My chameleon does not like me...

Look_Within

New Member
I've tried hand feeding and slow trust-building, but every time I so much as put my hand near him he gets all puffed up and starts hissing at me. I have no idea what to do to get my lizard to be less grumpy. Does anyone have any advice?
 
Neutral territory = anywhere away from his cage. Many chams are territorial when they're in "their tree" but are fine away from it. Here's a blog for you to check out regarding trust building and handling: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

The Chameleon Breeder Podcast also has a couple episodes on "taming" and handling aggressive chameleons.
 
IMO The more you handle him or her the more tame they will be, sometimes u gota come in quick from behind and grab em and they always hang on with there tail so you will need to grab and unwrap it with the other hand. Other times they will walk right up your arm it depends on there mood @ that time. Once you have em out of the cage they love it. IMO The older they get the more aggressive they can be, if your scared use a glove.
 
IMO The more you handle him or her the more tame they will be, sometimes u gota come in quick from behind and grab em and they always hang on with there tail so you will need to grab and unwrap it with the other hand. Other times they will walk right up your arm it depends on there mood @ that time. Once you have em out of the cage they love it. IMO The older they get the more aggressive they can be, if your scared use a glove.
While I’m very new to chameleons, I would think that sneaking up on them and grabbing them would be counter-active to building up their trust and cause them stress.
 
In my 25+ years of experience, I have not found that handling the chameleon more often will always make it tamer. There are some that just never become tame. Just like people, they all have different temperaments...some have nice temperaments and some never will.

IMHO grabbing it quickly from behind does nothing to gain trust and if you are removing it from a branch or something else it's clinging to you may injure it.

Patience, hand feeding, moving slowly, working in a neutral territory should all help to tame it ...if it can even be tamed. IMHO.
 
IMO The more you handle him or her the more tame they will be, sometimes u gota come in quick from behind and grab em and they always hang on with there tail so you will need to grab and unwrap it with the other hand. Other times they will walk right up your arm it depends on there mood @ that time. Once you have em out of the cage they love it. IMO The older they get the more aggressive they can be, if your scared use a glove.
Did you ever stop to consider that his aggression isn’t increasing because of his age but that as time goes on he’s just had enough of your shit? It’s a possibility, IMO.

You may be the only person I’ve ever met that isn’t entitled to their own opinion, IMO. It’s been a while since we’ve had this kind of stupidity on here, IMO....
 
IMO The more you handle him or her the more tame they will be, sometimes u gota come in quick from behind and grab em and they always hang on with there tail so you will need to grab and unwrap it with the other hand. Other times they will walk right up your arm it depends on there mood @ that time. Once you have em out of the cage they love it. IMO The older they get the more aggressive they can be, if your scared use a glove.

That is literally the worst advice to give on handling any animal...
 
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