Bonding with a cham?

[CauseNAffect]

So i've had my cham now for almost three weeks now, i've made sure he has been fed with all types of insects, i turn his light on every morning at 7am and he goes to sleep around 830 and i turn his lights off for him when he tucks his head under a leaf and curls his tail up.

Soooo. I purchased some superworms and have been trying to hand feed him everyday and no such luck. Whenever i open his cage up he puffs out a bit but never gapes, he just looks at me like he's unsure, and i'll hold a god damn wriggling worm right in front of his face very still....and nothing

I've been taking him out every single day and just letting him climb around on my hands letting him go where he wants on me, i feel like it's important i keep doing this so that hell get used to me and see that the repetition of me taking him out and handling, n then putting him back safely would be reassuring for him.

Bottom line is, my fucking cham doesn't like me and i take such good care of him, what can i do to change this????

 

[VeiledChams]

first of all, don't curse.. wont get you anywhere.

Second, You're chameleon not liking you is nothing personal. They are solitary animals and wont "bond" with you. There are some that'll climb on you, but that doesnt mean that they have "bonded" with you. Vast majority will go out of their way to get as far from you as they can. Since in a cage they feel corralled, they'll try to bite.

 

[thephotoprincess]

Three weeks is nothing. I have chameleons that I've had for months that are just starting to take food from me. We have one that we've had for almost a year that will hand feed but will bite like crazy if we touch her or try to pick her up or move her.

Lots of time, be gentle and patient and maybe he'll get more tolerant.

 

[panthercham]

Three weeks is nothing. I have chameleons that I've had for months that are just starting to take food from me. We have one that we've had for almost a year that will hand feed but will bite like crazy if we touch her or try to pick her up or move her.

Lots of time, be gentle and patient and maybe he'll get more tolerant.

first of all, don't curse.. wont get you anywhere.

Second, You're chameleon not liking you is nothing personal. They are solitary animals and wont "bond" with you. There are some that'll climb on you, but that doesnt mean that they have "bonded" with you. Vast majority will go out of their way to get as far from you as they can. Since in a cage they feel corralled, they'll try to bite.

Great advice!

CauseNAffect my 5 year old daughter reads this forum with me along with a lot of other youngings. Dont swear... dont want to have censor every thread that she reads.

3 weeks is nothing for a young cham settling into a new home and environment especially if you are handling him every day.

Leave him alone for a while.

Put an old towel around his cage for a week or 2 and leave him alone until he gets used to his new environment on his own. Hand feeding comes later after he is comfortable with his surroundings.

Let him get used to his environment first and then let him get used to you.

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm not going to tell you to give up hope, but I do want you to find room in your head for the idea that you'll never be cuddle buddies with your chameleons.

Take all the advice, try it all. Hopefully it will work and you'll be posting pictures of your chameleon sharing an ice cream cone with you soon.

But, be prepared for that not happening and make a place in your heart for an animal who's boundaries you have to respect.

It doesn't mean you love him less, it just means you don't press him to do something he doesn't want to do. Owning a chameleon who doesn't want to be held can still be rewarding and wonderful.

 

[TheSeymoursDOTcom]

So i've had my cham now for almost three weeks now, i've made sure he has been fed with all types of insects, i turn his light on every morning at 7am and he goes to sleep around 830 and i turn his lights off for him when he tucks his head under a leaf and curls his tail up.

Soooo. I purchased some superworms and have been trying to hand feed him everyday and no such luck. Whenever i open his cage up he puffs out a bit but never gapes, he just looks at me like he's unsure, and i'll hold a god damn wriggling worm right in front of his face very still....and nothing

I've been taking him out every single day and just letting him climb around on my hands letting him go where he wants on me, i feel like it's important i keep doing this so that hell get used to me and see that the repetition of me taking him out and handling, n then putting him back safely would be reassuring for him.

Bottom line is, my fucking cham doesn't like me and i take such good care of him, what can i do to change this????

let me guess you got a Veiled Chameleon?

 

[heartben]

get a fu**ing dog lmao.

 

[Banders675]

it is possible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPtTAzHOK8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0woTqTPklRY

Veileds are a diffrent story. how old is your cham?

 

[Olimpia]

Have you guys not seen photos of Jann's veileds and all their offspring? They're all fantastically friendly veileds. Don't generalize, I have a Nosy Be that'll take your hand off happily!

 

[VeiledChams]

Have you guys not seen photos of Jann's veileds and all their offspring? They're all fantastically friendly veileds. Don't generalize, I have a Nosy Be that'll take your hand off happily!

Doesnt necessarily mean that they have bonded with you, but i did say there are the exceptions (few and far between) that will crawl on you.

 

[Gotti]

get a fu**ing dog lmao.

Hah tooo funny

 

[CauseNAffect]

ItS a panther cham whose about 5 months old, didn't know cursing was blasphemy on the forums sry, figured that only an adult would b capable of keeping one of these lil buggers alive

I understand, and I'm not suggesting I'm tryna have him sleep on my pillow at night, I was simply curious what steps I can take to allow him to familiarize himself with me or how to approach a regimen to do so / hand feeding? Thanks for the input thus far

 

[Olimpia]

Doesnt necessarily mean that they have bonded with you, but i did say there are the exceptions (few and far between) that will crawl on you.

Oh no, not what I meant. It sounded like people were going to start with the "veileds are much meaner" thing and I don't like generalizations like that. I don't think there's any truth to it, personally.

I agree with the bonding, I don't personally believe that chameleons bond with you. Even the really friendly ones probably wouldn't be too distraught if they had access to sunlight and a giant bowl of butter worms and you disappeared forever lol I'm actually pretty sure my Daedalus would sell me into slavery for a bowl of butter worms if he could.

 

[Olimpia]

To the OP - I'm had luck with very gentle movements and lots of patience. I think one of the worst things you can do is force a chameleon out of the cage, because he's thinking "Gh no, there's this huge thing coming for me and I'm trapped in this cage!!! Ahhh I'm cornered!" So you automatically start off on a negative foot. If you need to move him use a stick so he can climb on that or let him exit the cage on his own (the latter might take an hour but it lets them be comfortable with exiting their territory or not).

 

[Texas Ranger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPtTAzHOK8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0woTqTPklRY

Veileds are a diffrent story. how old is your cham?

Hey that our guy Ranger. He is awesome it took a long time to get him to trust us he was about 6 monthsbefor he would even think of eatting from myhand.

 

[sdheli420]

Bottom line is, my fucking cham doesn't like me and i take such good care of him, what can i do to change this????[/QUOTE]

seriously..i know the fustraition(also, i dont mind the cussing as its just a form of expression, i dont chosse to be affended by, also children should not be online in the first place, if you can serch porn in one half secon, under 18, no computer) as for your cham, give it time, stay paitient, slow moving, non threatning..eventually your cham will warm up to you

 

[fluxlizard]

children should not be online in the first place, if you can serch porn in one half secon, under 18, no computer

You know, there are a number of active forum members participating who are under 18.

If a kid searches porn, they had some idea of the general nature of what they would find. The kid has made a choice.

If a kid (or adult for that matter) comes online looking for education about his/her chameleon hobby- they (and their parents) may not expect to find profanity. The choice gets removed from the kid.

That is the difference.

Some kids can and do make good choices, given the chance.

They don't need the restriction of keeping them all offline, and do not deserve to have choices taken away from them because a wished for imaginary non-existant and non-realistic restriction would remove everyone's personal responsibility to consider them in appropriate situations. Like participation in a forums about chameleon husbandry for example.

 

[HerbsForMyChameleon]

Bottom line is, my fucking cham doesn't like me and i take such good care of him, what can i do to change this????

seriously..i know the fustraition(also, i dont mind the cussing as its just a form of expression, i dont chosse to be affended by, also children should not be online in the first place, if you can serch porn in one half secon, under 18, no computer) as for your cham, give it time, stay paitient, slow moving, non threatning..eventually your cham will warm up to you [/QUOTE]

I agree with the cussing, its just a word. And as for friendly chams? well My veiled absolutely hates me but will still hand feed and my panther ive had for almost a month eats all his crickets from my hand

 

[Banders675]

veileds are meaner

Oh no, not what I meant. It sounded like people were going to start with the "veileds are much meaner" thing and I don't like generalizations like that. I don't think there's any truth to it, personally.

I agree with the bonding, I don't personally believe that chameleons bond with you. Even the really friendly ones probably wouldn't be too distraught if they had access to sunlight and a giant bowl of butter worms and you disappeared forever lol I'm actually pretty sure my Daedalus would sell me into slavery for a bowl of butter worms if he could.

I have had nice veileds and mean ones the mean ones were more common . i'm on my first panther and i hold him every morning before feeding him, today he drank water out of the spray bottle when i was misting him so he is coming around. We have only had him 2 weeks and 2 days so I think that is a good start.

the way I'm trying to go about this is I show him a worm on my open hand then put my hand just out of reach when he comes to the cage door I offer my free hand he climbs on it to gain access to the worm hand. Once out I reward him with another worn and he snipes it right out of my fingers. Today like I said I was misting his cage and he drank from the spray bottle. I put a few drops of water on the leaf in front of him, he drank them and when I went to put more he figured wth and drank from the spray bottle. I have been cup feeding 1 or 2 crickets a day and i take him out side or put him on the screen in my window. I would cup feed but I noticed when one jumped out he was all over it it was more exciting then the sitting ducks in the cup. Ed from kammers told me he had that happen so he went back free roaming crickets. If you only cup feed it takes away the instinct of hunting I feel it's important for them to keep as many natural habits as possible. but I wish I had a cham like texas rangers cham ranger that would make it more fun. So far I think Bodhi my baby nosy be is coming along,like i said I put his cage on the end table next to my spot on the couch so when I do home work, watch tv, or play video games he is right there and over the last few days I have been off and home most of the day he has been hanging out on the closest branch to me so I think he is figuring it out.

 

[Banders675]

Rangers babies

Hey that our guy Ranger. He is awesome it took a long time to get him to trust us he was about 6 monthsbefor he would even think of eatting from myhand.

Yes I know I searched ranger on the forum after I commented on your you tube video last night, I im'ed you on here also I want a Ranger baby. A male I have been trying to find a Ambanja like ranger since I seen the video I love his color I wanted a blue cham i ended up with a nosy be but I do have room for one more male). let me know I will give you my email and phone number