Annika Marthinuss

Hello blog. It is time to introduce you to my adorable baby chameleon, Matisse. Welcome to my new blogging series – “Chameleon Mommy Blogger”.

I got Matisse about a month ago, on November 18, a Friday. After not being able to buy Taylor Swift tickets due to the “unforeseen” popularity, I decided to use the money I would’ve spent on Taylor tickets to fulfill a decade long dream – buy a pet chameleon. I rushed to the pet store and bought a cage and materials. On the way to the pet store, I was listening to the radio and the song that was playing was “karma chameleon”. I knew that was a sign that that was the day I would be getting a chameleon. I went home, set up the cage, and then later that night, I went back to the pet store and picked her up. I had several names I was thinking about, but when I saw her, I knew she was Matisse the chameleon.

At the pet store, I asked the workers what they knew about Matisse, but no one knew anything. All they knew is that she was new. I didn’t even know if she was a boy or girl chameleon. In fact, for the first few days of having Matisse, I thought she was a boy. A few days later, I went back to the pet store and found someone who knew more about Matisse. He said she was a very good chameleon and that she was probably about 3-6 months old.

I watched Matisse very closely those first few days and noticed she was closing her eyes a lot. I ended up taking her to the vet the day before Thanksgiving to get her checked out, and that’s where I found out she is a girl and she had an upper respiratory infection. The next 10 days, I gave her a tiny drop of medicine each morning. She seems to be doing better now luckily. I also found out she was 9 grams at the vet.

When she’s calm, she’s a neutral green color. When she’s upset, she puffs up and turns dark green with spots, almost black spots at times. When she sleeps, she is a very pale, whitish green. Here she is a month ago:

She also shed recently, on December 14. Shedding was an uncomfortable time for her, but luckily it only lasted about 2 days and by the second day, most of her shedding was complete.

As of December 25, 2022, Matisse is now 15 grams. She loves eating crickets and hornworms. She loves basking under the UVB lights and she loves climbing around her cage.

I also painted a picture of Matisse.

Matisse Chart:

Date:	Weight:	Shed:	Age:
11/23	9 grams		4 months
12/14		x	4.5 months
12/25	15 grams		5 months
1/16	19 grams		5.5 months
1/24		x	6 months
2/16	25 grams		7 months
3/21	31 grams	x	8 months
5/9	41 grams		10 months
5/11		x	10 months
5/27	51 grams		10 months