Little Amon seems to like it. A couple times he has wandered away from the tree and we've found him in some precarious positions. Once he was rescued from the volleyball court in the middle of a game. Not quite sure how the little guy wasn't trampled. Another time he was almost run over on the road next to our compound. Some of the ladies who work for us came to get me and told me to get rid of "that monster!" So I picked him up and brought him back home to his tree. You should have heard the screams when I did that. Most all of the locals are afraid of pretty much any animal except goats. Most of the American's do fine with all those animals, but can't stand goats. As Joe, the finance guy, puts it, "I hate goats!" So anyway, here's Amon. He's so handsome.
Please don't make fun of his lazy eye...s. He's sensitive about that. Here's his good side. The guy's got flexibility going for him, at least.
So most days I take Amon's tree out on to the porch for a little while and he eats flies that land on it. It's a good time for all. Today I actually managed to photograph him in action. This first picture is with his tongue rolled up in the front edge of his mouth, ready to strike, with the fly on the branch in front of him. 
And by some wild chance I happened to snap the shutter just as he was recoiling his tongue after snagging lunch! I couldn't believe it! 
It's crazy because I read online that chameleons strike their tongue and bring it back in about one thirtieth of a second. Talk about random good fortune catching my little guy in the act. Sorry about the blurry recoil in that picture, but my camera is just not capable of capturing something so fast clearly. Click on the pictures to blow 'em up if you can't see what I'm talking about. This is me and Paul, a newer one that is a bit larger.
He belongs to a guy in another sub-base here. He used to live with me too but I only really have room for one. They are highly territorial and would fight if kept together. Anyway, I haven't posted in a while and I thought you guys would get a kick out of little Amon. I'm actually in the process of building a little, well...a big, enclosure for him. It's gonna be about 1m by 1m by 1.5m tall, screened in with plants and rocks and dripping water and the whole 9. He can't wait. He'll then spend his days and nights on the porch, enjoying the sunlight when he wants and sleeping in cool crevices under rocks when he wants. I'll catch flies in our office compound and set them loose in his enclosure so he gets a little sport and feels like he's taking care of himself. You know, chameleons have a very fragile sense of their self worth. I'll edit this post with a picture when I get the Chameleodge finished.
