Building trust, best handling practices

[Franquixote]

I have a 4 month old panther and am trying to get him to accept handling. So far, I never take him out (or rarely) and only try to get him off the screen top so he doesn't get too much heat or UV but otherwise do my best to just move slowly, cup feed a little, and speak to him to get him used to the sound of my voice. He doesn't seem to mind me too much except for when I remove him from the top.
The past few nights right before lights out I have been gently rubbing the top of his head for about 15 seconds while he is sleepy and he doesn't try to move.
I don't expect that he will ever enjoy being handled, but I would like to build trust. I wouldn't say he enjoys when I give him a scratch on the head but I don't think he is stressed by it either- no color change or movement.

When he is a bit larger I was thinking that maybe putting a heating pad or hot water bottle under my shirt and seeing if he will tolerate hanging out for a few minutes on me might be good.


I would appreciate any thoughts on similar exercises to accustom him to a bit of handling.

 

[Fireborn]

Chameleons don't have ears so I'm not sure if talking to them helps. I did however have a male shoot at someone's lips once... maybe he thought they were worms.

 

[MSMorgan]

Start with hand feeding. If he'll take a feeder item from you that's a good start. From there, offer a hand and see if he'll climb on. Lucky climbs on my out stretched hand, up my arm and then wants back into his enclosure. It's good enough for me and it doesn't appear that he's stressed while doing it.

 

[Franquixote]

WOW thanks for the tip about hearing! I just went on Youtube to test sounds from 200 to 600 hz which is their presumed range of hearing.
I tried to harmonize my voice within that range and to me it sounds like speaking or just humming in the upper range of my voice would fall within his ability to hear. I wonder if just humming in that range might create an association with my voice. Couldn't hurt to try except if my family catches me doing it and has me dragged off to an asylum.

 

[Ceycham]

I have read that they can hear some. I know flies buzzing sounds perks mine up.

 

[kinyonga]

Not to do with tamin but when you're taking him off the top of the cage don't grab him and pull...you might damage his nails.

Also...although chameleons don't hear well some do sense vibrations...
http://home.pcisys.net/~dlblanc/articles/ChamTalk.php

 

[Weebo]

Best of luck! My 7 month old male will sometimes eat a worm from my hand but not always. He never climbs on to my hand when I offer, he usually gets scared and hides. Lately what I've been trying is opening the cage and letting him come out on his own, I set up a vine that runs up to my curtain rod and I have a couple branches ziptied up there. He loves it! But so far still no luck with coming out to me