A question about handling them...

[Mintglow]

Hi there. I'm new, by the way

My boyfriend and I added Cricket to our home in March of this year. He was about 2 months old at the time, so that would make him 7 months old now. He is a male veiled chameleon.

When we bought him, we did so with the understanding that chameleons aren't the type of pets you hold or play with, but once he got accustomed to his new home he became VERY curious and- dare I say it- friendly?

If I open the door of his cage, he will come straight towards me as quick as he can, stretch out his little front legs and practically make a flying leap at my hair, arm, shirt, or whatever else he can grab. If he is sitting on top of his cage and you come too close, he will try and grab onto you- sometimes without you knowing it. We have a little setup on the ceiling where we've strung up some bio-vines and fake leaves just so he has somewhere to hang out aside from his cage, and if you get on the stepladder to look at him, he'll come right down and check you out.

This is all very well and good, but I kind of have mixed feelings about it. He doesn't appear to be stressed at all, his colour is bright, he's active, has an incredibly strong grip and so forth, but I know that you just simply shouldn't handle chameleons much. Sometimes (when he's about to shed) he does gape and hiss, or aim his tongue at me should I come near him (I never try to pick him up if he doesn't want it, but it's unavoidable if I have to reach into his cage to clean something), but mostly he just seems to like people.

Just thought I'd get some opinions on that... let him do what he wants? Pick him up whenever he comes at me? Or try to touch him as little as possible anyway? I'm really not sure, to be honest!

Edit: This is our first chameleon, I was exposed to reptiles as pets at a very young age and have always wanted to own one. We did a very LARGE amount of research and planning before purchasing Cricket, and he is doing very well, but although I do know a lot about how to properly care for chameleons, this is something that I just really can't get my head around. I'm just afraid that if we keep handling him, something's going to happen, even though he genuinely seems to like it, hence why I'm seeking the opinions of people who have had more personal experience than me!

 

[Pams Chams]

I feel if you want to hold your cham and it is not trying to bite you or jump off of your hand then it is OK

 

[Tygerr]

The question of handling chameleons always raises a bit of debate.
My opinion is that they don't enjoy being handled: I don't really think they have the capacity to enjoy being man-handled by a creature a hundred times larger than them, and who in their eyes is always a potential predator.
Some of the tolerate handling better than others, but that doesn't mean they crave handling.
So I believe they should be handled as little as is necessary (and it is necessary to handle them, like when you do regular health checks on them, take them outside into the sunshine, take them to the vet, or remove them from their cage for a thorough cage cleaning).

Also, more often than not they become territorial about their environment, and don't enjoy being removed from it. It is unusual for a cham to practically leap out of its cage onto its owner. That is usually a sign that they are uncomfortable in their environment and want to get out - they see the owner as an escape route out of there. This is quite common in chameleons found it unsuitable pet store environments.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with your enclosure: there could be other reasons for his behaviour. But bear it in mind and think about whether there could be anything that is causing him to want to get out of there.

 

[Electric]

Yes just like with everything else, there are limitations. My view on this subject is that if he willingly climbs on you, then fine, he's the one who decided to so it must not be that bad.

But if he climbs onto your hand then starts running up your arm but you stop him with your other hand and then just keep repeating the process, then that, in my opinion, is probably stressing him out because of the simple fact that you're stopping him from going where he wants to go.(which is most likely the top of your head because he wants to be up high and feel safe)

Any time I bring him out for sun or because 'someone wants to hold him' , I do so by sticking a branch near him in the cage and lure him onto it with an insect or just wait till he walks onto it randomly, and then I take that branch and try to hold it up so that he is slightly higher than my eye level. To get him back in, I never 'force' him back off the branch by touching him, I'll just put that branch back in the cage and wait until he's off it

 

[Mintglow]

Well, he doesn't seem to mind his enclosure... and he does this sort of thing even when he's NOT in his enclosure, too, so unless the whole giant setup I have going all the way up to the ceiling is wrong... I don't know if that could be it. We usually just use the cage for when it's time for sleep or if we're going out since we don't like to leave him unsupervised outside his cage.

His cage itself is a fair size (we're going to be upgrading soon but it's something like 2 ft x 2 ft at the bottom by 3.5ish ft tall) but we leave the door open all day with one of the bio-vines going down into it so he can get out of there if he likes. Sometimes he does, and sometimes he just prefers to stay in his cage. But if a PERSON is around (usually me or the Boy), he just goes right to us.

When he's on me I don't try and touch him or anything, I try and stand near the vines coming down from the ceiling so he'll climb on there instead. It's true that occasionally he WILL be miserable and hiss and puff and stuff, but more often than not he just seems to be really curious.

Oh, another question: Does anyone else's chameleon try and whack you with their tongue when they're mad at you!? At first I thought it meant he must be hungry, but he'd just eaten... I think I got the oddest one in the bunch...

 

[PardalisGirl]

A question about handling them......

Sounds to me like you won the lottery with that boy. It seems like he is a very curious roamer. He is also used to getting out of the cage on a regular basis and enjoys it. I would let his behavior be your guide. Let him climb onto you if he wants to. Back off if he is pissy. He may also be searching for a "playmate". At his age his hormones should be in full swing. He may be instinctively searching for a mate.

I have a wild caught Veiled male who is of the pissy variety. He paces his large cage but isn't given the opportunity to leave it because of his more aggressive nature. He will hiss and bite if you invade his boundaries. I don't handle him. He is extremely active though. I think he is looking for a mate too. I have a wild caught girl in another room that I am conditioning before I breed her. I showed her to the male for about two seconds and he literally jumped out of the cage onto me to get to her before I knew what was happening. Thats the only time he has made a move towards me. I quickly put the girl away. Won't do that again until she is ready.

It sounds like you have a good arrangement with your male. Every situation is different. You seem to be adapting to his wants and not the other way around. That is the most important thing in my opinion. Can we see a picture of him out and about?

 

[Mintglow]

Sounds to me like you won the lottery with that boy. It seems like he is a very curious roamer. He is also used to getting out of the cage on a regular basis and enjoys it. I would let his behavior be your guide. Let him climb onto you if he wants to. Back off if he is pissy. He may also be searching for a "playmate". At his age his hormones should be in full swing. He may be instinctively searching for a mate.

I have a wild caught Veiled male who is of the pissy variety. He paces his large cage but isn't given the opportunity to leave it because of his more aggressive nature. He will hiss and bite if you invade his boundaries. I don't handle him. He is extremely active though. I think he is looking for a mate too. I have a wild caught girl in another room that I am conditioning before I breed her. I showed her to the male for about two seconds and he literally jumped out of the cage onto me to get to her before I knew what was happening. Thats the only time he has made a move towards me. I quickly put the girl away. Won't do that again until she is ready.

It sounds like you have a good arrangement with your male. Every situation is different. You seem to be adapting to his wants and not the other way around. That is the most important thing in my opinion. Can we see a picture of him out and about?

I'm really hoping this is the case ^_^

I should be able to get some pics up soon, the only ones we have so far are on our cellphones, but the Boy is getting a good camera soon, so we should be able to get a ton of pics

We wish we could breed him but we just don't have the facilities to do so right now. We have ample room for one chameleon, but housing two would be a problem in this apartment, and also since we're both in University and working part time as well we will not have the time to keep an eye on a cluster of cham babies. We're hoping that in a few years, though, when things are a little more stable (and we get a house) that we can undertake that project!

 

[Mintglow]

He just keeps doing it!

We re-did his lower cage yesterday, put in all new vines, plants, and so on. He was content up on his ceiling hangout the whole time. When we brought him down to check out his new cage, he seemed to love it. Didn't want to go back up to his high spot.

We leave one of the front doors open whenever he's in the cage, because it's an exo-terra and not mesh (usually it's not a big deal because he's out climbing in the open air all day but we like the cage to be nice and ventilated obviously, it's only shut when he's asleep) and all day he was in there chilling, climbing around and checking everything out. He's able to get out at any time so he can go climb up to the ceiling, but he didn't seem too interested in that today.

AND YET. As soon as I came up to the door to get his cricket bowl out (took a huge dump in it after eating, lovely), he made the same flying leap at me, and wouldn't calm down until I let him sit in the palm of my hand. By this, I can conclude that he doesn't have a problem with his cage, since he is able to get out of it at any time.

Weird, eh?

 

[Julirs]

They are all so different. My big male Veiled will come out to my husband or myself nearly every time we open the doors. We take him out to his tree on the screen porch or he wanders the living room. He is entirely non-agressive, and easily handled. No fear of anything. He acts in every other way like a chameleon should, eating and basking. His wife to be is in the next room, and when he catches sight of her he paces like a mad-man so I keep her obstructed from his view!

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Its not typical but in rare cases some will do this behavior...just as long as its on his terms he wont be stressed.