Getting her tame or comfortable?

[Progrmor]

Hi.
Got a 2 months old veiled female. Eating/drinking good. She have been with me for 3 weeks.

This is her enclosure:

When im asking this, keep in mind that she is like 5cm long.

Should I go for keeping the foliage more open so she will be more visible for me and therefor she will get more comfortable with me since she cant hide really well?

OR should I make the cage even more dense? Adding even more plants and cover pretty much the whole cage with no open space at all?

What will make her more comfortable with me? Cuz as soon as I enter the room she will rush down to the bush and hide and wont show up until I leave or if I sit completely still for an hour or so.
Please help!

I appreciate your responses! //Prog

 

[Nahla1891]

Advise

I have a veiled she was about the same age when I recieved her. And yes she is extremely shy. My advise for you would be. Foliage is nice but it also gives her more hiding spaces. you can add things on side like vine foliage they seem to like that.Try to leave the door to the cage open. Place your hand close to her she will hiss and hide just continue this reputition. Unfortunately their is a time where you are gonna have to get her on your hand.And yes it will seem unplesant for her and you but what ever you do. Do not jump from her. I know it sounds crazy but let her bite you. She will only do it a few times. Hopefully you have some form of calluses.The only way to actually get here on your hand is gently scoop her but let her see your hands first she will show her mood. Then move away from her home because if she sees it she will go for it. Its all about repititon...Note to you I am not a novice. But I do alot of research....Hopefully that helps

 

[kplatvoet]

I would go with high coverage so she feels secure - but I'm no expert -I don't think you want it so thick that you can't find her though- because you know that your going to look for her and she'll be laughing at you.
What worked for me was flies - I'm not sure if she's big enough for the blue bottle ones but mantisplace has smaller ones -(stapple or house) and you can get them for about 15 dollars with postage - you get 100 and split them into 3 or four batches one batch you hatch in a small container the rest you put in the fridge- (for later use) you want a bunch -and let them loose (a min in the freezer slows them down so they don't get away when your putting them in)
My experience with my panther was that he went wild and forgot about being afraid of anything- I did this when I was putting him in his outside cage for some sun last summer and by Monday he had stopped running and hiding - he had a hanging laundry hamper with light coverage and at first I put him farther away but once he had one or two I could get close and watch -He was too busy hunting flies to worry about what I was doing -
The staple flies don't hatch well after about a week in the fridge -I'm happy my Jackson has moved up to the bigger ones - It was never as shy but also loves them - It was less stressed outside - Now that it's too cold for outside I put them in after cage cleaning or for treats on weekend. Below will give you a general idea (and also an idea of why you don't want to go too big)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndsapD4ftjY

 

[fluxlizard]

What will help the most so she is comfortable around you is to do a lot of hand feeding. When she finally realizes that you = tasty treats, she will hurry to the front of the cage when you approach.

 

[Progrmor]

Ok I will try to leave the door open more often when Im around!

The problem with handfeeding is that I cant really get close to her with my hand, since she hides deep in the ficus tree when I approach... And from there, its useless to try getting close :/ I will have to caught her when she is basking or something.

 

[CarlC]

Just a note about the flies. The stable flies are smaller. If you go with using flies make sure you gut load them before feeding them to you chameleon. The mantis place gutload is good. I'm sure someone here has a better reciepe though. Try to wait until the flies abdomen is big and white to feed them to your chameleon.

Carl

 

[Progrmor]

Just a note about the flies. The stable flies are smaller. If you go with using flies make sure you gut load them before feeding them to you chameleon. The mantis place gutload is good. I'm sure someone here has a better reciepe though. Try to wait until the flies abdomen is big and white to feed them to your chameleon.

Carl

My local petstore aint got any for the moment so Im using small crickets right now, and a couple of mealworms some days.

But I willl never be able to handfeed her since she hides instantly when I get close

That is why I was wondering if I should make the cage more "open" and remove some foliage so that I would be able to hand feed her?

 

[fluxlizard]

You might make it more open. First thing I would try though is being really patient- you might have to stand there when she is hungry with that first bug of the day for 15-20 minutes holding really really still while waiting for her to get comfortable. And you might have to keep trying without success for a few days.

 

[Ninkylou]

I started with long tongs, then shorter tongs, then holding the cup, then putting food on my palm, inch by inch, small victories and not jamming a hand in at her is what will win the game. It's chess not football.

Just imagine something bigger than you coming in at you. They have protective instincts, there is no human emotion attached, she is not 'scared' she is just doing what they do to survive. She doesn't know that you are the nice guy.

My littlest guy is the same, if I reach in he rotates on a branch to conceal himself. He will take food when I hold the cup, but not off my hand as yet. He is just over 4 months. Ziggy knows the hands mean food, so he comes to the door whenever I come near. He is only about 8 months. You need to restrain yourself from pushing to fast, don't assume one small victory has won the war. It takes time and patience, but sometimes they will never tolerate handling. My femail veiled used to take things from hand but completely stopped after I moved her to the larger enclosure. She would hiss and gape and bite me whenever I reached in to the enclosure. Every Cham is different.

Good luck with her.

 

[Progrmor]

You might make it more open. First thing I would try though is being really patient- you might have to stand there when she is hungry with that first bug of the day for 15-20 minutes holding really really still while waiting for her to get comfortable. And you might have to keep trying without success for a few days.

I started with long tongs, then shorter tongs, then holding the cup, then putting food on my palm, inch by inch, small victories and not jamming a hand in at her is what will win the game. It's chess not football.

Just imagine something bigger than you coming in at you. They have protective instincts, there is no human emotion attached, she is not 'scared' she is just doing what they do to survive. She doesn't know that you are the nice guy.

My littlest guy is the same, if I reach in he rotates on a branch to conceal himself. He will take food when I hold the cup, but not off my hand as yet. He is just over 4 months. Ziggy knows the hands mean food, so he comes to the door whenever I come near. He is only about 8 months. You need to restrain yourself from pushing to fast, don't assume one small victory has won the war. It takes time and patience, but sometimes they will never tolerate handling. My femail veiled used to take things from hand but completely stopped after I moved her to the larger enclosure. She would hiss and gape and bite me whenever I reached in to the enclosure. Every Cham is different.

Good luck with her.

Thanks for the respons guys! But since the foliage in her cage is so dense I cant even locate her.. Shall I just stand with a cricket/worm in my palm by the entrie of the cage and wait or should I try to get my hand close to her?

 

[kplatvoet]

It just takes time - rearranging the cage to often isn't good either - both of mine get upset when they get back in their cages after a cleaning and I try my best to put everything back as it was - they can tell if a leaf is out of place- I had the same problem as your having with hand feeding as mine saw my hand as the enemy and would run when I would fill his cricket cup in - the fly thing was pure accident - I had gotten him them and his cage needed cleaning and it was easier to give them to him outside on a nice day - after two days of being outside with flies he didn't run on Monday morning when I filled his cup -might have had nothing to do with the flies- It took a while longer before he would eat a worm out of my hand and even longer before he would do it while I was watching - I doubt you'll ever find them in a pet store but you can get them at mantisplace.com

CarlC"If you go with using flies make sure you gut load them before feeding them to you chameleon."

Your right of course - I use mantisplace's fly food and an flukers orange cube for water in the container when I hatch them - i have a bunch of them that I was given and bought before I knew better - opening the container to give them better scares me a bit ...but I'll have to look around some more for better fly gutloading -