brehnan
New Member
Hey guys! My name is Brennan, been a chameleon enthusiast for a while now and I thought I would share some ideas with you if you're looking into taming and caring for a veiled chameleon.
First off, this is Karma. He is a premium "Driskel" bloodline baby veiled chameleon which I purchased through FLChams. I highly recommend them as he was super healthy with very pretty colors.
When I first received Karma, who is a male btw, he was a total jerk. Whenever I would stand in front of his cage he would run away and hide himself in the leaves. As he grew older he would start hissing and lunging at me. This is totally common veiled behavior, but who wants a Chameleon who is mean? Nobody.
First off, which I believe is the most important step, is hand feeding. After your cham starts associating you with food, then you become good to them. I hand feed karma twice a day with a couple meal worms and wax worms. It's quite a challenge at first because he's most likely scared of you, but make very slow movements and try to get him to see the worms.
Another strategy to get your veiled to become a little nicer is controlled freedom. I have a tree that I bought for him and I open his screen cage, and place it in front of his cage. He absolutely loves this. He will move back and forth from the tree to his cage constantly and loves soaking up the sunlight from the window.
This is also a much better technique to take him out. Keep in mind, Karma was a complete a** hole when I first got him. You should NOT reach your hand in your cage and grab him. Not only is this going to encourage him not to like you, but picture yourself as a chameleon. You wouldn't want some big ugly monster picking you up. I will wait until he climbs on his tree to pick him up, which is a much better situation for both of us. Just make sure he doesn't climb on top of his cage where he could burn himself from the lamps.
Having proper lighting is very important to your chameleons health. Make sure you are using a Reptisun 5.0 and have proper temperatures. The red bulb (I switched to a ceramic heat emitter now), the yellow bulb (basking bulb), and two styles of UVB/UVA bulbs. Spray his cage 5+ times a day for 30 seconds to keep humidity levels up or get a reptile humidifier.
Cool trick: Put a couple scoops of calcium powder in the worms container and shake it around. The calcium powder will soak the worms and you won't have to dust your worms EVERY single time. Same strategy can apply with crickets.
Karma is now about 4 months old. He is no longer scared of me, and no longer hisses at me. In fact I think he actually likes me. Whenever he see's my hand he gets big eyes and knows I have food for him. I just wanted to post this thread because I was VERY discouraged when I first received him. I thought he would stay mean forever. Don't give up. Every chameleon has a different personality, but it's party based on the humans behavior.
Anyways, Chameleons are amazing creatures if they are properly cared for and handled. If you have any other tricks go ahead and comment in this thread but hopefully you learned a thing or two!
First off, this is Karma. He is a premium "Driskel" bloodline baby veiled chameleon which I purchased through FLChams. I highly recommend them as he was super healthy with very pretty colors.
When I first received Karma, who is a male btw, he was a total jerk. Whenever I would stand in front of his cage he would run away and hide himself in the leaves. As he grew older he would start hissing and lunging at me. This is totally common veiled behavior, but who wants a Chameleon who is mean? Nobody.
First off, which I believe is the most important step, is hand feeding. After your cham starts associating you with food, then you become good to them. I hand feed karma twice a day with a couple meal worms and wax worms. It's quite a challenge at first because he's most likely scared of you, but make very slow movements and try to get him to see the worms.
Another strategy to get your veiled to become a little nicer is controlled freedom. I have a tree that I bought for him and I open his screen cage, and place it in front of his cage. He absolutely loves this. He will move back and forth from the tree to his cage constantly and loves soaking up the sunlight from the window.
This is also a much better technique to take him out. Keep in mind, Karma was a complete a** hole when I first got him. You should NOT reach your hand in your cage and grab him. Not only is this going to encourage him not to like you, but picture yourself as a chameleon. You wouldn't want some big ugly monster picking you up. I will wait until he climbs on his tree to pick him up, which is a much better situation for both of us. Just make sure he doesn't climb on top of his cage where he could burn himself from the lamps.
Having proper lighting is very important to your chameleons health. Make sure you are using a Reptisun 5.0 and have proper temperatures. The red bulb (I switched to a ceramic heat emitter now), the yellow bulb (basking bulb), and two styles of UVB/UVA bulbs. Spray his cage 5+ times a day for 30 seconds to keep humidity levels up or get a reptile humidifier.
Cool trick: Put a couple scoops of calcium powder in the worms container and shake it around. The calcium powder will soak the worms and you won't have to dust your worms EVERY single time. Same strategy can apply with crickets.
Karma is now about 4 months old. He is no longer scared of me, and no longer hisses at me. In fact I think he actually likes me. Whenever he see's my hand he gets big eyes and knows I have food for him. I just wanted to post this thread because I was VERY discouraged when I first received him. I thought he would stay mean forever. Don't give up. Every chameleon has a different personality, but it's party based on the humans behavior.
Anyways, Chameleons are amazing creatures if they are properly cared for and handled. If you have any other tricks go ahead and comment in this thread but hopefully you learned a thing or two!
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