Any way to get chameleon used to people in general?

[ashmichaelson]

Hey all,
So I have a 2-3 month old (I'm assuming by her size and coloration, the pet store we got her at had no info on her and I had to figure out myself that she is female) baby veiled named Pascal (It's incredibly stereotypical, but the name suits her ), I got her a little over a month ago. About two weeks after I picked her up I started feeding her with large tongs, just taking live crickets and putting them on a leaf near her, which she would immediately eat. Now I can hold crickets with the tongs and she'll shoot them right out of my grip. She's a very good eater and drinker and she'll do both while I have the cage door open and I'm watching her. I turn her lights off at put her to bed around 8pm every night, and I turn the main lights in my room off and just keep my nightstand lamp on so that she can fall asleep quickly and easily, and I just study or read by lamplight until I'm ready to go to bed. She's never had a problem falling asleep this way.
A few nights ago my little brother (he's 14) came into my room to say hello right after I put Pascal to bed and he went over to her cage and started to look for her. I came to look too, and when I found her she hadn't found a spot to sleep yet but she was all puffed up and had her defensive colors displayed. She didn't relax until my brother was gone, but when I came back again and watched her, her colors went neutral again and she continued to find a little place to curl up on and she even went as far to fall asleep while I was watching.
While I'm happy that she trusts me enough to live her life normally with me watching and that she sees me as a positive force in her life, I'm worried that I'm the only person that she'll ever be that way with. I'm going to be moving up to my boyfriend's town in a few weeks, and I want her to be able to respond to my boyfriend like that too when all is said and done. Would he have to go through the same process that I did to gain her trust? I know that it's hard to get chams to trust anyone in general, but is there an effective way to condition her to just tolerate the presence of all people who interact with her in a positive way?

Any input is appreciated! And if I'm just being stupid and expecting too much from my Pascal, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

[Wowbango]

It's just like any other pet. They trust who they know. Especially Chameleons being so small, they're scared and defensive to anything that can be perceived as a predator. They think they'll eat them. With enough time and exposure, they'll get comfortable to anybody that's around them long enough. Eventually, they'll be ok around other people if you're in the area. Just takes time. There's no quick solution to this.

 

[nightanole]

1-2ft tongs and "treats" that they only get with the tongs/fingers. Its worked for me for 20 years.


"the lizard doesnt like me"
"here have a super"

 

[ashmichaelson]

Thanks so much for the input, like I said I guess I'm just expecting too much from Pascal too soon. Those things take time. However, it seems as though things are looking good already! A good friend of mine that I went to college with came over last night to see her, because I was cleaning her cage and I already had her out. It may have just been a good day for her, but she was an absolute dream to handle for me and my friend. You could tell that everything was new to her but she didn't act like she was stressed out by being out of her cage at all, I would daresay that what I saw in her body language and the way she interacted with us was curiosity. This was the first time she's actually been out for longer than five or ten minutes, and it was a very successful operation!