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The chameleon is able to balance perfectly still by gripping a branch with its pincer-like claws. It also holds on by wrapping its long, grasping tail around the branch. The tail remains coiled up when not in use. The chameleon has unique eyes that can rove and swivel. They can focus together like humans or they can focus separately to observe two different objects simultaneously. The chameleon’s tongue is as long as its body and is sticky with a club-shaped mucus-covered tip. Chameleons are known for their ability to change color to match their environment as a defense against predators. Color changes occur when the color cell becomes larger or smaller, regulating the amount of multicolored reflection each layer of pigment produces. The cage should be furnished with a variety of horizontal perching surfaces and diameters so that the lizard can easily navigate the entire cage. The arrangements of lights, plants and branches should provide at least one basking site where the temperature will reach the upper limits of the animal's preferred optimal temperature zone. There should be other comfortable perching sites with slightly cooler temperatures. The temperature in the rest of the enclosure should be still lower allowing the animal to thermoregulate by moving around the cage. Most chameleons do best with a 10-15 degree F drop in temperature at night.
The chameleon’s diet consists of spiders and insects. Without moving its body, the chameleon uses its roving eyes to locate prey. Once the chameleon spots its prey, it flicks out its sticky tongue and catches the insect. Chameleon’s lead a solitary existence and only seek out other chameleons during breeding season, which is in the late summer. The female’s eggs are fertilized inside her body. When she is ready to lay her eggs, the female finds a warm spot at the base of a tree and deposits up to 30 eggs there. She covers them with soil and returns to the treetops, leaving the eggs to develop unattended. The young chameleons feed on the yolk sac of the egg until they are ready to hatch. In the spring, the young hatch by breaking through the shell using their egg tooth. |
