Chameleon has become somewhat hostile

[Aletheaseverino]

Hi guys! So my veiled chameleon Arlo has recently become very moody. He is almost a year old and up until a couple months ago he was such a sweet boy. I would take him out of his cage with no hastle(only about once every other day because I know they are timid and don’t enjoy being touched very much if at all) he would go on walks with me and sit on my head. But recently he just wants nothing to do with me. Today I had him free roaming for the first time in a while as I’ve been really busy and I went to put my hand out to him as I usually do and he puffed up, he then got on my arm on his own but then hissed a little bit. At this time I took him back to his enclosure as not to possibly stress him out. At no point did he change color, he recently shed a lot and I try to leave him alone because he’s very sassy when he’s shedding but he’s never been this upset with me before. I feel like a mother dealing with a rebellious teenager Please help!

He has a bird cage for good ventilation measuring at 2 feet wide by 4 1/2 feet tall

he is given crickets daily, gutloaded with mostly veggies and gets mealworms every 2-3 days which I hand feed to him most of the time

he has an automatic dripper filled with filtered water of course

Lastly he has an abricola tree in his enclosure for him to climb and a couple artificial ones hanging on the walls for extra exploring

PS: recently the abricola tree has begun dying, is it possible that this is causing him to be moody because he doesn’t have as many branches to grab onto since they’ve fallen off?

 

[JacksJill]

You called it with the rebellious teenager part. He's going though some hormonal changes. Hopefully he will come out the otherside like he was but sometimes they stay feisty.
Good plant cover does give them more security. Time to replace the plant.

 

[AnamCara]

Hi guys! So my veiled chameleon Arlo has recently become very moody. He is almost a year old and up until a couple months ago he was such a sweet boy. I would take him out of his cage with no hastle(only about once every other day because I know they are timid and don’t enjoy being touched very much if at all) he would go on walks with me and sit on my head. But recently he just wants nothing to do with me. Today I had him free roaming for the first time in a while as I’ve been really busy and I went to put my hand out to him as I usually do and he puffed up, he then got on my arm on his own but then hissed a little bit. At this time I took him back to his enclosure as not to possibly stress him out. At no point did he change color, he recently shed a lot and I try to leave him alone because he’s very sassy when he’s shedding but he’s never been this upset with me before. I feel like a mother dealing with a rebellious teenager Please help!

He has a bird cage for good ventilation measuring at 2 feet wide by 4 1/2 feet tall

he is given crickets daily, gutloaded with mostly veggies and gets mealworms every 2-3 days which I hand feed to him most of the time

he has an automatic dripper filled with filtered water of course

Lastly he has an abricola tree in his enclosure for him to climb and a couple artificial ones hanging on the walls for extra exploring

PS: recently the abricola tree has begun dying, is it possible that this is causing him to be moody because he doesn’t have as many branches to grab onto since they’ve fallen off?

Can I see the birdcage? Sounds cool

 

[Twells92]

Unrelated: I wish I could handle my veiled just one time, and she’s not even an adult yet. I think your lucky With as much as you’ve handled her.