Chameleon

Yesterday, Susan Boyett (our teammate up the hill) called to say she had a chameleon at her house, had my kids seen one yet? Since we hadn't, the kids (all of them), Ruth, and I went to see. The young man living on their compound, Justus, had caught it and saved it.I should have known Dara and Dade would want to bring it home. So we headed home with the sweet new chameleon named "Cammy" (short for camouflage).

Rob quickly found some grasshoppers and Dara cleared out an old shoe box. The desire was to make Cammy our new family pet. After looking online we declared Cammy a girl. Here's the best picture I was able to take of her eating. It was quite fascinating.

She ate 3 grasshoppers relatively quickly. It was cool and kinda gross at the same time.

After the last grasshopper met his fate, she looked like she was ready to get out. So Dade took her inside while I went to search the internet to see how best to care for our new pet until Daddy came home (he was off doing work while we were playing). My search taught us that chameleons are very sensitive creatures. They like quiet and trees and specific lighting - quite finicky animals actually. I explained this to Dade, but all he heard was the need for branches. He got the box and ran outside in search of the necessary ingredients to make a happy home for Cammy.

Within minutes he and Dara are back saying that Cammy is lost! We first looked in their room yet Dade was sure Cammy was in the box when he took it outside. We continued to look off and on for the rest of the day, and even a bit of today. No luck...THEN after we prayed and tucked the kids' mosquito nets in, Joel said, "Dade, look at that big lizard. Wait, isn't that a chameleon?!" Yes, indeed, Cammy is alive! I thought she blended well with the wood frames, but Dara read in her book that brown is the color a chameleon turns when they are very stressed. Dade and I took her out to a small tree and she was already looking better. You just never know what may happen in a day....