I'm pretty sure I don't know many people my own age who didn't win a chameleon as a prize at the traveling carnival as a kid. Especially in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Carnivals, Rodeos and Fairs would award us with these fantastic, gorgeous little creatures that we had no idea how to care for. Frankly, we were children and could barely take care of ourselves.The little lizards came equipped with a tiny red string around their necks that were attached to a tiny little gold safety pin. This enabled us to pin it to our shirts and thus, thwart their otherwise inevitable escape. As I recall, they were only about 2" to 2-1/2" in length and maybe 1/2" wide. They were very sweet but hey, they were on a leash.
How were we to know we were actually torturing these delicate little guys that had no defense against us? As it turns out, the only defense mechanisms they had were the very reasons we all wanted to win one. We were told, as children, that chameleons would change colors when placed next to different colors. I'm pretty sure it wasn't drastic change but we did see some. Or we just thought we did. They were really anole lizards but no kid wanted a prize named that, right? So, to us they were resplendent chameleons.
As soon as my brother & I would return home from the Fair, we'd be running all over the house holding our prizes up to different colors, with great, ghoulish glee as they performed their color change. Sooner or later, we'd become bored with them and go in to dinner, forgetting all about them. Days after, we'd find them in a physical state something short of fossilized, shrunken and dead. I do remember mourning the death of one or two, at least. Of course, we had funerals for them, but what little devils and heathens we were!
Oh, the misery it causes me now! Why? I just found out that those changing colors reflected their feelings of fear, anger and sheer confusion. They can't hurt you. I just read an article explaining this magical thing that chameleons do. I feel like such a serial killer because it also makes me realize that we undoubtedly must have tortured horney (horned) toads when we were children too, which are now almost an endangered species. They aren't nearly as beguiling as chameleons but we didn't have to wait around for the carnival or the circus to come to town to get them. If you just went out to your backyard where the dirt patch was and sat still for a while, they would come within catching distance. Yep, that's how we passed the long summers in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico as children.
Now, I'm worried about my own Karmic future. I hope they won't one day be sitting in judgement of my soul. If so, I'm in trouble.... deep. Don't even get me started on the crawdads (crawfish), goldfish and teensy turtles with painted shells. We unknowingly murdered them all....
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I never saw chameleons given as prizes; but they were all over our yard when I was growing up. I still like them, whatever they're called.
Maybe that was just something they did in small towns? I dunno... It seems so barbaric now.
Our son had 2 as pets we bought when living in Connecticut...imagine our surprise when we found them all over the place in Florida! Well, we let them go and their ancestors still live on our back porch.
My mom talks about this all of the time saying she always wanted on.
My mother would get them from the circus in the 1940's when she was a child every year in Washington, D.C. They sold boxes of turtle food to feed them. They only lived about a month. She said nobody felt bad about it, it was just something every kid got back then for a souvenir. I find it hard to imagine ever doing this. No photos though. I would think it would be a photo worthy event, but guess it was just a normal thing back then.
My mother is 76 years old and would get a lizard on a red string collar attached to a gold safety pin as a child in the 1940's every year at the circus in Washington, D.C. They sold little boxes of turtle food to feed it. I find it hard to even imagine, but it was a normal souvenir almost all the kids got. She said hers lived for a month or so. No photos though. I would think this would be a photo worthy event, but it was actually a common thing.
The last time I saw this was in 1976 at the Shrine circus in Chicago . What a Cruel strange tradition! I'm glad our dad had the sense to say no when we wanted them.
I was just telling my husband my memories of this and even as a child how it disturbed me. It was still going on at the Puyallup Fair in Washington in the early 80s. Just awful.:(
The state fair in Putallup Washington gave away these little guys in the 70s😢
I remember in the 50-60's going to the county fair and my biggest joy was to get a chameleon that was on a little ribbon and they would pin it to your blouse. That little critter would run around on your shoulder all day... what fun! I always kept lizards frogs and toads as pets at home..... so this was so exciting to bring home.
My dad took me to the circus in the 70's in Atlanta and bought me a chameleon to pin to my shirt. My wife didn't believe me until I showed her this page.
I think we released him in a large open terrarium on the back porch where he lived for awhile until he disappeared.
Yes, I remember when I was quite young, maybe in late 1950s or early 60s, I had a live "chameleon" that came with a little chain attached to it that I pinned to my blouse. I don't recall where I got it, but after reading online I suspect it may have come from the County Fair, as we used to go to the Fair every year. I was thinking about this today, in the context of the way animals were treated in the old days, as compared to today. How sad; my little lizard probably starved to death. (I also remember having an Easter Chick one year, dyed dark purple, that didn't live very long.)
Chameleons Reptile
We got one of those only once at the Texas state fair. It was actually my sister that got it because I was too chicken to handle all things creepy crawly. My dad built a terrarium for it, and my sister took care of it and fed it, and my parents continued to buy food for it, as well as the occasional box of crickets as a treat. (More like a treat for us as we were quite entertained by putting a cricket in the enclosure, done by my sister of course, and watching the lizard come up on and catch the cricket and eat it). To my memory, I think that little guy lived more than a year. He didn't do a lot of color changing, but he sure did a lot of bug-eating!
We got those little anoles at the Puyallup Fair in Washington (and called them chameleons). Luckily my mom was an animal lover and skilled at providing good living arrangements for the various critters we brought home. The anoles (and little turtles) had very long lives under her care. I’m glad selling little “pets” like this is no longer accepted.
I remember going to Barnum and Bailey circus in the 1960's,and chameleons were on display as souvenirs in smalls box,with see-thru celophane.my grandfather bought me one.of course I had no clue as to how to care for it,and sadly I watched it die as it lay on the arm of living room chair I was sitting in.I cried.
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