handling

[carol5208]

I am a relatively new owner and have had a Sambava Panther for about 3 months now. My cham is about 7 1/2 mos as of today. When I purchased him from the breeder, they encouraged me from day one to handle my cham on a daily basis. I have found that my cham is super friendly and when I open the door, not only does he not hiss, puff up or run and hide, he climbs onto the door top and if you extend your arm or hand out he will climb aboard. My question is this: Why does everyone freak out so much about handling? i have been going on this forum from the day I bought my cham and I have been doing alot reading and learning. I have sat back until today and just wanted to voice my opinion about handling. If my cham enjoys it, then why is it so wrong? Am I just lucky to have gotten one with such a great temperment?. I believe that BECAUSE I have handled him, he is as friendly as he is today. If he is not stressed out over it, then why not?

 

[medadnice]

i agree, but sometimes u do get chams that no matter what prefer to not be touched, mine right now don't mind. every veiled i have had is a different story, lol

 

[shellyanne]

my nigel absolutly hates being handled now he used to fine but just lately hes been a right ppl hater!!!! no matter wat i do he just runs and hisses and puffs up.... i wish my cham was nice like yours... i still love him lots tho lol!!!

 

[Olimpia]

I also agree. But I have two that even when I started young, they just never got comfortable. One is so-so, but will bite, and the other goes into a panic and throws himself at anything just to get away from me. So those I just can't handle very often.

But I do have friendly ones that enjoy being out, so I let them. I don't agree that NO chameleons can EVER be handled, I think you just have to judge the type of personality your cham has and go from there. Some love it and some hate it, so you just have to respect what they like.

 

[carol5208]

wow I guess I am lucky then. I would never force anything on my cham if was not comfortable with the handling. He seems to enjoy it! Maybe one day he will change, but i hope not!

 

[pssh]

Pan wouldn't let me handle him even minimally when he was a baby (1.5 months even.) He bit me hard enough to break skin back then! Now I use s stick and am very careful.

 

[rocket89]

so the panthers are the one that does not mind getting handle?

 

[pssh]

No, not really. No chameleon should really be handled much unless it chooses to.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I think that panthers tend to be less aggressive than veileds. That said I think of the 3 most commonly kept species. Jacksons are the most docile of them all.

 

[Miss Lily]

I have had 3 veileds and all have been very firendly. My first female was handled regularly from 6 weeks until I got her at 6 months (she lived at the reptile shop and was used to having dpeople look at her and handle her most days. She was the sweetest girl ever and she used to sit on my shoulder and sunbathe.

I had Amy from a baby (3 months) and didn't handle her a lot to start with as she jumped off my hand and I was very nervous with her! However, she is now ok being handled and at the moment she actually pats on her door to come out when she sees me. It's like having a tiny green puppy!

Tommy is another very friendly veiled, although I can't take any credit for what a sweet boy he is. I got him when he was about 18 months to 2 years old. I don't really know how old he is, but I am his 5th owner. Poor boy was passed around so much and yet he is still very friendly and loves to be with people. He actually knocks on his viv door to come out. Some days he doesn't want to socialise and I respect that.

As much as handling from a young age helps, I also think it has a lot to do with the individual cham's personality. Tommy's brother lives at the livefood shop and he is also very friendly when it suits him!