My name is Nicole and I adopted a 1.5 yr old female ambilobe panther two weeks ago. She's gorgeous. I'm a new chameleon owner, and new to the forum. --Yes, I know, I adopted an adult female as a first time owner. Please don't criticize me, I'm well aware of egg laying and complications. And if you were wondering, yes you read that correctly I said I adopted her, no I did not get her from a breeder. She was unwanted for simply being a female... so I took her in. I work for a vet clinic, and one of our doctors sees exotics.
She is eating/drinking wonderfully, has already shed her skin and is seeming to be adjusting quite nicely to her new home. Now she is pastel pink most of the time with occasional light green/baby blue markings that appear, why I decided to name her Opal. (The first few days after I brought her home she didn't seem pleased, she seemed to be feeling dark purple, almost black.
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I understand chameleons are a pet that you are not supposed to handle very often, but her enclosure is located in my quiet office. I also have a shelf located under the window in my office, full of plants (researched them, all cham safe- I also use organic potting soil). The shelf material is something you might find in a pantry, it has bars close together like a horizontal ladder. Next to the shelf I have a tree, in which I've wound reptile/chameleon climbing branches in it. I put a fake climbing vine along the shelf, up the window and leading to the tree. I thought it might be a cute little jungle gym for her, for when I'm working in my office to put her on there for a short while once a week or so.
I handled her perfectly the day I adopted her, and she was fine when I took her from the carrier box once I brought her home and set her in her new habitat. I saw her get handled a few times, no problem.
I wanted to allow her to get adjusted to her new home, so it's been two weeks and I decided to try and see if she would let me pick her up. She lets me fiddle with branches/decor/live plant inside the habitat, lets me put food in, clean the cage, mist the cage, adjust the dripper and lights above the habitat without too much worry..she just watches me. I slowly put my hand near her to see if she would climb on, and she started turning purple and puffed her little chin out. I then slowly pulled my hand away and just watched her for a min, she appeared to "yawn" (aka "leave me the F alone!") She was not happy at all, and I don't like her stressed. So I just left her alone, and here I am typing this She calmed down rather quickly, is now back to her normal pastel colors and sipping some water off the mesh cage sides, huddled behind a plant.
Any suggestions to getting your chameleon to tolerate being handled? It's a new environment for her, she must be scared of me. I know some of them don't like it and will never tolerate it, but like I said above I not only saw her get handled a few times, and I myself handled her briefly without a problem.
I'm not looking to handle her a whole lot for my own amusement, just be a transport to get her to her climbing area in my office. Any advice?
Thank you!
She is eating/drinking wonderfully, has already shed her skin and is seeming to be adjusting quite nicely to her new home. Now she is pastel pink most of the time with occasional light green/baby blue markings that appear, why I decided to name her Opal. (The first few days after I brought her home she didn't seem pleased, she seemed to be feeling dark purple, almost black.
)I understand chameleons are a pet that you are not supposed to handle very often, but her enclosure is located in my quiet office. I also have a shelf located under the window in my office, full of plants (researched them, all cham safe- I also use organic potting soil). The shelf material is something you might find in a pantry, it has bars close together like a horizontal ladder. Next to the shelf I have a tree, in which I've wound reptile/chameleon climbing branches in it. I put a fake climbing vine along the shelf, up the window and leading to the tree. I thought it might be a cute little jungle gym for her, for when I'm working in my office to put her on there for a short while once a week or so.
I handled her perfectly the day I adopted her, and she was fine when I took her from the carrier box once I brought her home and set her in her new habitat. I saw her get handled a few times, no problem.
I wanted to allow her to get adjusted to her new home, so it's been two weeks and I decided to try and see if she would let me pick her up. She lets me fiddle with branches/decor/live plant inside the habitat, lets me put food in, clean the cage, mist the cage, adjust the dripper and lights above the habitat without too much worry..she just watches me. I slowly put my hand near her to see if she would climb on, and she started turning purple and puffed her little chin out. I then slowly pulled my hand away and just watched her for a min, she appeared to "yawn" (aka "leave me the F alone!") She was not happy at all, and I don't like her stressed. So I just left her alone, and here I am typing this
She calmed down rather quickly, is now back to her normal pastel colors and sipping some water off the mesh cage sides, huddled behind a plant. Any suggestions to getting your chameleon to tolerate being handled? It's a new environment for her, she must be scared of me. I know some of them don't like it and will never tolerate it, but like I said above I not only saw her get handled a few times, and I myself handled her briefly without a problem.
I'm not looking to handle her a whole lot for my own amusement, just be a transport to get her to her climbing area in my office. Any advice?
Thank you!
