Help with holding my veiled

[italipinos8]

I have a 8 month old male veiled chameleon. I got him in Augest but never held him. He bobs and hisses at me all the time. When i am cleaning his cage he likes to charge at me and try to bite. I would like to hold him but never want to cause stress to him. Does anyone know any ways so i can hold him?

 

[spencer k]

use the search function, you will find many answers to the questions you may ask.
to answer your question, use a stick and urge him onto the stick and youll have him out of the cage in no time. dont be intimidated, they usually dont bite, just strike like a snake.

 

[Lancecham]

Sounds like typical male veiled behavior. Males are either very nice or "not-so-nice". The hissing and charging you is a way to tell you to back off. It is working with you. As spencer k stated, they usually don't bite, but when they do it can hurt a bit. Try urging him with a stick. Or you can come from the top and using your thumb and index finger grap him right behind the head(He won't be able to bite you if you do it right.) With the other hand, gently loosen his grip from the branch and put him on your hand, letting him to grab on your fingers. Let go slowly with the hand you grabbed him with and he should be ok. He may hiss once or twice, but when he realizes you are not going to hurt him, he will settle down.

 

[Cainschams]

Just to add to what was already said. I dont have a male veiled but my mean panther is a tough guy also. Once I get him out of his territory he calms down quite a bit at least most of the time. I have yet to get bitten by him. I use one hand to get his attention then slide my other hand underneath his chin and lift up gently. He then will try and move away and thats when you make sure you get under him and bring him on out. Sometimes when he is really mad I will mist him while I do this. He will close his eyes and not know exactly whats going on. Just dont mist right into his eye

 

[AFH]

I've got a couple male veileds and I've noticed they seem to calm down after about 1 1/2 years of age. When mine were young, they did the same thing. I think it has to do with being a juvenile. Their whole purpose is to eat, grow, and not get eaten. So they have a more aggressive attitude.

My oldest doesn't even really puff up or hiss at me anymore unless I'm trying to grab him. I'll open the cage and he'll just try to use me as additional branches and climb on out.

 

[beeze]

Have lots of patience and give him some time. Move very slow when you are around him. Try hand feeding him some nice hornworms or silkworms. Wear light green colors around him. They seem to like green. When you are around to watch him leave his door open and put a tree in front of it and don't let him see you looking and see if he'll climb out on the tree. Don't rush him and he might come around.

 

[italipinos8]

Alright, well i tried to get a garden glove and take him out. He kept bitting my finger. He didnt calm down so i put him back in his cage. I guess i just have to give it time. I have tried feeding him hornworms from my hand but he wont take them. Hopefully when he is older he will calm down.

 

[spencer k]

wow he sounds really agressive, ive never had a problem getting my chams out luckily. my female is a little bit of a witch tho, shes strikes better than a cobra.

 

[TylerAndHarold]

I have a veiled who is around the same age and does the same thing. I have been told that if you grab them over their backs they can take this as a sign of agression. When I go to handle him I get him on his vine and then keep my hand just to the right of him. After like 30 seconds of hissing he usually gives up and will hop on.

 

[ballz]

One thing I find with Bubbles is that he doesn't want to be on an unstable object. Meaning that he loves his bamboo plant, and when I try and take him off it he gets pissed, but when I take the plant out he wants to climb on to ME because he recognized me as a stable object that's not going to randomly fall over.