Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, my mother, niobex who sometimes posts here, has a juvenile chameleon. he used to be quite calm, but now whenever u get close to his cage, he practically dives thru the leaves of the pothos to get to the bottom of the cage so u dont see him. if u peek around to see him on the floor,he will hurriedly scuttle away from you. he started this about two weeks ago. he acts like he is absolutely frightened to death of people, but he wasn't like this before. as far as we know, nothing has happened to make him so frightened. he is kept in a quiet room by himself, w/ plenty of natural light, sitting on a dresser. he gets top care, plenty of variety in his diet. does anyone have any clue why he is acting like this?

how old is the chameleon? is it possible that he is maturing, they sometimes go through behavior changes when they reach sexual maturity.
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groups.msn.com/JEChameleons
2.1 Chameleo Calyptratus
1 Chameleo Melleri

i believe he is right at 9 months? there abouts.. i considered the 'hormonal' thing. but still... so strange. thanks - k

you have any cats?, or free romng animals that could have stressed him?

nope. no other free-roaming animals in the house. she does have a few larger birds, but they never go into this room. ciao. -kristin

do yo know what species this chameleon is?

also do you walk hard?....sounds wierd but chameleons do a death dive in the wild when a branch/tree they are on has a predator on it(which will shake the limbs) the chameleons will just fall and hit the ground lying still or running to a nearby tree away from the predator.

yes, sorry, its a veiled chameleon. i have one myself. the 'walking hard' idea sounds possible. i'll inform the owner of these ideas. thanks -kristin