help with handling?

yarvy

New Member
Hello,

I got my first chameleon 3 weeks ago. She is a female veiled, about 4 months old. I try to give her everything she could possibly want: a lot of crickets, superworms, mealworms, all dusted with calcium and I mist her mesh enclosure 2-3 times a day. I have a little dripper that drips onto the top of her golden pothos plant which has a lot of leaves for her to climb on and hide in. I put reptisafe water conditioner in her water. I keep my apartment warm and she has the necessary lights. She should be pretty happy I think.

Every time I slowly move my hand toward her, she puffs up and either tries to run away or hisses at me and tries to headbutt / bite my hand if I move too close. I have gotten her out several times anyway, and I tried to make those times positive experiences for her, like I took her in my bathroom and turned on the shower really hot and closed the doors so it steamed up. I put her on a plant near the window so she can look outside and also get natural light. But she always seems stressed out and like she is looking for any opportunity to escape my hand. I would guess that she views my hand as a predator. I have tried to hand feed her worms but she never accepts them until I put them on a leaf and close her enclosure door. Sometimes when I take her out she will start freaking out, and she has fallen off my hand or arm once or twice because of this.

I understand that chameleons are generally not social animals, and they typically like to be left alone. But I also understand that their personalities differ from animal to animal, and that some chameleons enjoy handling. Have I had her long enough to be able to assume that this is just her personality, that she will probably never tolerate handling? Or should I wait longer until she is more accustomed to her relatively new environment and try again? What is the best way to train a young chameleon to enjoy being handled? Should I wait a week and try again? Basically I'm just looking for tips to getting her used to handling, or I'm wondering if I should just give up and leave her alone most of the time.
 
i got my first chameleon like five weeks ago and it was like two months old and for the first two-three weeks it liked me handling it but then when it figured out that the cage was its it got really protective and i'v just held it off and on every once and a while and its been more freindly recently and what i think will be more and more handable over time. i hope this will help you :)
 
NOTE: Young chams (4 months less) are usually VERY tolerant with handling these early stages are one of their most social times. I've seen a rather rebellious stage after this. Dont get spoiled with expectations of handling after 5 or 6 months. Push through and give your cham space but keep trying. Then you'll get your reward.


Here is something I posted a while back. This tells my taming techniques and procedures. It has yielded great results. Now my chams never hides from me. I sometimes give them a couple pat on the tail or crest.

For me my hand feeding /taming techniques works on a few factors; comfort and motivation. I make sure that before even trying hand feeding my cham is situated in the new environment. I just cup feed then. After a couple of days when they start roaming and being comfortable to the new environment I increase my presence around the enclosure. I grab my bean bag and chill right by the enclosure. Surf the web watch youtube, netflix for hours. This will make him get used to my presence. After around 3 or 5 days when you see your cham comfortably roaming around the enclosure, eating, drinking and doing their normal bidding while you're around looking at your cham. At this point your cham is comfortable well more like "tolerant" of you :p

At this point hand feeding attempts begin. On the days that I have to get up early for work around, 5 A.M. and leave half and hour later I skip filling up their feeder cup. When I get back from work around 3 or 4 PM. This period of no available food should motivate them a bit. I attempt preliminary hand feeding. This is when I put the feeder cup (an item the associate with food, comfort and inanimate object that is safe) on my hand and hold it close to them. Its gonna take a few attempts but when they are comfortable eating like this the finals phase begins. Direct hand feeding. Keep on trying no sudden movements (get used to staying still for 5 mins) and the comfort and motivation combination should make them "tolerate" your actions and BAM that awesome glorious moment when they eat out of your hand

I've had great success with this method. Really makes your cham tolerant with you and its a nice feeling when they hand feed

Patience and baby steps dont rush it and youll be handsomely rewarded!

P.S. I would not recommend feeding mealworms frequently on your cham. They are known for having too much chitin and might cause impaction. Although I still believe that a mature cham with proper care and nutrition would have no problem eating mealworms. Bottom line I would wait a little while before feeding her mealworms just stick to crickets and supers for now. Also try reaching for other feerders, (dubai, hornworms, silks etc)

One more thing I recommend free ranging. My male veiled was grumpy as hell but after moving him to a free ranged section and with my method he now tolerates me and hand feeds from me :D
 
This technique was for hand feeding but could be used to transition into handling. I personally dont handle my chams just hand feeding them gives me enough satisfaction. Every now and then I do handle them usually at night when they are MUCH more docile and tolerant. :p
 
great post kwengkynator, thank you! will definitely take your advice on the mealworms and also try to spend more time directly nearby her cage before attempting hand feeding again
 
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