Could you give me your opinions...Chameleons

[Shelton]

Hi!! I've been looking for a good Cham forum lately and found this place!! You all seem to love Cham's so you'd be the best people to ask. This is a question I want to look deeply into so all opinions and viewpoints are much appreciated!

What do you think about handling chameleons? What viewpoint do you take on the issue?

- Do you think its wrong?
- Do you believe that handling them isn't as stressful for them as people make out?
- Do you refuse to believe that there is any wrong in Cham handling?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'd like to hear your experiences

 

[JoshCrane1]

handling should be avoided, and should be limited to neccesity.

 

[chamlover]

Boy did you open a can of worms. lol. For the most part it is believed that handling most chams will stress them out and stress is one of the number 1 causes of fatality in chams. Mind you some chams will tolerate it better than others but for the most part you really need to think of them as a hands off kinda pet. You might be able to pick them up, they might SEEM like they are happy sitting on your hand, head, sofa, whatever, but nature is often not what it seems. When you go to place your cham back in his enclosure, does he run like his life depends on it? Because to him it seems that way. Look at this from his point of view. You are bigger then him and you look at him with both eyes forward (just like he does before he eats something). Don't you think that would be stressful? Again like i said, alot of people have chams that will TOLERATE being handled. I have a male veiled that falls asleep on my hand occasionally and refuses to get off but that is only when HE wants to. So i guess my answer to you is it can depend on the individual cham but for the most part don't take the chance of stressing out your cham (unless he shows YOU that he wants to) it's just not worth it. Admire them for the animal they are from afar and just be happy being the food god.

Debby

 

[lonomac]

I think it depends on their personality. My female is so docile, she will sometimes run to me. So she isn't stressed out if I carry her around sometimes. However my Male is horridly anti social. He stresses when he sees me 20 feet away. I basically wont handle him to save him the unnecessary stress

 

[Geckoxp]

Ahhh let the fun begin on this one....I have always stated that you will need to handle your cham in one way or another. I also believe that its up to the cham if it wants to be handled or not. Its very easy to determine if thats the case or not by what reaction he/she gives you when you put your hand near it. I have a Nosy be that will come out and be handled without any problems at all. I don't get a hiss out of him and even at night he will get grumpy but is more then happy to fall asleep on my hand. My Ambilobe runs away and doesn't want to be handled. Now he wont hiss at all or try and bite me and if needed he will allow me to handle him BUT I respect his wishes and I will not tick him off he he refuses or shows signs of leave me alone. At night forget it he wants nothing to do with anything so I will not pick him up period.

What I think we can all agree on here is that chams are not a dog or cat and should not be treated as one. They are more of a show animal no matter what the attitude of the animal. What we differ on here is if they should be handled at all...my personal opinion is that hey if the cham allows you to do it and he/she shows no sign of stress then feel free to...just don't overdue it and leave the handling to a brief period of time. You can tell when they want to go back.

 

[Shelton]

Ah guys this is just what I wanted, some great in-depth discussion!! I really hope you don't mind bringing me up to speed on this. This is ace

 

[Julirs]

I leave it up to them, except in the cases where I need to do a cage deep clean or look them over for any problems. I only have one that waits to come out, readily comes out, and never hisses or gapes. And I do no over handle him at all either. Almost everyone of mine will come to the front of the cage and hand feed. That is good enough for me!

 

[jannb]

I became a cham owner in Oct. 07 but my daughter has owned chams for about 4 years. My cham loves to be handled. He's like a bird and would sit on my hand, shoulder or head all day if I'd let him. He likes all people. Even a stranger can come over and he'll get right off his tree onto their hand. He was like that when I got him at around 7 months old. Every cham my daughter has every had will crawl out of the cage onto your hand as soon as you open the door. Some of them don't even have cages, they just live in large Ficus trees. They love to go outside and walk around. Right now I am babysitting 6 of her chameleons and I take turns with them, plus my own, walking them around and around our 16x30 ft. pool several times a day and they love it! Plus I also get my exercise. We have been lucky, I guess to have never has a chameleon that wants to stay in his cage and not be messed with. I have read on here that they're quite a few like that, so I guess it just depends on the cham and maybe the person, too.