handling chameleons

[Frenchie4858]

Hello


I was wondering if there was a way to get to hold one of my chams. I know holding them stresses them, but I would just like to hold them once in a great while without being bitten. They always want to bite me if I get too close to them.


Jack

 

[Dunnigan]

That's exactly how my guy is (male veiled), i have had him for 10 months or so nothing has worked. Chameleons have personalities just like we do and you really cant do to much about it ( well i havent anyway )

put plainly some like being handled and some dont

A good example would be, i was at the pet store today and i was looking at a blue bar panther and he started clawing at his door, much like a dog wanting out, the person who worked there took him out and let me hold him and he ran up my arm and sat on my head. The chameleon also let me HAND feed him.

after this it took everything i had in me not to take him home

 

[Oliver]

ha wow, i definately would not have thought twice about that decision. i would not have been able to resist that little guy

 

[Dunnigan]

ha wow, i definately would not have thought twice about that decision. i would not have been able to resist that little guy

Im moving in 3 weeks or else i would have

If he is still there when i get settled in I may take him home with me

 

[Vegas Darci]

Try putting big gloves on and then holding them...usually once they are in your hands after that then they'll settle down...it's usually just the initial getting them out of the cage that they don't like.

 

[littlevillage]

That's exactly how my guy is (male veiled), i have had him for 10 months or so nothing has worked. Chameleons have personalities just like we do and you really cant do to much about it ( well i havent anyway )

put plainly some like being handled and some dont

A good example would be, i was at the pet store today and i was looking at a blue bar panther and he started clawing at his door, much like a dog wanting out, the person who worked there took him out and let me hold him and he ran up my arm and sat on my head. The chameleon also let me HAND feed him.

after this it took everything i had in me not to take him home

That's how I ended up with my Hammie ( male veiled ). He was at the pet store that I work at. Every time I went up to his cage he would try to climb on my finger through the glass. At the time he was about 2" stv. I couln't resist. Now, he's about 10" stv & is still the same way. I have a hard time feeding him because every time he sees me coming, he comes right to the door of the cage wanting to come out. I consider myself lucky to have gotten him. I was hoping that his sister would have the same disposition.....wrong. She would bite me if given the chance!

 

[jannb]

Hello


I was wondering if there was a way to get to hold one of my chams. I know holding them stresses them, but I would just like to hold them once in a great while without being bitten. They always want to bite me if I get too close to them.


Jack

Have patience with him. If you go VERY SLOW with him and give him plenty of time he might come around. Wear a light green color.....sometimes they like green. When you can watch him, leave his door open and sit a tree in front of his door and see if he'll climb out onto it. Try letting him take a worm from you hand. Do that for awhile and then maybe he might get use to you. Jann

 

[panthercham]

I think its important that you can handle them without getting too stressed out. You need to do this so that you can examine them if they are ill or to administer medications.

My chams dont get handled too much but just enough to be able to bring them out of their cage to put on an outside tree when cleaning their cage etc

All mine have different personalities but the underlying factor i believe is trust. All mine learned to come out and when they came out it is a "great, over the top, I love this" experience.

The biggest thing with mine was wearing neutral gardening gloves (advice I got from this site and it was more for my peace of mind cos I am a whimp) and just taking it slow. I have an extra bio vine which I got them on and then just slowly put my hand in and after a few minutes just gently tilted the vine towards the glove and after a few attemps and many hisses and much drama they would just move slowly onto the glove and sit there. When they did this they got to go outside in the real sun, got a few silkworms and just had a fun time. Now I dont need gloves as I just put my hand out and they climb on ready for an adventure.

Do something similar and they soon learn that coming out of the cage is a great thing. 3 of my chams are good with this, I can handle them, give them a going over to make sure they are ok but 1 is very moody and can take longer but in the end kindness and a lot of patience always works. Anytime I have been impatient and just grab them always ends up in puffed up, hissing peed off chams.