How do I get my new chameleon to love me!?

FireGirl113

New Member
Hello, I am new to owning a chameleon, and I recently bought a female veiled that is about 2years old, when I purchased her all of her belongings can with her, so she still has her house that she has lived in her whole life, I have had her about 3 days now, and she eats fine and allows me to mist her. The person I got her from said she was used to being handled. I'm beginning to think that isn't the case. I was just wondering what some tactics others have used to gain the trust and potential affection of older chameleons that you have adopted. :)
 
Hand feeding and never grabbing them like a giant claw, let them come to you. Once they associate you with food you've got it made.
 
Thank you for the reply :) would it be wise to by extra of her favourite treat? (horn worms) in order to speed up building her trust!?
 
I don't think too many of one feeder is a good thing. Hornworms are a great feeder, but not super nutritious. If she gets spoiled on her favorite thing she may not eat her other more nutritious food.

The key is time and patience. Chameleons don't do anything quickly, especially adapting to new situations. Also, they are typically not the type of animal that will grow to love you. They will get used to you and associate you with food and good things, but it won't go much deeper than that.

Of course each animal is different, but my chameleon took months to get comfortable around me.
 
chameleons don´t love, a big part of them are extrictly solitaires, expert in mating time, james been a drier climate species tend to me more territorial, so it is more like an goldfish than a dog:)
 
When we got her the guy said that she might lay eggs soon, could that contribute to her mood?

Have you a laying bin in for her? She will need an appropriate laying bin or she will become egg bound and die. This is really, really important.

Love is not an emotion chameleons express. They are asocial and don't have a social relationship with their own species except for a few days around mating. The most you can expect is some sort of tolerance. You will always be viewed as a threat, a predator.

My chameleons are less wary of me than of anyone else in the house but that is only because they see me very often in a non-threatening manner. They are in my office and spend hours looking down on me as I use my computer to avoid dreaded housework. I do not understand why I much prefer to clean my animal cages and pens than wash dishes and vacuum.

My male veiled usually runs to the front of the cage and runs up my arm. He doesn't love me or even like me. My presence gets him out of his cage which he really enjoys. If I put my hand in when he seems to prefer to stay in his cage, he is quite capable of hissing and gaping--all on the same day he came running to my hand.

Yesterday I had him outside in the sun. I wanted to see if he might enjoy a head scratch the way a parrot does. Parrots groom each other and have a strong social structure. Chickens do not groom each other (allopreening) but I have found they like a head scratch just the same as parrots--maybe not as much as a parrot likes it, but they do enjoy their face scritched. It seems, my veiled enjoyed a light scratch around his jaw and over his ears. He seemed to lean into me and lift his jaw for me the way a parrot would. I'll switch to a paint brush rather than my clumsy finger that is attached to a big scary predator and see how he likes it. He wasn't as blissed out as a parrot would get, but I do think he liked it.

My female veiled shies away from my presence except when I have something she wants--either a bug in my hand or a spray bottle she wants a drink from. She'll drink from the dripping nozzle of a big scary spray bottle if she is thirsty, but shy away from it when she is not.

Chameleons will not give you "love" but they are a very engaging creature if your expectations and the animal's natural biology and character are in line.
 
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