Bathing chameleons

[AlexKnight]

I recently posted about my 5-6 possibly 7 month old male veiled been aggressive to me since I seperated him from his mate.

She is pregnant so I bathed her to hydrate, is it a good idea to do the same to the male? He is contantly murky brown, sometimes going black and yellow.

I spray him 4-5 times a day with good quantaties but he never drinks.

Also, if a male is acting aggressive what should I do? I can't just leave him and I need to clean his viv out... any suggestions on the handling due to the issues?

 

[kokom05lb]

Veileds are naturally aggressive away. I would let your chams have a lukewarm shower for about 10 ~ 15 min.

 

[carol5208]

What do you mean bathe to hydrate???

 

[thephotoprincess]

I'm not sure what you mean by bathing them? If you are sitting them in a tub of water I would suggest a shower instead. Chameleons don't really absorb water through their skin.

You can put a plant in the shower and put the chameleon on it. Use lukewarm water and make sure the water is not directly on them - more off to the side and bouncing off the shower walls.

As far as being aggressive, free ranging and hand feeding are the best ways to get him more comfortable. Are you able to free range him at all-even part time? They tend to be far less aggressive if they are not defending their territory (the cage) and are just part of the environment in a free range set up.

If you can't free range you can hand feed to help him get used to viewing you and your hand as a positive source.

Non of the veileds I raise are aggressive due to the interaction they get from us, which includes handling, free ranging and hand feeding. I brought home a very large and aggressive adult female veiled last Friday. She was nearly impossible to handle and extremely aggressive in trying to bite. She is on a free range right in the living room where she sees me all day and is already hand feeding and much easier to handle. When she sees my hand now she looks for food rather than trying to bite my fingers off.

 

[AlexKnight]

By bathing I meant that I held her over a tub of water and poured it around her and onto her, she went a green colour and was calm.