Handling...

[barnaby]

Hi all!

I have a pygmy cham for about a year now and he's 2 years old (give or take a few months). Since I got him I only handled him maybe 5, 6 times, he's very shy and starts vibrating when a touch him, so I leave him alone. I watch him a lot, seen him eat a few times, but that's it.

Browsing through this forum I see lots of people with their cham on the shoulders, hands, hand feeding them,...
Long story short, should I interact more with my cham? Would that make him more sociable (even if he doesn't like it at first)? Any chances of teaching him to eat from my hand in the long run?

Thanks!

 

[spatulars]

My cham started climbing on me and eating out of my hands totally by surprise. He's still somewhat cranky and standoffish, but he associates me with food and water now so he just waits for me to open his cage. He has never bitten me but he generally puffs himself up at me. There's really no way to get them used to handling or interaction, either they'll do it or they won't, and even when they do it can still stress them out. There is a trick to hand feeding if you want to do that, you have to get behind the food, picture holding a bug directly in front of your face, so they concentrate on the food instead of on your body or eyes. Even using this trick, it may or may not work. Pygmy chams may be even more secretive and solitary, but my only experience is with a panther chameleon. If it doesn't work, don't be discouraged. They're sort of like fish in that it's better to look than to touch.

 

[arkist]

Your the one who knows your cham the best. If your going to try to socialize your cham make sure that not stressing them out is your higher priority.

There are several ways to make your cham more social. Hand feeding is definatly a big one. Do you take yours out for cage cleanings or sun bathing?
You can try to make your presense in the cage a more normal event, just make sure that your don't stress em out and that you do it very slowly and casually. Remeber it just may never happen.

I have had a ton of success in socializing my cham, and I plan on creating a post giving more detailed information on it before too long.

 

[kinyonga]

Be careful...these chameleons can play dead very convincingly when frightened or startled. IMHO its best not to handle them.

 

[arkist]

yea, I have heard storys about them fiegning death, being thrown away, and then crawling out of the trash can.

 

[FOREVER ENDEAVOR]

yea, I have heard storys about them fiegning death, being thrown away, and then crawling out of the trash can.

omg.....lol

 

[Mael]

I have had a ton of success in socializing my cham, and I plan on creating a post giving more detailed information on it before too long.

I'm very interested in reading this. My cham has become very anti-social as of late, and I'd like to make him a little more Civil with me.

 

[bing]

I have an ultra aggresive cham, he always snaps and bites at me when cleaning etc.. he is a captive bred veilded but his instincts always impress me. These animals are not fully intergrated to us yet a few more generations are needed, the fun is all in the watching, feeding and making them feel as at home as possible.

 

[barnaby]

My pygmy not only fears me, but he also ignores when I put food in the enclosure... I've only seen him eat 4 or 5 times and actively hunt a couple of times (one of the times because there was a delay in shipment and he was REALLY hungry when I put those crickets in), I waved at him some waxworms and he just stares at my hand thinking "what the hell does this guy want?? I better get the hell outta here!!"... I know he eats because he looks healthy, but thats about the only proof I have. I tried gently grabbing him and putting him near a small cup with a few crickets and the minute he touched the ground he completely ignored the crix and made a run into the wild, away from me!

Damn little bugger!! Ohh... how I envy those guys that put videos on youtube feeding their chams...

 

[stucoady]

My Yemen, unlike the many I have read about, is so friendly. he has never attempted to bite or hiss at me and is always very keen to climb on me as soon as I open his viv.

 

[Mael]

That's how Theodore used to be until he reached about 10 months. Then he just went completely loco and doesn't want to interact anymore.

I'm trying the technique of keeping my hand near him but not close enough that it causes him stress. He really hates it when I mist his cage and associates my hand with the spray bottle so that may be one of the problematic issues. Usually he'll run to find a good place to hide to avoid getting wet.

 

[Chamero]

Hello there, just wanted to add my thought on the topic and how people may be misinteppreting a friendly cham for an insecure cham.
Chams naturally try to reach the highest point possible, so if the cage is lowered and your hand seems like a nice branch reaching upwards, they will climb. I don't think they are being sociable, yet mistaking the arm as a way up. Anyway, not to rain on anyones parade, but before entertaining the idea that you may have lucked out and got one of the "sociable" types, one may want to take the opportunity to reevaluate their setup to make sure they aren't mistaking kindness for an insecure cham who needs an elevated cage.

 

[THECHAMMAN]

my cham eats out of my cham whenever i put something that moves in my hand, though when i get him out he puffs out and he sometimes opens his mouth and hisses but he never strikes

 

[Mael]

I'm still eagerly awaiting this re-socializing "how-to". I've been trying the method of putting my hand in his cage (but not close enough for him to start getting stressed) so he gets re-introduced to my presence.

I also have to pick up some food tomorrow so I'm going to play with hand feeding him and see if that helps too.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

My opinion is that chameleons should not be handled for the sake of handling.
I now experience the joy of a chameleon that will eat out of my hand (Agnes the piggy female veiled). This interaction causes her no stress, but trying to socialize or tame these animals further is, in my opinion, not in their best interest.
My chameleons have (over time) become accustom to me and my daily chameleon chores. I do not try to hold them and they let me work in and around their enclosures now without fear.
If I were trying to catch and hold them all the time, I don't believe we would have achieved the relationship we have now.

-Brad

 

[ThisNewCham]

I've had my male veiled for about 1 1/2 months. He's only six months, and I have yet to handle him. He hates being misted, yet won't hid, he'll just hiss and then come to terms with being misted and calms down. Whenever my hand goes near him he puffs up and hisses.

The vet handled him easily, saying that he'll rarely bite, so she just picked him up and went about her business turning him every whichway to examine him. That gave me a bit of confidence, but I'm still nervous to try and hand feed him.

 

[Mael]

Thanks for the input Brad, I agree 100%. I'll admit that I like to be able to handle my Cham, but much more importantly the ability to get him out of his enclosure in an emergency is my topmost priority.

And as always, catching him against his will is something I just outright refuse to do. Maybe it's not a matter of socializing him to be alright with handling, but rather my own willingness to move him in an emergency against his will. I suppose it just comes down to not wanting to hurt him - the best way to move him is definitely on his terms.

 

[arkist]

Perhaps people have miss understood what I meant when I said that I have had success in "socializing" my chameleon.

The only time I have ever or will ever pick up my chameleon is for cage cleanings, sun bathings, or showers.

Now that said, my chameleon does not get upset when run through my daily chores, he lets me hand feed him, he loves being misted, he doesn't have a problem using me to bridge places he wants to go, and has even chosen to walk DOWN onto me. I used the world "social" to describe interactions that are much closer to what Brad describes then to what I think some people understood.

I do not ever recommend picking up your chameleon for social purposes.

 

[barnaby]

I'd be happy if mine would hand or cup feed. Just because of health issues. It's easier to control what he eats and I'd know he was receiving his dusted bugs... but with his free range hunting some of the dusting in the crix is probably off by the time he eats them!

Maybe I did a greater job in imitating his home jungle than I suspected... he probably thinks he's still at home!