Attacking Himself

[kraftworkz]

I have a 16 month old Veil Chameleon and all of a sudden he seems to be sexually frustrated, and is attacking himself for about a week now. Today for the first time has drawn blood from his tail from a bite (note he is alone in the cage and no others reptiles in our house). Any suggestions?

 

[sandrachameleon]

How very odd. Can he see his reflection anywhere? Does he get enough to eat? Has he been seen by a vet?

 

[ChrisnLisa]

I would be surprised if this is due to sexual frustration. What exactly due you mean by attacking himself? He drew blood on his tail correct? Is that where he bit himself? I have a female that goes crazy for supers and I assume she thought her own tail was one. She bit herself pretty bad. The end of the tail ended up having to be amputated to avoid the spread of infection. That was about six months ago and she is perfectly fine. I would recommend having a vet take a look at the wound as you do not it to become infected. Also, can you post some pics?

 

[chameleonman57]

Athena, my female veiled chameleon did the same thing, like she thought it was a worm or something, she lost like a half a inch becuase of her doing that or maybe she thinks she is a dog that likes to chew on her tail or something.

 

[summoner12]

What is the food intake?

 

[kraftworkz]

How very odd. Can he see his reflection anywhere? Does he get enough to eat? Has he been seen by a vet?

Yes, it seems to be some kind of sexual frustration. He has been in a room with a mirrored closet door for over a year now and it has never been a problem. Well I have for the last 15 hours covered the mirror, and it seems to be working. He is still showing his pretty colors though, but no longer attacking his tail.

As to the other questions; it is not a food issue, he always has at least half a dozen crickets in the cage at a time.

I'll keep my eye on him through out the week and see what happens. What I do to stop him from his attack is spray him with a water bottle

 

[Courtney]

hes not a cat....you cant punish him but you can take him to the vet and relocate his cage cause the memory of his reflection is still there

 

[bimac6]

hes not a cat....you cant punish him but you can take him to the vet and relocate his cage cause the memory of his reflection is still there

Chameleons don't learn from being punished, correct, but if it makes him stop biting his tail in the mean time, I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

I'll keep my eye on him through out the week and see what happens. What I do to stop him from his attack is spray him with a water bottle

IMO - That's a good harmless way to stop the behavior. Better than he hurt himself.

I had a similar incident with a Melleri that could see himself in a mirror across the room. He did not attack himself but would flap his lobes and freak out. Once I removed the mirror he quickly went back to normal.