Ok, I admit I'm intimidated

Debbie61

New Member
Yes, My new Adult Ambilobie intimidates me. I have had Silas for over two weeks now and he is just fine. He roams around his cage and is all in all a happy chameleon(as far as I can tell). I open his cage door and leave it open for him so he gets used to having it open and to see if he wants to get out. At this point I do not have anything for him to climb out on, so he stays in his cage. The point that I'm trying to make is I can hold my hand up to him and get very close to him, but he has no interest on climbing onto my hand. He just looks at me like 'what do you want?' other times he puffs out his chin and cops an attitude. Which being a new cham owner, intimidates me because I don't want to get bit. If I touch his feet, he doesn't really like that either. Any suggestions??
 
put a plant outside of the door, a large one more like a tree and open the door and see if you can get him to crawl onto that. Some chams are territorial of their cages and do not like being approaced in it. My chameleon turned into a big teddy bear when out of his cage and I could handle him however I wanted then. Now, he is so used to everything I just open the door and he reaches for me to come out of the cage. I can reach into the cage and do whatever and he never even flinches.
 
It can take a while to get some chameleons to let you handle them without a fuss. I usually try to get them to a point were they let me pet them before holding them (when acquiring older ones).

Just try moving your hand in slowly and not every day give him a rest of a day before you try again. Also, you can try to hand feed him. If you can get him to take a cricket out of your hands he should be good to hold. Make sure not to over stress him, if he goes dark back off for a bit. Also try to set up the cage so he is eye level (or higher than you).
 
Teehee. :) you're lucky you didn't get a tough guy! Sounds like you could probably just slide your hand under him to pick him up. However, if you want him to come to you on his own terms, putting your hand out isn't going to help. Don't bug him. Once he realizes you're just a thing that's there, you can try making him associate you with good things like food. After that it's his choice. My guy got 'friendly' all by himself. I just left him alone and he decided he didn't mind me.
 
Thank you all for the advice. I am going to go to Home Depot or Lowes and see what they have in tall floor plants that might work. I've tried the hand feeding of a cricket and he's not interested. I may pick up some hornworms and see if he will take one from me. Overall he is doing great, I just have to be patient and maybe a little brave:eek: I will let you know when he either comes out on his own or comes out with my help. Either way I will not push him to do it. Thanks again:D
 
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