 Stress: Your First and Constant Concern with the Melleri Chameleon
Many people are familiar with the effects of stress on human beings. Stress causes aberrant behavior, loss of physical condition, and overall deterioration. Stress is considered to be a real health threat and many industries address the problem of stress in humans. Consider what stress does to an animal with peculiar sensitivity to it, such as the delicate Okapi. The Meller's Giant Chameleon is one of these hypersensitive animals, and so the keeper is faced with a life-and-death challenge. Your prompt actions to combat stress will allow your pet melleri to prosper in captivity. On the other hand, procrastination and inattention results in certain death for melleri.
WARNING: All stress should be acted on as if an emergency. Melleri compound their stress exponentially in hours and days, not weeks. At the end of 30 days, most import melleri are dead. The stress cycle, ignoring broken bones or injuries, can be summed up:
- Exposure to stress, not reduced or removed
- Lowered immune response
- Upset host-parasite balance
- Parasites feed on organs, melleri feels ill, experiences diarrhea
- Melleri stops feeding (anorexia)
- No nutrition is absorbed, so the immune system continues to fail
- Melleri seeks relief by trying to escape, bloodies its feet and nose
- Energy expense without metabolic fuel (food) brings physical weakness
- Infection sets in open wounds on nose and feet
- Melleri dies from a combination of pain, infections, anxiety, starvation, and dehydration
Use this chart to help identify the presence and possible causes of stress in your melleri.
| Environmental Stress |
Color and Behavior |
| Too cold |
black all over, animal is restless |
| Too hot |
paled with white edging to the dorsal crest and occipital lobes; mouth gaping open |
| Humidity too low |
skin is dull, dry, wrinkled, eyes irritated, extreme thirst |
| Humidity too high |
skin has infections; feet are sore or lame, animal lays on perches without grasping |
| Starvation |
color is either shockingly bright or gray; constantly climbing, hunting, eating all prey offered and potting soil, foreign objects |
| Poor nutrition |
eats potting soil/substrate in addition to voracious feeding |
| Prey too small |
anorexia (refusal to feed) or vomits prey |
| Prey too large |
threat display, retreat; anorexia; choking; constipation
Typical threat display: pinched forefoot, gape, squinted eye, body compressed laterally. / photo K. Francis |
|
| Prey is unappetizing/noxious |
anorexia; spitting out partially chewed |
| Noise or vibration |
stress displays, restlessness, disrupted sleep cycles; may vibrate in response, feeling threatened by an unseen chameleon |
| Cage too small |
paces, paws walls, hangs from ceiling screen, rubs rostrum (nose), tears claws on screen; very spotty color degrading almost overnight to gray; anorexia; refusal to drink water |
| Sight of humans/animals |
| aggressive or fear displays; black color and hiding at bottom of enclosure; shadowing body behind perches; anorexia; constipation; jumping |
Young melleri showing typical bluff display / photo courtesy The Kammers |
Adult melleri showing extreme stress color and aggressive display / photo courtesy The Kammers |
|
| Physical Stress |
Color and Behavior |
| Parasite Imbalance |
gradually graying color; diarrhea, constipation, bloody feces (poop); weakness, poor body condition, increased appetite |
| Importation Injuries |
grayed color; limping, refusal to use limb(s), sleeping during day, hiding, anorexia |
| Gravid (carrying eggs) |
gray/black/white striped; labored and clumsy movement; hiding, sleeping during day; eating soil, anorexia, refusal to drink, digging, staying on cage bottom, extreme threat displays; failure to dig a nest and deposit eggs after egg outlines show on torso |
| Geriatric (aged) |
poor body condition yet extreme total length (22-30" long); anorexia, refusal to drink, sleeping during day, weak grip, perching low in cage |
Never buy a melleri that is sickly gray or white.
A gravid melleri is white, gray, and black striped, with a bloated torso, and should be considered "at risk", not a good candidate for purchase. Recently, a third inherited color Morph of melleri has been determined. These melleri appear various shades of pearly gray to white with neon green spotting, or a full-body Lavender hue. These are the only gray melleri that are worth purchasing. Postures, activity level, presence of scrapes or injuries, and feeding readiness determine the difference between sick and healthy grays. See the Mellers_Chameleon Yahoo group for the Morph photo album.
Social Stress
As more information is collected about this species, we are learning that Meller's chameleons show social behavior, if allowed the opportunity. Several keepers, spanning decades of experience, have observed the evidence. This may be the reason that they are so delicate in captivity: they are usually housed singly and social animals need to at least see their harem mates, or they suffer stress. Those few who have Captive-Hatched melleri have separated them at hatching or shortly thereafter. This results in extremely high mortality. Melleri that are raised in groups are healthy and stress-free; they also have had the chance to learn how to be in a harem, complete with the complex social behaviors. They know how to behave when introduced to mates later in life. Many animals, when competition for food and space is removed, show social behaviors not seen in other circumstances. It happens at a brain chemical level, it is not just a fleeting affectation. This may be what occurs with melleri in times of plentiful food (either in the wild or captivity) and with plenty of perches and privacy. Melleri choose their own harem mates, just as humans choose their own social groups, so suddenly throwing two random chameleons in together will result in stress. This is what happens when melleri are collected in the wild. Those that survive the importation process often suffer inexplicable ailments or depression in captivity, which may be explained by this loss of their familiars. Young WC may have higher survival rates because they can bond with their keepers or established captive melleri, thus fulfilling their basic social need. This explains why melleri housed communally in large enclosures are the most successful in captivity: their food, space, and social needs are met. This is a complicated subject and will be addressed at length with all observed evidence in the Meller's Chameleon book (currently in progress).
Keeper Recognition and "Stranger Stress"
Melleri are very aware of their owners' appearance. They learn to trust their keeper as a source of food and water. Melleri memorize the face of the keeper as they would the markings of a harem mate. A change in keeper appearance can turn a tame melleri into a retreating/aggressive animal overnight. This is true of all captive melleri past the age of imprinting (hatching to three months). Changing the frames of one's eyeglasses, a drastic hairstyle change, new jewelry, etc. can result in extreme stress for the melleri. If you hire a petsitter, you will hear how your tame melleri became a hissing savage while in their care. Melleri see strangers as severe threats. This photo shows a hand-raised, completely tame CB melleri reacting to a change of eyeglasses on its keeper. This baby was raised with the camera, so it is not displaying at the equipment (as many melleri can). This is the most extreme fear display for the species, with the full vertical stance. The keeper changed back to the familiar eyeglasses, and the melleri are completely happy again. Remember to check yourself and the environment for causes of stress.
stress from change in keeper appearance/photo K. Francis |
|
