How long did your chameleon take to be fear-free?

[modernjamie]

So, I got my male baby chameleon 3 weeks ago (ambanja about 3 month old at the time). I avoided handling him until yesterday for obvious reasons and mostly I did not want to stress him out and wanted him to settle in nicely.

He seemed like he became more comfortable recently, I could tell, because he increased the amount of crickets he ate and he ate comfortably while I was watching. Since he became more comfy with his new environment, I wanted to start handling because I want him to recognize me as a non-threat object. IT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE..

Yesterday, I took him out for the first time and he did not like that.. He was busy running around on my hands. I let him walk around for about 10 min. His color was very very dark yesterday for the rest of the day.

Today, he looked at me, ran away (I did not take him out). He won't eat as much.. he only ate 3 crickets which I had to back away about 5 feet from his cage...

I know that some chameleons are very shy and it takes time.. but how long does it usually take? I would love to hand feed my chameleon in the future and be able to take him out without any problems..

Also, I'm not sure, at this point, if I should continue trying to take him out daily for 5-10 min or stop doing so? I feel like I made a huge mistake yesterday and I really regret it... Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fleetwoodchams]

So, I got my male baby chameleon 3 weeks ago (ambanja about 3 month old at the time). I avoided handling him until yesterday for obvious reasons and mostly I did not want to stress him out and wanted him to settle in nicely.

He seemed like he became more comfortable recently, I could tell, because he increased the amount of crickets he ate and he ate comfortably while I was watching. Since he became more comfy with his new environment, I wanted to start handling because I want him to recognize me as a non-threat object. IT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE..

Yesterday, I took him out for the first time and he did not like that.. He was busy running around on my hands. I let him walk around for about 10 min. His color was very very dark yesterday for the rest of the day.

Today, he looked at me, ran away (I did not take him out). He won't eat as much.. he only ate 3 crickets which I had to back away about 5 feet from his cage...

I know that some chameleons are very shy and it takes time.. but how long does it usually take? I would love to hand feed my chameleon in the future and be able to take him out without any problems..

Also, I'm not sure, at this point, if I should continue trying to take him out daily for 5-10 min or stop doing so? I feel like I made a huge mistake yesterday and I really regret it... Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.

I now have 8 chams. One is only 3 months old. One is 4.5 years. My experience has been that the younger that they are exposed to human contact the better.
My 3 month old was very shy at first and would gape and try to bite if I even put my hand near. You have to understand they are afraid your hand is going to eat them. They try to look mean to defend this.
It took a good 2 weeks of daily just briefly showing him my hand, or gently briefly touching him on the back. I can now remove him from the cage and he will sit on my hand. He does not yet come into my hand on his own but he will with time.
I also have one that I bought at 8 months old that to this day will try to bite if he feels threatened. I don't think he was ever touched by the breeder ( no disrespect meant in any way they are a good breeder ) He will let me hold him now but in the beginning he was a pycho
I have another male that I bought at 9 mo old who is and always was easy to handle. He loves to walk out on my hand and be held.
So you see I really think the younger the better. Then, Slowly and gently is the way . try offering hand fed items when you can.
Be patient and he will get to know you are not a threat

 

[modernjamie]

I wish I could fast forward this time and go to the point where he can relax being handled I guess I will continue trying to handle briefly daily, which is painful to watch him freak out. Anyway, thank you for your input and sharing your experience, Lisa - I seriously laughed out loud to read that your 8 month old cham was a psycho in the beginning lol

 

[Psychobunny]

Here is a link to my taming blog. This is how I do it, everyone has their own method, but it may give you some ideas:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/psychobunny/746-taming-chameleon.html

 

[modernjamie]

Thank you for the thread. I read every word carefully. I noticed that my mistake was taking him out before he got comfortable with my hands. The problem is that, I CANNOT touch bugs. I have a fear touching insects. I couldn't offer him crickets off of my hand. I always put food items on the branches with the feeding tong. I guess I should work on getting rid of the fear of insects before working on my cham!

 

[UK Tim]

Thank you for the thread. I read every word carefully. I noticed that my mistake was taking him out before he got comfortable with my hands. The problem is that, I CANNOT touch bugs. I have a fear touching insects. I couldn't offer him crickets off of my hand. I always put food items on the branches with the feeding tong. I guess I should work on getting rid of the fear of insects before working on my cham!

How about offering either waxworms or mealworms if you don't like touching the crickets? We do this and have had some success with Enzo taking mealworms from the palm of our hands. You can drop them onto your hand using tweezers until you get more comfortable.

 

[fleetwoodchams]

I wish I could fast forward this time and go to the point where he can relax being handled I guess I will continue trying to handle briefly daily, which is painful to watch him freak out. Anyway, thank you for your input and sharing your experience, Lisa - I seriously laughed out loud to read that your 8 month old cham was a psycho in the beginning lol

You're quite welcome.
I know exactly how you feel. My first cham was 3.5 mo when I got him and I feared so that he'd always hate me because he would try to hide when I opened the viv door.
We all go through this, but he'll come around soon enough. You are a caring person and your buddy will sense this before long and come to see you as a friend and not some huge predator.

Take care, Lisa

 

[fleetwoodchams]

How about offering either waxworms or mealworms if you don't like touching the crickets? We do this and have had some success with Enzo taking mealworms from the palm of our hands. You can drop them onto your hand using tweezers until you get more comfortable.

Great idea!

Note : Don't use the tweezers to hold the worm to feed him as the sharp end may damage his tongue, then you'd have a major problem.
Just think of it this way if you're squeemish. You're only holding them for a moment, They actually eat them LOL
Cheers , Lisa

 

[sagolle]

My cham wouldnt come near me for the first 4 months I had him and then one morning he cam bolting out of his cage when I opened the door and has been friendly ever since. I would say to just be patient and hand feed as much as possible.

 

[sagolle]

Another trick that got him to warm up was buying his favorite treat (hornworms) and putting it farther up on your arm so he has to crawl out of the cage onto your arm to get it. The first couple of time dont grab him just let him crawl back in the cage and eventually if hes anything like mine he wont want to go back in!

 

[modernjamie]

Another trick that got him to warm up was buying his favorite treat (hornworms) and putting it farther up on your arm so he has to crawl out of the cage onto your arm to get it. The first couple of time dont grab him just let him crawl back in the cage and eventually if hes anything like mine he wont want to go back in!

How about offering either waxworms or mealworms if you don't like touching the crickets? We do this and have had some success with Enzo taking mealworms from the palm of our hands. You can drop them onto your hand using tweezers until you get more comfortable.

That is a great idea! I will try to feed him waxworms or mealworms on my hand since they are less scary to me! Thank you all for your advice.

 

[Olimpia]

I don't like touching the insects either, especially roaches, so I will tong feed my chameleons. Works about as well, since my hands are still close. They do sell rubber-tipped tongs in case you're worried about injuries, they're awesome.

I've had over 20 chameleons, and in my experience thus far it seems that you can turn around any chameleon, regardless of age or whether they're CB or WC. Positive conditioning works the came on chameleons as it does on dogs or children, if you associate one thing with a positive reward that thing gains a positive association. That's why hand/tong feeding works so well as a first step, because your hands (and by association, you) go from being the huge, scary things that could eat him to the wonderful bringers of yumminess. Then as you progress there are other positive rewards you can use, like when you bring him out of his cage he gets to go to a fake tree near a sunny window, or outside to bask for a while. So coming out of the cage is now tied to the positive experience of going outside, for example.

I could go on and on but for the sake of not writing a novel I'll link you to something I wrote up as well: How to tame a chameleon. But seriously, positive reinforcement and conditioning work for everything (and patience). We used to do the same techniques at a wildlife rescue where I worked to tame everything, like the birds of prey that were too injured to go return to the wild. Positive reinforcement, patience, and a gentle hand.

 

[modernjamie]

I don't like touching the insects either, especially roaches, so I will tong feed my chameleons. Works about as well, since my hands are still close. They do sell rubber-tipped tongs in case you're worried about injuries, they're awesome.

I've had over 20 chameleons, and in my experience thus far it seems that you can turn around any chameleon, regardless of age or whether they're CB or WC. Positive conditioning works the came on chameleons as it does on dogs or children, if you associate one thing with a positive reward that thing gains a positive association. That's why hand/tong feeding works so well as a first step, because your hands (and by association, you) go from being the huge, scary things that could eat him to the wonderful bringers of yumminess. Then as you progress there are other positive rewards you can use, like when you bring him out of his cage he gets to go to a fake tree near a sunny window, or outside to bask for a while. So coming out of the cage is now tied to the positive experience of going outside, for example.

I could go on and on but for the sake of not writing a novel I'll link you to something I wrote up as well: How to tame a chameleon. But seriously, positive reinforcement and conditioning work for everything (and patience). We used to do the same techniques at a wildlife rescue where I worked to tame everything, like the birds of prey that were too injured to go return to the wild. Positive reinforcement, patience, and a gentle hand.

Wow, thank you for your advice and introducing your webpage which I was not aware of before! I'm excited to learn a lot about chameleons by reading your work. Thanks again!

 

[Psychobunny]

Thank you for the thread. I read every word carefully. I noticed that my mistake was taking him out before he got comfortable with my hands. The problem is that, I CANNOT touch bugs. I have a fear touching insects. I couldn't offer him crickets off of my hand. I always put food items on the branches with the feeding tong. I guess I should work on getting rid of the fear of insects before working on my cham!

Get some silkworms and hand feed those. They can not hop off your hand, and nealy all chams love them.
Hand feed the very fist food item of the day, then offer feeders in a small, clear cup. Let him see your hand, and show him the feeders inside the cup. Do not try a get your hand to close if he is shy and backing away.
In time, he will learn to associate seeing your hand with food and will begin to trust you.
You need to be slow, and very patient