Handling little chams

Kalibr03

New Member
Hi all, I recently became the proud owner of a 1 month old and a 2 1/2 month old veiled chameleon. I love handling my snakes and all animals in general. I plan on letting these guys out of their cages alot once they get bigger. Since they are little I'm worried about handling them too much and/or scaring them. I eventually want them out everyday but for now how can I get them used to me/being handled. Around what age can I handle them everyday and when/how should I start to get them used to it. Do treats work? I guess its just classical conditioning right. Anyways I know many of you have extended chameleon experience so please let me here your thoughts or how you did it.
 
umm...sorry to say this, but chameleons don't like to be handled often. Everyday handling could easly lead to your chams getting very stressed out. I would limit your self to 1 or 2 handlings a week. Also your chams are very young, so right now I don't think you should handle them at all. I would at least wait until they are 4 months old to start once a week handlings. Sorry, I'm sure this is the news you did not want to hear.

-Jason-
 
I don't want to play with them but I want to be able to take them outside or put them in other trees/plants I have around the house.
 
In that case, it is much better. There is nothing that compares to natural sunlight for chams. But I would still wait at least 4 months before you start putting them on new plants in and out of the house. I suggest putting a plant into their encloser and when you want to take them out just take out the whole plant. This way they will get sunlight and they won't be the wiser.
 
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