Aggressive male yemen

Hi peeps,

I have a 6 month old male yemen with a mighty temper. I love my boy so much, had him from a hatchling, but boy does he hate the world. I can NEVER hold him as he flips out, runs, spins around the branch and bites you. If i take him out to clean his viv, i have to catch him in a box. He throws his tongue at you just to be evil, he really is a nightmare.

Ive gone past thinking if i handle him, he'll get better, cos i prefer having my fingers! He is fast and when he flips out he runs. Once he ran when i had his viv open to spray it. He got out and I had to grab him as he went for the door of the room. Then he bit me lol, he's terrible! So getting him use to it is a no no.

I know Yemens are like this, especially male, but ive had other chams before, panthers and yemens, and he is the WORST!

So my question is, will he mellow with age?? Or will he get worse as he gets bigger?

What should i do because if he gets worse, i cant see me being able to handle him. Its like having a miniture tiger in a viv lol!

A piccy so you can see the little devil:





Jade

Hey I have the same problem only with my female at 4 months. She absolutley hates me, when i can manage to get her out she is pretty calm but any sudden movements she will try to jump offf my hand. One day she managed to actually jump and when i went to pick her up she puffed up and hissed!. Tried to bite me but she really didnt accomplish anything haha. Even in her terrarium she will just jump off a branch to get away from me, and to top it off no matter if she is in her terrarium or out I always get this death stare and she keeps at least one eye on me and will not look away haha. im thinking it will mellow out with time, if not your just going to have to face the fact you have an angry chameleon :\ Aggresive or calm i love em either way

First, all veileds aren't mean. I have two that are the sweetest animals you could ever meet. Veileds do tend to become very mean and aggressive when caged. I would recommend opening his cage door and putting a big plant or tree in front of his door. Eventually he will come out. After he's out for a while he should calm down. My veileds don't have cages they live free range and it makes a big difference in their personility.

Some Veileds go through a nasty territorial "teenaged" phase. I would see if you can get them to handfeed so they are used to you. I have had some that have gotten better, and some that are sweet unless you try to grab them. I get these guys out on a stick and they seem to be just fine.

jannb said:

First, all veileds aren't mean. I have two that are the sweetest animals you could ever meet. Veileds do tend to become very mean and aggressive when caged. I would recommend opening his cage door and putting a big plant or tree in front of his door. Eventually he will come out. After he's out for a while he should calm down. My veileds don't have cages they live free range and it makes a big difference in their personility.

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i wish i had somewhere to free range :\ How are they overnight? do they just pick a spot to sleep?

Thanks for the sugestions. Some points:

If i let him out the viv on a plant, he will not go back in! Then i will get bit trying to get him back in. When i leave his viv door open (its a flex) he trys to get out, only problem is he wnt let me get him back in!

He does hand feed already, he doesnt puff up at the sight of me, just when i get too close to him. But he does hand feed a lot.

He wont climb onto a branch, ive tried. He hisses and bites it when it comes anywhere near him. Thats why i have to trap him in a box when i need him out the viv. Note, ive only done this 3 times in 6 months as its not nice for him, but i have no choice. Ive tried gardening gloves so he doesnt bite me, but he flips out so much im sure this stress is not good either

xx

What size viv do you have? I bet if you just leave him alone (if his room is safe from other animals) he would go back in to eat and bask. If you could set him up a free range I bet he would show major improvement in a very short time.

Jade, I am sorry to hear that he isn't getting any better. As already suggested he may be going through his teenage phase and is exerting his authority a bit more and becoming more territorial along with it!

At around the time I got Lily, someone else purchased a baby male Yemen. He was also housed in a flexarium, and because the mesh is so thick and dark, he couldn't see out and the owner couldn't see him. He turned out to be quite aggressive too and was totally unhandleable. Poor l'il man ended up back at the shop. I saw him and witnessed how aggressive he was - he would get defensive if you even just looked at him and if he saw a hand he would start gaping and rocking.

Anyway, he was housed in the shop in a glass fronted viv so he could become accustomed to being looked at by people. He didn't get any better until the shop owner removed him from the shop. She took things very slowly with him and started by handfeeding. In a couple of months he was ok about being handled and they had managed to rehome him where he is now like a totally different chameleon. The staff did get bitten a few times along the way.

I don't know what exactly she does (other than handfeeding and taking things very slowly) but she has been able to 'tame' several 'nasty' chameleons. She seems to have the magic touch with them.

You may need to go back to basics with him for a while and start over. As suggested try handfeeding him. If you are unable to free range him, would it be possible to buy or make a viv with better visibility for him?

Lily used to live in the Exo Terra that Amy now lives in and Tommy (and his similarly friendly brother at the shop) live in Viv Exotic wooden vivs with glass doors. He may feel less threatened if he can see whats going on. I hope you manage to sort things out for him - it all sounds very stressful for both of you.

Have you tried sticking your hand under him while he is shooting for a feeder? They close their eyes and are not focused on you when they shoot so maybe you can catch him off guard. You have to be very swift but gentle though!

Help!

Any brave people in the north west area (UK) that wanna come brave it out and try to handle Oz, ide be very grateful. Im shit scared lol!

I just wanna see if its me, or if he really is capable of handling, or if he is too aggressive by any standards.

Ill supply the plasters

Jade

Its going to have to be you, its your chameleon your just going to have to work with him.
Chameleons dont want to be bothered, its not that they are mean its that your in their space.
It would be like one of your parents coming into your living space and started picking you up, you wouldnt like it one bit.
Just work with him and it should slowly get better as he gets adjusted.
Good Luck

I would be straight round if I live close enough! As I said above maybe a cage with more visibility might calm him down a bit.

I was thinking about the visibility thing but not sure how ide replace a side of a flex?? And what with, perspex?

Ali has lost by the way bless, last time i weight her she was 169g down from 194g! Now she is lovely, comes out to play and everything.

Oz seems to be getting worse, shooting his tongue at me is the worse, i darnt open his flex!!

Hand feeding isnt doing the trick so i dont know what to do x

Seems to me like there is something he just doesnt like, is there any change in his behavior other then his rudeness

No he is his normal active self, just with more attitude. It started when he was 3 months and he bit me out of no where. I didnt handle him alot, but i have hand fed him ever since (not all his food, just once every other day so he got used to my hands). He will take the food, but he hates me, or anything, like a branch, anywhere near him. He flips out, hisses, gapes and actually bites if you get too close to him, like if i am spraying the viv. He is very moody and aggressive.

He eats, sheds, poo's, drinks and is up an down his viv all day long. He seems to realy enjoy the space, as his viv is the largest flex size. Just hates people!

I can handle the not handling him, but what about if he gets ill and i need to take him to a vet? Or when he's an adult and really hurts me. He's only 6 months!

Well there is always the possibility that your cham could have bad eye site, not saying yours does so dont freak, i read that he hisses at his own surrondings. I understand the hand hissing and all that, but a little strange for him to hiss at a vine or even his own home, hes been there for over 6 months so hes already settled in.

You say he is eating normal, but is he missing when he shoots for food?

Oh no he doesnt miss, he aims for me when im spraying his viv and gets me! He gets his food first time too. The other day i was standing near the viv not looking at him an he shot his tongue at me but got the inside of his viv. I just heard this noise an saw it!

When i say he hisses at branches, this is when i try to get him to walk on one that i am holding. He will hiss at the branch and try to bite it.

Just plain ol'mean x

I cant help but laugh that he actually shoots at you , try to keep this minimal i know you cant do anything about it but he could hurt him self.

What does he do when you actually get him out?

Makes sense now about hissing branches too., maybe hes just a turd period haha

Get him out?? I cant get him out, ever! When i have tried he flips out, flips around a branch, hisses, gapes, bites and thrashes himself about like a loon. If i have to get him out i have to catch him in a box and put him in another viv until im done, say for cleaning or something.

Ive never held him by hand, since he was 3 months anyway, as his bites hurt. Once he got out of his viv when i was spraying him and made a dart for the door. As soon as i picked him up, he bit me and i had to get him back in his viv quick as he was thrashing about around my wrists like a possessed monkey!

I should take a video to show you. Thats why i can never handle him or get him out ever. That i can handle, as i know yemens are moody anyway. But its not good ifi can never handle him, and that he's so bad at 6/7 months. Whats he gonna be like as an adult?!!