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Posted by PH Meliss on December 13, 2002 at 11:08:14:
In Reply to: thank you posted by Chameleon996 on December 13, 2002 at 08:16:23:
:Thank you this might be the wrong forum.
well, we really don't have one for "occasionally kept Iguanids", so you might as well hang out here until something more appropriate comes along. ;)
:I posted a message in another forum about my cham and got a really rude reply.
Well, what do you expect from lizards with bugged out eyes and funny little feet and grumpy looks on their faces all the time?
The name "forest chameleon" is a good example of importers slapping a name on a species they aren't familiar with so they can put somtething on the shipping invoice when they send the species to an unsuspecting pet store. The names aren't even necessarily accurate, as the people assigning the names at the importers aren't necesssarily knowledgeable about the species they import for resale.
In this case, these lizards have very cryptic coloring and, to me at least, look more like another iguanid more people are familiar with: the basilisk (Basilicus sp.). Because some unthinking/careless person slapped a common name which included the term "chameleon" in it, it is rather horrifying to think how many people who bought these lizards thinking they were chameleons (old world lizards found in an amazing variety of habitats, from cold mountain cloud forests to the searing coastal deserts and everything in between) and tried to care for them according to some generic "chameleon care" format. The so-called "American chameleons" don't fare much better: the green anoles are not chameleons, but are, like the helmeted iguana and basilisk, cousins to the green iguana. My Iguanid Classification articles mentions some of the other members of this New World group.
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PH Meliss
Pet Hobbyist Volunteer * Iguana Forum
Iguanas for Dummies
Anapsid.org: Herp & Green Iguana Care, Herp Societies/Rescues & Vets
