do your eyes scare your chameleon?

[chameleons707]

Every time I hold my chameleon its all fine but once he looks at me and he sees I'm moving my eyes he gets freaked out! Its kind of funny because first hes all fine and all of a sudden my eyes move around and he freaks out. I was wondering if chameleons do eye communication? I'm guessing yes because he reacted to my eye movement. What do you guys think? And your chameleon do that to?

 

[frankpayne32]

I have found this to be absolutely true. When I first get a chameleon and am working with it, cleaning cage, feeding, etc. I always avoid eye contact. When you first start tong feeding a chameleon it always work better to avoid eye contact or to turn your head to the side. It's amazing the difference this makes. This holds true for many species of reptiles in my experience. Great observation, not many people pick up on that.

 

[Pharaoh2015]

I find it does make them look at you more. Also shirt color

 

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

Absolutely ..the moment they catch you looking at them, they feel threatened ..

 

[CNorton]

Wow! I guess I never really thought about it but yeah, that makes perfect sense. You learn something new every day!

 

[PatsyB]

I've noticed this with mine. He is fine with me talking to him near his cage but as soon as we make eye contact he retreats.

 

[TCMontium]

My chams are not really scared of my eyes. They move slowly and sometimes stop eating when I look at them, bur usually they want to tongue-shot my eyes and eat my pupils.
One of my chameleons shot my right eye already, it did not hurt or harmed neither of us though.