i understand a chameleon isnt going to respond exactly like a horse would. but somethings i believe should. its not the overall handling which will prolly be a nice side affect. its that currently everytime i put my hand in the cage he gets all *****y. i need him to respect the hand that feeds.
that being said. there is a technique that would normally prove usefull to my dad when trying to accomplish the same thing. i called it the hat trick but basically you dont need the horse respect YOU right away just the hat that you wear. so teach it that the object is not to be messed with by acclimating it with the horse. it will be timid or even scared at first but it will come around. i kind of did this with the glove i sometimes use to get him out. he gets all pissy normally when its on my hand and im trying to get him so i just took the glove off and laid it in the cage on a branch. he was very curious, checked it out for like 30 mins. kinda circled it. since this is similar to what a horse does with the hat i decided to just open the cage for a bit. and walk away. come back hes still eyeballin the glove...ok put the glove on present my hand ......and he climbed to it. now this just happenned ill have to see if i can repeat it.
First, a chameleon is a reptile, not a mammal, and they're is really no way to compare the two. Horses have been domesticated for thousands of years, chameleons have not. I think you should do some research on the reptilian brain and what it is capable of. It's easy to attribute thoughts and feelings we have to animals that don't really have them. I'm not trying to be rude, so please don't take it that way... I've just heard a lot of people ask, why doesn't my chameleon like me?, or what is my chameleon thinking?, etc.
That said, I think it's a good thing you are giving the chameleon the choice to step on your hand or not. I've had several people tell me how they forcefully handled their chameleon "until they liked it". The fact of the matter is that most chameleons (especially veiled chameleons who are known to be cranky anyway) do not want to be handled and will never like it... And the best outcome you're ever going to have is a stressed out, unhappy chameleon that will stand on your hand because he's afraid of you.
I think it's much more beneficial and personally rewarding to build a mutual trust with your chameleon. Then he may come to the front of the cage when he sees you, because you bring food and he knows you won't hurt him. If he wants to climb on your arm, that's fine, but not all are going to want to. Chameleons have no natural defenses other than running and hiding. When they see something bigger than they are moving towards them, they automatically assume its a threat.
I don't handle my chameleons unless necessary, and none of them run out hide from me now. They trust me not to hurt them and don't mind when I get close while cleaning their cages or feeding them. To me that means a lot because it's what they are really capable of doing, and the closest a chameleon will ever come to making me his "friend".
