how do you tame a chameleon??

[thechameleon]

hi everybody.
i have a female veiled chameleon that absolutely hates me. every time i clean his cage, he always hiss or try to bite me when he saw my hand. she has been with me for more than 4 months and i've only handled her about 3 times. there's nothing wrong with her. she eats well and drinks alot. anyone knows how to tame them.
thanks in advance.

 

[Mr Wilson]

You cant tame a chameleon. There always going to look at you as a threat and try to defend themselves. That being said there are some chams that are calmer then others but its really just luck of the draw. Best advise would be let her be. if anything you can put your hand out and put a worm up your arm and see if she climbs on your hand to get it, dont force her though.

Handling her can really stress her out and its a general idea (although i dont think it was ever proven, but why take the chance) that over handling or forcing a cham to socialize by force handling can shorten there life expectancy

 

[Matt1851]

well usually with any reptile the more you handle them the more they get acustom to being held. How old is he/she? If you have had ehr for 5 months and only handled her 3 times that could be why she dosnt like being approached. I know chameleons are not ment to be handled but imo its better to do it from when they are little that way your cham will be used to it when they get older. You could try and use two hands to trick him/her onto one of your hand and handle him/her more often and maybe he/she will become used to it to make it easier to clean its cage or whatever you have to do.

 

[Jimturner]

i found that hand feeding is the best way to "tame" a cham. if the cham is happy to get a bug from you then it will associate your hand/handling with "happy" food.

 

[Jimturner]

all of my chams scramble to be seen by "the feeds me" i walk into my cham room and theres action! open a cage and they are right there.. desparate to let me, the "feeds me" know they want a bug! i free range, i cup feed and i hand feed. in no way are my chams wanting for food. i feel by hand feeding the lizards know "me"

 

[Jimturner]

on and on i go... anyway, i found a good way to start your cham hand feeding is to offer them their breakfast bug by hand. observe what bugs they are most interested in and try offering that bug by hand.. maybe a bit late in the day. chances are they'll take it. then youre off to a good start.

 

[graydon]

Mr wilson made this very clear. Cham's don't like to be held. Period. I don't care what anyone says. The closest thing you will get to taming your cham is hand feeding it. People get acclimation of routine mixed up with thinking that their chams are "tame"

 

[Jimturner]

pretty much agree, there are no "tame" chams. but a cham aclimated to hand feeding will be far calmer/less stressed when its time for cage maintanace, general upkeep, etc. than one who is terified by your precence

 

[Olimpia]

I have to disagree, 90%. I hope she doesn't mind me saying it, but I was just at JannB's house picking up one of her baby veileds and I have never in my entire life seen 30 more social chameleons. They willingly and eagerly reach out to climb up on people and absolutely love being handled. The little girl I got from her, Charlotte, is eating from my hand and climbing on me without any problem what so ever. Jann is the chameleon whisperer, I swear!

That being said, there are chameleons that just will never get used to it. I have a WC Jackson's that is just the sweetest, most tranquil chameleon ever, along with my new little Charlotte, and then each of my two panthers hates me more than the next. And while I can try bringing them out a couple times a week, they might never be comfortable with it. You just really need to learn how to read the temperament of your chameleon and adjust accordingly. Some will never tolerate you, and others might have the potential for improvement. So it really depends.

I think the best tactic to use is positive association. It works with just about any animal - if you do something, and it results in an enjoyable reward, then that experience becomes conected with the reward. So you can hand-feed, and associate yourself with tasty food, and you can try bringing her out to a great sunny cage or perch, so she associates handling with the enjorable experience of being outside in the sun. Try this, but read her reaction. If her reaction is over the top (she's turning black, and hissing, freaking out, and scrambling to leap off of you) then she might not be the kind of chameleon that will ever be tame. But it's less dramatic (she just gets a darker, but otherwise doesn't seem to be freaking out) then with gradual handling she might grow used to it.

Only you can read what your chameleon is telling you and know how far to go with it, like I already said. Just be prepared to just live with the fact that you might have one of those "untouchable" chameleons. Good luck though.

 

[thechameleon]

hi
thanks for the replies everybody my veiled is about 6 months old. when i mean handling her i meant taking her out of the cage and hold her for 5-10 min. i try to handle her every 2 weeks or so but when i finally get her on my hand, she usually tries to jump to the nearest plant. so i keep handling to the minimum. i tried hand feeding her but she has no interest if it's in my hand. but when i put it on the floor she quickly chase it and eat it. i've also tried the 2 hands trick but she will still jump out when i get my hands on her feet. oh well, i guess i'm going to have on of those "untouchable" chameleons

 

[kingjohn]

hi mate,
as said above i dont think they can be tamed and your just lucky if you get a friendly one, i have a male veiled who always has hated people, i just started a thread about his strangeness he just walked out onto me yesterday when i tried to feed him and again today

when he 1st came to my house (previously at girlfreinds) i put him in a new cage will real plants and a spray system and he seemed much happier i got him hand feeding pretty quickly (normaly hed hiss and puff up when u walk past his cage) now he started walkin on to my hand lol

maybe its an age thing hes calming down, or the better environment i dont know, but i think you need alot of patitence and understanding it may never happen


atb

john

 

[Carlton]

hi
thanks for the replies everybody my veiled is about 6 months old. when i mean handling her i meant taking her out of the cage and hold her for 5-10 min. i try to handle her every 2 weeks or so but when i finally get her on my hand, she usually tries to jump to the nearest plant. so i keep handling to the minimum. i tried hand feeding her but she has no interest if it's in my hand. but when i put it on the floor she quickly chase it and eat it. i've also tried the 2 hands trick but she will still jump out when i get my hands on her feet. oh well, i guess i'm going to have on of those "untouchable" chameleons

Give it some time. At 6 months many chams go through a adolescent pissy stage. As they mature they sometimes mellow out. No guarantees, but this often happens. You may find she will come take food if you hold it in a small container. She will learn that when you approach with a container it means something good, and maybe she'll later learn that something in your hand is also good. They aren't rocket scientists...suspicion and secrecy is their basic mode of thinking and they don't like changes. It isn't personal.