New veiled cham owner, she is very afraid of me!!!

[tayb]

Hello all!
I have had my veiled female since Saturday afternoon (5 days) and she is very afraid of me and gets very stressed out when I come around. I understand this is normal, as she is just getting used to her new habitat and I am perceived as a "predator". Although, do you have any suggestions as to how I can get her to open up to me? She is young still, about 3 or 4 months old. Is it possible to hand feed her crickets at this age? I feel like they will just jump out of my hand lol. I am not doing this in hopes that one day I can handle her constantly I am doing this because I am genuinely worried about her health. I know that it is not good for them to be stressed out a lot and it can cause them to get ill, but every single time I come near her cage she turns dark, expands her body, and hides. I just went and misted her and she immediately turned dark, opened her mouth and hissed at me at least 5 times, and went and hid!

Her temperature, lighting and set up is fine, she is happy and a normal color when no one is around (i can spy on her sometimes lol) it is just when people come around.
Thanks!

 

[SocialNumb]

If you find out, let me know. Marking this thread incase someone has a good answer but my guess is it just takes time. From what I've read on these forums, some of them never come around.


Good luck, I need some too. I've just gotten to the point where I can open the cage without her freaking out. Took two weeks. Yesterday she was pissed at me all day for putting stuff in her cage to climb on. It's like I violated her space, with gifts. lol

 

[Chase]

Not many people are going to have suggestions because it's usually not suggested to handle your chameleon.

But, it will take time to where she trusts you. When you grab her, do it slow and calm to where she doesn't freak out

Chase

 

[jcarlsen]

Hello all!
I have had my veiled female since Saturday afternoon (5 days) and she is very afraid of me and gets very stressed out when I come around. I understand this is normal, as she is just getting used to her new habitat and I am perceived as a "predator". Although, do you have any suggestions as to how I can get her to open up to me? She is young still, about 3 or 4 months old. Is it possible to hand feed her crickets at this age? I feel like they will just jump out of my hand lol. I am not doing this in hopes that one day I can handle her constantly I am doing this because I am genuinely worried about her health. I know that it is not good for them to be stressed out a lot and it can cause them to get ill, but every single time I come near her cage she turns dark, expands her body, and hides. I just went and misted her and she immediately turned dark, opened her mouth and hissed at me at least 5 times, and went and hid!

Her temperature, lighting and set up is fine, she is happy and a normal color when no one is around (i can spy on her sometimes lol) it is just when people come around.
Thanks!

Hey there. I know it can be discouraging to have a pet that's constantly afraid of you, but you haven't had this veiled for very long. You're going to need a LOT of patience.

Many will suggest you should NEVER handle your chameleon and that they're a display animal, but there will be times you have to remove it from its enclosure, and it'll be better to do so under less stressful circumstances.

My main suggestion for you right now is to start building a predictable feeding routine. This means feed the chameleon around the same time every day, and use something like a red cup to put the food in. I've had my panther for a few months, and while he's still scared of me, he no longer runs for it or rotates away on his branch when I approach or open is door. He's at the point where he knows I'm the bringer of food, so he'll almost immediately start shooting his crickets as soon as I drop them in.

After another week or so, you might want to attempt hand feeding. Now for this, you're going to have to be especially patient and expect your cham not to take any food from you right away. Usually a tasty treat like a super worm or a hornworm work best. What I did was I didn't give my guy his usual crickets in the morning, so by the time I got home from work, he was hungry. Then I opened his door when he was in a good spot (not right in front of the door) and held a hornworm in some tongs right in front of his cage. I did not stick my hand in. Now the first time I did this, I waited around 15 minutes, and had to switch arms a few times because I got sore. It's important to just be still and try not to stare right at your chameleon. Just keep your head turned and look out of the corner of your eye.

My guy handfed for the first time about a week and a half ago, and the second time I tried it, he went for it even quicker. I'm going to try some more worms today and tomorrow and see how it goes.



Another thing you can try at some point is getting a non-toxic live plant and placing it in front of her enclosure and letting her climb onto it on her own. This way she leaves her cage on her terms. Nothing worse than a giant predator cornering her in her own home and trying to grab her.


Try these things out and just be patient. Go at your chameleon's pace, and if you see her try to run or puff up, just back off. No need to keep reenforcing the behavior.

 

[tayb]

Hey there. I know it can be discouraging to have a pet that's constantly afraid of you, but you haven't had this veiled for very long. You're going to need a LOT of patience.

Many will suggest you should NEVER handle your chameleon and that they're a display animal, but there will be times you have to remove it from its enclosure, and it'll be better to do so under less stressful circumstances.

My main suggestion for you right now is to start building a predictable feeding routine. This means feed the chameleon around the same time every day, and use something like a red cup to put the food in. I've had my panther for a few months, and while he's still scared of me, he no longer runs for it or rotates away on his branch when I approach or open is door. He's at the point where he knows I'm the bringer of food, so he'll almost immediately start shooting his crickets as soon as I drop them in.

After another week or so, you might want to attempt hand feeding. Now for this, you're going to have to be especially patient and expect your cham not to take any food from you right away. Usually a tasty treat like a super worm or a hornworm work best. What I did was I didn't give my guy his usual crickets in the morning, so by the time I got home from work, he was hungry. Then I opened his door when he was in a good spot (not right in front of the door) and held a hornworm in some tongs right in front of his cage. I did not stick my hand in. Now the first time I did this, I waited around 15 minutes, and had to switch arms a few times because I got sore. It's important to just be still and try not to stare right at your chameleon. Just keep your head turned and look out of the corner of your eye.

My guy handfed for the first time about a week and a half ago, and the second time I tried it, he went for it even quicker. I'm going to try some more worms today and tomorrow and see how it goes.



Another thing you can try at some point is getting a non-toxic live plant and placing it in front of her enclosure and letting her climb onto it on her own. This way she leaves her cage on her terms. Nothing worse than a giant predator cornering her in her own home and trying to grab her.


Try these things out and just be patient. Go at your chameleon's pace, and if you see her try to run or puff up, just back off. No need to keep reenforcing the behavior.

So its okay to feed her worms at the young age of 3-4 months? I wasn't sure if it would be too much for her to digest. You suggested putting the crickets inside of a red cup and then placing the cup INSIDE of her cage? I have been just dumping about 8-10 crickets in her cage and letting them scamper after I dusted them. I'm at the point where I can't even get a foot in front of her cage without her getting pissed/stressed. My intention is not to handle her constantly, but just to get her comfortable enough so that when I feed and mist she doesn't get so stressed. Thanks for the tips

 

[jcarlsen]

So its okay to feed her worms at the young age of 3-4 months? I wasn't sure if it would be too much for her to digest. You suggested putting the crickets inside of a red cup and then placing the cup INSIDE of her cage? I have been just dumping about 8-10 crickets in her cage and letting them scamper after I dusted them. I'm at the point where I can't even get a foot in front of her cage without her getting pissed/stressed. My intention is not to handle her constantly, but just to get her comfortable enough so that when I feed and mist she doesn't get so stressed. Thanks for the tips

Hey, so I think worms are alright. I got my guy around 4 or so months and fed him some worms right away. Hornworms can get HUGE so just be careful not to feed ones too large for them to chew and swallow.

With the red cup, I just use it to dump them in, but I make sure my chameleon sees it, and sees me holding it and dumping the food right in. This has taken about two or so months, but getting into a routine like that means the chameleon will learn, red thingy means food, big ape holding red thingy means food. My thoughts, anyways.

Just make sure you move slowly around the cage, and try to not stare at the cham too long. She'll mellow out a bit more with age and time.

If the cage is a bit low, you might want to try to put it somewhere higher so the chameleon feels more secure. They enjoy being high up.

 

[Kayroxyoursox]

Mine was afraid of me for a long time and would hiss and bite at me if I put my hand in his cage. He still doesn't like me and i can't hold him but he tolerates my hand in his cage now.