Observations of the Trapelus pallida species

[deadvenom-x 0]

sorry...It's only in english..unless someone is willing to translate. (beware of typos!)


Trapelus pallida, the Pale Agama, also known as the Blue Bearded Agama. A quite rare, unknown species of Agamid with virtually no or very little information. These are my observations after a year of keeping them:



After seeing something I have only seen once before with my Pale Agamas (Trapelus palida) I decided to write out some things I have observed over time.

As a defense, They have a few threat positions and something I have recently "discovered" or observed.

My female, when aggravated, she puffs her whole body up, stomach, chest, and throat. she would sometimes make "clicking" noises, but you can feel it more then hear it (if that makes sense) and opens her mouth (sometimes). Only once have I seen my male puff up when upset.

Another observation, when frightened my female will have a sudden change in color, from her tan light colors to a dark, high contrast pattern and "play dead" once released, she takes off running (so fast you cant catch her...seriously)

Now, I've noticed this same behavior twice, only recently as well from my male. He is usually the most laid back reptile I have met. My first observation is the day I bought a flexarium to put them outside. My male loves the outdoors, or so it seemed. My female, always deathly afraid (plays dead like explained previously). However, the other day I had them out from 12-7pm. I checked on them periodically, misted them etc. As I went to get my male to put them in the enclosure, he "seizured", changed color from tan to white,flipped on his back with a small hiss and mouth wide open. After a few seconds, he flipped back over and went to the otherside as if nothing happened. Today, about 10 minutes ago, I went to check the side of his mouth for some weird discoloration, I gently rubbed it and once again, he opened his mouth, hissed, changed color, "seizured" again and flipped on his back. Once I let him go, he took off running.


As for feeding

My female will eat anything that wiggles, hops or runs. I noticed her "strategizing" (if that is a word) ways to grab a hold of super worms so they dont bite. She has learned this a think after her first attempt. Now I noticed she will grab it by the mid-section, bite, let go... then go for the back end, bite a few times... let go and once immobilized, she eats it.

As for my male, anything that is bigger then a meal worm, he wont touch. He has phases where he will eat crickets, then times where he is so picky, he only eats mealworms. Which he is going through that phase right now..which is a big pain in the arse.


Like chameleons, I noticed these guys are very color coordinated. When upset, they change colors from normal to a lighter color, when frightened then usually turn pure white or a vast contrast in color.high contrast in colors. When excited, my male turns a very blue color on his throat and sides, his head becomes grey and his color pattern is very bright. As for my female, I havent noticed anything. If my female is stressed, but not so much to "freak out" she has dark blue lines running down her throat. My male, when stressed turns blue on his throat and sides, with stress "markings" on his chest.

I do not know much about this, but I have seen my female do push-ups and "Wave". I thought it is the males that do this?

Oh, can't forgetabout how they drink, my male archs his back, puts head down and laps up water runnign down his face. My female, literally tries to jump at the water falling ontop of her by lifting her head as high as she can, attempting to stand on her hind legs, "waving" one arm as if she is trying to climb the air.

Under a UV light, colors seem to be very plain, no pattern at all on my male. Compared to outside, All colors and pattern are exposed


These are just a few observations I have noticed.

some photos:

Male:

(supposed to be a white look here)






Female: