May as well start with the cutest!. This is an eight week old female picture taken in early March, 2001. Her body is about an inch and a half at this point. The "claw" like front digits are easily seen, along with those amazing independently operated eyes. Those little white dots you see on the leaves of the plant are calcium dust from the crickets. They are consuming about twenty to twenty-five crickets each per day. Did I say each? Yes I did.
This is the male picture below, also taken March, 2001. Sure has a big frown on his face. Well, not really. That is the normal shape of the mouth line. Watching them eat with that unique tongue of theirs leads me to speculate that the shape of the mouth lends itself to be compatible with a tongue that is about three times their body length! Absolutely amazing overtime you get to see the manner in which they use that tongue to acquire their food. What accuracy! The end of the tongue is not "sticky". It has the look of a "plunger" if you will, on the tip. It actually adheres it's tongue to the insect it is hunting with suction, and not a special sticky saliva.
This male has a body length of about two and one half inches in this photo. You can already see the beginnings of his male color markings developing.
This is that same female above in June, 2001! She is now over four inch's long, and
has laid three clutch's of eggs from as few as eighteen in her first to twenty six in her last one. She is gravid again and we wait anxiously on the outcome.
Their enclosure screen on three of the four sides, with glass on the fourth. The top is also screen with glass for the bottom. The lights are all all high UV, and the number of them is strictly to produce the necessary amount of heat and UV. The extra lights keep the ambient temperature during the day at about 80 degrees, and the areas on the edges of the Ficus tree at about 85-90 degrees for them to enjoy basking. These temperatures are monitored by the use of a readout that you can see sitting on top of the enclosure. Also sitting on top is a drip container. This provides consent moisture for them to drink as they need. They prefer to lick droplets of water as opposed to drinking out of a water bowl. They actually take in most of their moisture requirement through their breathing of the humid air that this system also provides, along with that which is consumed through their food. One of the unique attributes of the Veiled Chameleon is that as they become adults they will add some vegetation to their diet. Not that they don't continue to crave those tasty insects, because they do.
What a great place to sit with a cup of coffee and watch those amazing Chameleons!
Now the male! He is inches long. They are both amazingly accurate with that tongue, and can reach out over ten inch's and pick a cricket of the screen side of their enclosure.
Some more shots of the male. the unique ability to move their eyes independently is seen in the first photo below. Amazing creatures!
Here, the Female, in her full mating colors, has a few words for the Male, while keeping one eye on me. He is just out of site below her.
Wow, she is just so beautiful! She will turn off those bright colors and resume a more "leaf green" coloring when she is not trying to get the Males attention.
