Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my female jacksons just turned six months old and normally she has been acting very shy and showing dark colors and not her usual green. she is still eating so i don't think she is sick. the only thing i could relate the problem to is that i just got a cat that ocassionally sneaks into the room that it is in but my chameleon still shows these stress colors after the cat leaves. so what are some of the causes of stress.

My male was the same way...

Does she ever get green? or is she always dark?

I thought of it this way...when reaching sexual maturity, veileds get mean..jacksons get shy

she shows a little bit of light green sometimes on the top part of her body then there are white triangles with light brown/green on the bottom. the rest of the time it is kind of a a light brown or dark brown. although while sleeping her colors are a very very nice green. i'll show a picture from a month ago although her colors are different all the time

Rule #1: JACKSON'S ARE SHY
Jackson's chameleons are the most unsocial and difficult chameleons out there (other than maybe brookesia). I had one for quit a while, but he was a pain to take care of. Other factors for your cham's shyness:
what is the cage temp? humidity? basking spot temp(usually overlooked but important)? visual contact with any other chameleons? too much handling? any other possiblities of stress? when the animal becomes dark and more drawn back than usual, it is likelybecause of stress and/or cold temperatures. Is it active? does it say near/on the ground? oh, and one suggestion. If you have a fake plant that is fairly strong, try putting the cham in the plant and putting it in the shower for about 10-20 minutes with a low water pressure using fairly warm, but not hot, water. stress is a huge problem in chameleons, and more so in Jacksons's than most others. and one last thing: how old is the cham? thanks.