Do your chams Snort at you?

I recently got a new panther chameleon about 2 1/2 weeks ago, he is about 6 months old and is pretty friendly. I can hand feed him and he doesn't bite nor has ever been aggressive towards me. The only thing I notice sometimes when I try to hand feed him if hes not hungry he will snort at me, or sometimes he will snort at me if I put my hand in the cage to see if he wants to be picked up. Has anyone else experienced this?
**I dont try to hold him very often, in fact Ive only held him like 2 times since I got him.

you sure hes snorting and not hissing? is the mouth open or closed?

hes never opened his mouth at me, im pretty sure its just a snort...I don't know how else to describe it Lol. Also sometimes when I spray the cage with water(trying to avoid him) it seems like he gets scared, runs up to the highest branch and flares up..so I just let him be and leave the room
I recently purchased an automatic mister that is on the way in the mail, because I dont want him to associate me with the "evil water spraying guy" I hope the auto-mister helps

chams dont snort.

and they can still hiss with their mouth closed.

sometimes they will puff air out so they can get salts out of their nose.

COLA said:

I recently got a new panther chameleon about 2 1/2 weeks ago, he is about 6 months old and is pretty friendly. I can hand feed him and he doesn't bite nor has ever been aggressive towards me. The only thing I notice sometimes when I try to hand feed him if hes not hungry he will snort at me, or sometimes he will snort at me if I put my hand in the cage to see if he wants to be picked up. Has anyone else experienced this?
**I dont try to hold him very often, in fact Ive only held him like 2 times since I got him.

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Funny that you mention this, our wc nosy komba has done this twice once while I was holding him and once while in his cage. My thoughts was it kinda sounded like a sniffle/sneeze and I thought maybe he was sick cause we just got him from being shipped from someone who had him imported from madagascar. However, the vet check came back all good. Haven't heard him do it since and we have had him not for about 3 weeks. Did kind of sound like a snort though. He has never fired up at us so it wasn't a hiss, unsure of what it was.

camimom said:

chams dont snort.

and they can still hiss with their mouth closed.

sometimes they will puff air out so they can get salts out of their nose.

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Could be what camimom said about puffing air. I'd relate it to that.

hmm well I hope hes not sick, I have never really felt threatened by him, if anything I think he is more passive and scared of me so I'm trying my hardest to just let him be until he gets used to me a little more. I keep imagining a hiss as more of a long drawn out noise rather than a quick puff of air.

some hisses are short, some arent. some are open mouthed, some arent.

chams will sometimes puff air because they are pissed.


if you can get a vid of this with sound that would be great.

I have never heard a chameleon " snort" I've seen other reptiles sneeze, huff air at me, hiss and even one that barked. But the only thing i've ever seen a chameleon do is Hiss.

well I guess hes pissed at me then lol. Anyone experience a scared chameleon from spray bottle misting? I hope the automatic mister doesn't scare him. I just really need to get my humidity up its lingering around 40% right now

If the automatic mister scares them, they will get used to its schedule
My panther has always "puffed" at me, its normal, it is a sign of aggression though.

My male occasionally does a little 'snort' type thing as well. Sometimes for no reason (I can hear him when I'm lying in bed and he can't see me). It's not a hiss or a sneeze. If he does it 'at' you then I guess its his way of asking you nicely to back off

Ha! I know exactly what you mean by the "snort" thing. My male cham does this also. He has never bitten or hissed, but he does snort when he is pissed - but not so much that he puffs or flares - so maybe he is just mildly annoyed.