction with him ever)...so should I not feed him because of the risk of being stressed by me? No, he still needs to eat.

Some people will go out of their way to annoy their cham (and probably all their other pets and the people around them as well) but for the most part it happens to be a "well he's already ticked off so might as well take a picture now that he's showing off his colors!" type of situation. I had to weigh my veiled for deworming so he threw a royal hissy fit and showed the brightest colors ever because of it even though I was trying to do it as quickly as possible. I had to weigh him for his own health, but I certainly wasn't going to miss the opportunity to get a pic of him all fired up! Snapped a few shots and put him back in his cage - no harm done.

As long as it's not excessive, prolonged or every day then it's really not affecting their health (unless they're on the edge already). Just like when someone cuts you off in traffic and you get pissed off. Right then, your blood pressure rises, but after the incident is over it goes back down and you continue to live as normal.

 

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

one, why is there an apostrophe in humans?
two, why is there an apostrophe in dogs?
three, dogs do that stuff for a treat or for praise and what not. that isnt a fair comparison. if people gave their dogs rabies and smacked them around and took pictures of their pissed off, mouth foaming dog then maybe it would make sense.
(this is making me sound like an ass, but i am a sarcastic grammar nazi, so excuse the tone that is coming across...it is not my intention)

ACE, and e30nate thanks for the responses. that all makes sense.
as a photographer, i would love to take a bunch of pictures of mine if i get one, but not if it is at his expense.

i feel like i would be worried to stress him, or piss him off too greatly, so i am just trying to gather more information

One, why don't you use capital letters?

 

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

I don't think it's good to agitate a cham for a photo.... but if you happen to catch your cham agitated... why not take a photo?

I can't have my small PAS camera in the cham room... it freaks out the melleri in the free range... Here is Chris' normal reaction to the PAS camera... He isn't happy and this is a mild reaction. I was taking photos for someone who was purchasing two melleri from me... and Chris happen to be near by.....

Interesting. Does he freak out from just the camera or is it the flash? Is he seeing his reflection in the lens or does he do it with the lens cap on??

Mine seem nervous when I'm taking pics, but I always assumed it was because I unzip the screen to take them.

Freaked out a bit:

[/IMG]

 

[melric]

One, why don't you use capital letters?

Lmao! Good one! I think the word stressed is used a lot on the forum's. I like to take pic's of my cham's in their enclosure's. lol, notice the apostrophe's?