Colour shows its mood
It changes colour mainly to show how it feels and to control its temperature, more than to hide.
Lizards · For experienced keepers
Veiled chameleon
Lizard · from Yemen and Saudi Arabia
A green lizard with a tall casque on its head, bulging eyes that move separately, feet like tongs and a tail that curls into a coil.
- Size
- 35 to 60cm long, with the tail
- Lives for
- 5 to 8 years
- Suits
- Experienced keepers only
Creeps after you, rocking as it goes. Move your pointer and see.
Good to know
Six things about the chameleon
Eyes that look two ways
Each eye swivels on its own, so it can look forwards and backwards at once.
A tongue like a catapult
Its tongue is longer than its body and shoots out to catch an insect in a fraction of a second.
Feet like tongs
Its toes are joined into two groups that grip a twig like a pair of tongs.
It will not use a bowl
It only drinks drops of water from leaves, so its home has to be sprayed or fitted with a dripper.
It wants to be alone
Chameleons are easily stressed, by each other, by other pets and by being handled.
The real thing
Photos of the chameleon
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
Looking after one
It needs a tall, airy mesh cage full of branches and live plants, a basking lamp, ultraviolet light, daily misting and live insects.
Before you get one
A chameleon is a pet to watch, not to hold. It is delicate and easy to get wrong, and is not a beginner's lizard.
Keep going