Handling my four month old male panther

[Robbothelaker]

Hi guys. I've had my Panther for about 5 weeks now and he seems nice and settled in. I have done a lot of my own research on handling chams and I know now that they don't really like it and I am absolutely fine with that. I haven't touched my Cham once yet due to the fact he really stresses out when I put my hand in calmly and slowly. He stripes up and even went to bite me yesterday. I can see how much stress he goes through and I feel bad for that. I am going away for a week next week and have arranged for him to be looked after by a very respectable reptile shop. The issue I have is eventually I will need to get him out to take him to the shop. I'm starting to doubt myself to be able to get him.
What should I do? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you guys!!

 

[JamesBryan]

Hand feeding would be the way i'd do it. This will build up the confidence in seeing your hands.

 

[Robbothelaker]

Thanks James. I have tried this but he runs from the food too. And I've been pretty persistent with it. In the end I have to free roam the food because he will not strike the food out of my hand. Maybe I just have a really grumpy Cham? At the end of the day I am happy just enjoying him by viewing but handling him is inevitable at times and Im truly struggling to pluck up the courage to get him.

 

[rshewfel]

Just handle him. I know you don't want to stress him, but he is going to be stressed until he gets used to you. I would take him out a few minutes every day or every other day. Just let him walk on you. Both of you will get used to each other. You don't want him under constant stress, but a little stress here and there won't hurt him. Panthers are not super fragile. Also keep trying to hand feed him. He will slowely calm down and eventually be used to you and experience no stress.

 

[mnlwfan]

I found that when you first start hand feeding, use a food that is considered more of a treat that your cham loves. For my Jackson this was reptiworms and dubias. She loves them and wouldn't shy away from taking them from my hand.

 

[mvad]

I have a 6+ month old male veiled. He is a grumpy grumpy Cham. I didn't try to handle him for 3 weeks after I received him. When I tried he hissed and tried to bite me. I understand that some chams will never want to be handled but in the case of a full scale cleaning and disinfecting he is going to need to be brought out. He had been out 2 times since I've had him. Both times I used a branch and leaned it up to his area on one end and on the other end I put his feeding cup with a wiggly superworm. His stomach got the better of him and he caved in. He climbed down to the worm and ate it. While on the branch I picked it (branch) up. He wasn't happy but he wasn't hissing or lunging to bite. It took a minute or two to get him to walk onto my hand. He calmed down and I put him back in after a brief visit. Good luck with yours.