Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I find this quite FASCINATING and I'm sure many of you have noticed it also.
Sometimes while Cadberry is waking in the morning (still on his sleeping limb) but eyes open OR at night when beginning to retire, If he sees me, or any thing move near his cage, the side of HIM that is facing you the side he SEES you from, Fires up and gets very colorful, LOL

BUT........................
If you quickly look at the otherside of him it is regular color, dullish and Non-responsive as he did not see you with that eye .

This amazes me that only the side/or eye that SEES you changes colors and gets BRIGHT. Like they can even regulate parts of their body at will also

How the hell do they do that, LOL
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PHEve / Eve

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Lucutis would do that when he was younger too! I'm sure he still could if he wanted to, but I haven't seen him do it in a while. It sure is amazing!
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Booger & Gimp)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Lucutis)
0.0.1 Quince Monitor (Pollux)

I suspect it has to do with a nerve impulse acting on one side of the body and firing the message to change color down one set of spinal and peripheral nerves. What I don't know is if images or sensory information (seeing you, sensing light or heat) received through the LEFT eye travels to the LEFT side of the body or whether it is diagonal through the brain.

pretty wacky the way they are wired up LOL I just found it like I said quite fascinating.
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PHEve / Eve

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Did you ever hold an object (like a leaf) over the side of a "plain colored" chameleon like a Senegal and put the chameleon in a bright light and then, in a few seconds remove the leaf? You can actually see the (darker) leaf pattern on the chameleon but as soon as you remove it the area will lighten.

This also happens when the chameleon's leg is close against its side when its in a bright light and it moves it.

A little off the topic....I have also seen in c. chamaeleo, the head and tail be light and the body be darker. I never could solve that one. It only happened once to each of two them at different times. If it had happened at the same time to both of them, it could have been something that they both ate or were exposed to at the same time.

Another a little off topic...but another interesting color change that happened to one of my chameleons was caused by giving it medication (baytril to be exact). The change would occur within minutes of it being given the meds. and would disappear in a few minutes.

Yeah, my veiled would do that when he was a tiny thing. Before he got any patterning. I was fascinated by it. I would take him in the sun and try and make "shadow pictures" and watch them fade as I removed the shadow. Haha.. I guess I had a lot of time on my hands.
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Booger & Gimp)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Lucutis)
0.0.1 Quince Monitor (Pollux)

ways LOL , so everyone has seen this and has their own stories, COOL !

Gotta admire EVERYTHING about chameleons, a very UNIQUE species for sure
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PHEve / Eve

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My Veiled does the same thing to the antibiotics. she gets real bright for a minute then fades back to normal. I've also knowticed when she has a leg close and stretch's it out her armpit is a bright neon greenish color.

mck