New Yemen Chameleon Goes dark on contact/handling

[sfraser]

Hi There,
I have just got my first chameleon this week who is 12 weeks old and Yemen girl called Mimi.

She is fab, however if I put my hand/finger near her or even to put her back in her house, she goes all dark green and markings come out.

I want other people's advice whether this is a) normal as she is new to me? b) how can I get her used to me/handling without stressing her/making her go dark?

Thanks,
Sally

 

[K9Luvn]

My Veiled goes dark if he becomes very stressed and scared of something. A couple weeks back he fell out of his Free Range area and it scared him... he became almost black. His colors are back to normal just hours later. So hopefully yours is just feeling somewhat uneasy and worried.
BTW congrats on your new baby cham Mimi

 

[sfraser]

My Veiled goes dark if he becomes very stressed and scared of something. A couple weeks back he fell out of his Free Range area and it scared him... he became almost black. His colors are back to normal just hours later. So hopefully yours is just feeling somewhat uneasy and worried.
BTW congrats on your new baby cham Mimi

Thank you.
Just worried that everytime I am 'trying' to tame her is stressing her.
Tried enticing her with a wax worm in my hands/fingers and nope, dark and looking at me not the wax worm.
Sally

 

[Julija]

Hi and welcome

What you describe are indeed signs of getting stressed and angry, but it does not mean that this is how it is always going to be, especially if you approach this matter with care an patience.

First of all, give her more time to settle in - at least a couple of weeks with minimal disturbance and preferably no handling. When you have to open the enclosure, would that be fore feeding, watering or other purposes, make sure that your movements are very slow. Get accustomed to the thought that it will take time to gain her trust, and when I say time I mean months, but don't get discouraged - if you are patient enough, it will all pay off in the end. There is a great blog post written by one of the forum members on taming a chameleon. You can read it here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/psychobunny/746-taming-chameleon.html

I uses a similar approach with my veiled and it worked wonders he went from being always dark and hiding in the back of the terrarium to getting completely accustomed to us, taking food from our hands and even coming out to hang out around us, all without expressing the stressed "mr. spotty" pattern, as I call it

But remember - patience really is the key here.
Good luck!

Julija

 

[sfraser]

Oh thanks very much.

Well progress this weekend, has taken food from my fingers and staying the same colour!

I do have another question though, based on the fact they dont go to the ground for mealworms in a bowl for example - how do you feed yours mealworms without using hands?

Thanks,
Sally

 

[Hannah04]

Oh thanks very much.

Well progress this weekend, has taken food from my fingers and staying the same colour!

I do have another question though, based on the fact they dont go to the ground for mealworms in a bowl for example - how do you feed yours mealworms without using hands?

Thanks,
Sally

I use tongs and place them on a big leaf or branch/vine. My sully loves them,and practically runs from one side of the cage to the other for them!

 

[Julija]

Oh thanks very much.

Well progress this weekend, has taken food from my fingers and staying the same colour!

I do have another question though, based on the fact they dont go to the ground for mealworms in a bowl for example - how do you feed yours mealworms without using hands?

Thanks,
Sally

Well, that sound great! congratulations on your little victory after all, step by step - that's how it goes

I use a small shallow cup that fits in my hand, just put a worm in it and offer it to your cham, kind of and intermediate step before hand-feeding

Good luck!
Julija

 

[dptydog]

Im rather new to the chameleon's , I have a Jackson's chameleon . But I am pretty sure that handling was suppose to be minimal, that could be just the type that i have.
It does sound like that you haven't really given him/her a chance to adjust to her surroundings before taking another step though. I would suggest a few weeks of if not a month of just letting your Yemen just be a Yemen in there enclosure. Then if its appropriate for your species of Chameleon start to work on the handling.

Best of wishes to you and your Chameleon.