Am I doing this right? (enclosure, etc)

[glitch77]

Pictures speak louder than words, so here goes:

Basically that's the setup, and my veiled cham "Waldo" hides in there (he is about 4.5 months old, bought from FLChams). He really seems to dislike me, very scared when I walk in the room and cautious until I've been sitting down for a while. I mist regularly, but am about to install an auto mister so everything will be clockwork. He gets a diet of small crickets and Phoenix Worms and I am about to get a shipment of silkworm eggs which I home can become his steady food as crickets are a huge hassle to deal with. (I will give them to him as treats occasionally of course, as well as larger stuff when he's older.)

My main question is about his personality towards me. If I so much as walk up to the cage, he runs in terror. The only time he doesn't seem to mind me being close is when he is in his normal sleeping branch (which is oddly right up front). I don't want to hold him or anything, I just want to be able to see him up close, and hand-feed him sometimes for the fun factor. Is there anything I can do?

Also, some vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWDC8hM5BBY&fmt=6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fAAQ_aWkO8&fmt=6

 

[FooL111394]

Hey you stole my cham's name.

 

[beenpanced]

Its really up to your cham if you and him are gonna get along. My 1yr old Veiled male was the same way when I got him at 4 months old. It took a few months before he didn't see me as a immediate threat. Even now he is wary of me but now I believe he has come to associate me with food so he's tolerant of me. During his weekly cage cleaning, when he is removed, he doesn't always agree that its time to go and has even bit me once (I now use a leather glove that he REALLY hates). But he doesn't really try to hide or start puffing up if I just view him or feed him. He even likes to hand feed but he really stares the food down before he zaps it. Basically all I can suggest is to take your time and let him get to know you and eventually after some baby steps he MAY come to like so much that he comes the door to greet you when you open it.

 

[FooL111394]

grrrrrrhhhhhhhXD

 

[cacoonkitty]

veileds behavior

hey , i think your viv looks great, he looks happy enough in the videos and is eating which is a good , he is only a baby and hopefully as he grows older he will become more tollerant of you, my baby gets quite cross with me when i go near him to clean the viv or feed him and hisses and tries to bite me sometimes but recently i have been gently handling by putting my hand flat in front of him and coaxing him onto my hand from behind and i will handle him and let him climb on me for short durations they can jump so make sure you are not to high up just incase and he is getting better, i think mine is slightly older than yours by a month or so, just give it time, make sure your temps and humidity and mistings are right and that he is in a quite area of the house but keep persisting- slowly slowly catch a monkey as my gran used to say. good luck , i think hes lucky he has someone that cares about him as you seem to be! katt

 

[kenya]

It looks like a fun viv, but I would ditch the ladders and get some nice branches wired in. Madrone is good as is manzanita and mesquite.

I have heard that the reason you do not keep chams in bird cages is that they can get their heads or limbs stuck in the bars and will die there. I would imagine that the ladders pose a similar threat.

 

[opihiman]

Nice set up! I see you have some repti carpet or astro turf in you cage. Most of the owners here will recommend nothing on the bottom of your viv. That carpet can harbor bacteria and will eventually get pretty smelly from that. You should try to disinfect it very often.

I think that you can eventually hand feed, but again it is up to your cham. So don't get your hopes up too high. Remember you are over 100 times bigger than your cham. The equivalent of this would be a african elephant running up to you...LOL...

You could try approaching the cage from a very low position and that may help.

Hope that helps.

OPI

 

[CarolenRunsen]

It looks like a fun viv, but I would ditch the ladders and get some nice branches wired in. Madrone is good as is manzanita and mesquite.

I have heard that the reason you do not keep chams in bird cages is that they can get their heads or limbs stuck in the bars and will die there. I would imagine that the ladders pose a similar threat.

I was just going to say i thought the ladders were kinda cool. Does your chameleon use them a lot?? Looks like the spaces between the bars would be big enough for him not to get stuck... for a 4 month old anyways, maybe not so much when it grows older?

 

[gentlejamo]

My female veiled was the same way when I first get her. I got her when she was about 4 months old. She spent the first few days near the bottom of the enclosure and I was pretty sketched out.

But as time went on, I would come into the room and she was up in the basking spot but as soon as I came she would scoot down and hide in the plants. This went on for a while, but eventually she was more comfortable with me around her and now I can get my hands in there and clean up after her, feed her, and prune the plants, usually, without any problems.

Be patient.

 

[glitch77]

Thanks for the responces guys, I will just have to wait and see!

Also, the bottom is not carpet, but green plastic, so no worries there, and secondly, I can get my fist through the holes in the ladders, so that should be fine.

 

[SoCaliSon]

Looks Great! I think the ladder should be fine... Just adds more to climb on if you ask me... But If you can fit your fist through the holes in the ladders one of two things going on here(keep in mind I am only going from the pics)... either you have an incredibly tiny fist, or your cage is wayyy to big for a baby Veiled................Okay I just viewed the Vid and I would have to say that while that is a great looking cage, It looks too big for that little guy.