Personality change at 6 months?

gideonus

New Member
Worf, my now 6-month+ old male veiled chameleon seems to have undergone a personality change since his last shed a couple of weeks ago. I got him when he was 4 months old. Until his last shed, he would quickly become alert when I dangled a clear feeding cup with crickets to attract his interest or put a silkworm in his enclosure, which he would quickly nab. He would also never shy away from me if my hand very delicately approached him. In other words, a fairly friendly guy, for a chameleon.

Now, he tries to run away from me when I get close (or he rotates in an effort to hide behind a vine--a very interesting behavior), and almost never eats in front of me. So I resort to leaving a bunch of crickets in his cage and putting a few large silkworms on vines. All the silkies and most of the crickets are gone within a day, so he is eating, just seems to have become less gregarious.

I know chams can change demeanor over time, but wondering if others have noticed this "less social" behavior as the cham gets older. I have a feeling he may be feeling a bit hemmed in in his enclosure. He's been in a 18x18x36" all-screen enclosure, but he's nearly doubled in size to about 12" in total length, so perhaps the cage is already too small. I planned to built a 2x2x4' enclosure when he was 9-10 months old. I'm quite confident that all the other conditions are satisfactory.

Also, what do people think of a diet of exclusively dusted crickets and silkworms? Are 3-4 medium silkworms a day (about 1.5" total length) too much for a growing veiled? I've heard that silkies are among the most nutritious of feeders, but are they meant primarily as "treats" or can they be part of the staple diet?
 
Worf, my now 6-month+ old male veiled chameleon seems to have undergone a personality change since his last shed a couple of weeks ago. I got him when he was 4 months old. Until his last shed, he would quickly become alert when I dangled a clear feeding cup with crickets to attract his interest or put a silkworm in his enclosure, which he would quickly nab. He would also never shy away from me if my hand very delicately approached him. In other words, a fairly friendly guy, for a chameleon.

Now, he tries to run away from me when I get close (or he rotates in an effort to hide behind a vine--a very interesting behavior), and almost never eats in front of me. So I resort to leaving a bunch of crickets in his cage and putting a few large silkworms on vines. All the silkies and most of the crickets are gone within a day, so he is eating, just seems to have become less gregarious.

I know chams can change demeanor over time, but wondering if others have noticed this "less social" behavior as the cham gets older. I have a feeling he may be feeling a bit hemmed in in his enclosure. He's been in a 18x18x36" all-screen enclosure, but he's nearly doubled in size to about 12" in total length, so perhaps the cage is already too small. I planned to built a 2x2x4' enclosure when he was 9-10 months old. I'm quite confident that all the other conditions are satisfactory.

Also, what do people think of a diet of exclusively dusted crickets and silkworms? Are 3-4 medium silkworms a day (about 1.5" total length) too much for a growing veiled? I've heard that silkies are among the most nutritious of feeders, but are they meant primarily as "treats" or can they be part of the staple diet?


I'd say he's ready to step up to the big boy cage now.

It's not uncommon for them to become aggressive quickly, He's becoming a man now and they can become very terratorial.


Your provided diet is more then likely getting old to him, and you should change it up some. Silkworms and Crickets are fine as staple feeders, yet it's not a bad idea to add some variety to the mix, to keep him eatting and interested in his food. Try Superworms for a week then silks, add in some hornworms and some butterworms too. You want the guy to stay interested, and keep him guessing whats next. If you ate PB&J everyday you probably would'nt get too excited when lunch time rolled around either.;) The amount of feeders seams fine, mine actually eat a bit more then that.


-Jay
 
Basil has done exactly the same. He evolved from his last shed a completely different chap. Infact I was going to post about it....
Whereas he is typically just ok about coming out he had never shyed away from me. I never pushed it...just left his door open so he could come out if and when he wanted..he was never quite brave enough.
Last week he came and banged on the door...great I thought he feels safe with me now..so I opened the door and he flew out..like something I've never seen before...launched himself onto my laptop lid ( close to his door ) did a full and instant 180 and threw himself at Norisis's viv..all spots hissing and spitting and positively evil :eek:
He wouldn't entertain me near to him at all was constantly striking and heavily pee'd off. I have never let any of my reps see each other so no idea how he knew Norris was there...but he executed this manoever with military precision and was blindingly fast with full intent.
Because he wanted to kill me too I had a hell of a job catching him..eventually having to just scrunch my eyes shut, prepare for the pain and just grab him after he ran up and over everything and just before he fell off the back of a unit in totally grumpiness.
I was gobsmacked by his change.....his appitite has altered also...he has gone from a gannet, eating anything in his path and a great hunter to not wanting to eat infront of me...to the point I am back to monitoring the quantities as concerned about his weight.
Poor Norris was terrified and it's taken 2 days to get his confidence back.

co
My Veiled, Martoq, did the same...........maybe we should stop naming them star trek names???:rolleyes:

Star trek ?? Basil is now re named satan's spawn in the house :rolleyes:
 
Worf's personality change

Yes, maybe naming him "Worf" was a mistake. It just seemed so appropriate as he looks so much like the Star Trek character, at least to me. Anyway, thanks all for the feedback. Seems like the personality change is not surprising as he is getting to be a big boy, and yes, it's time to move him into a bigger cage. In retrospect, I'm not sure a big cage wouldn't have been appropriate from the start, despite the conventional wisdom that a young cham gets lost in a large cage. Since I greatly customized the cage, it's a major project now to build a larger one.



Basil has done exactly the same. He evolved from his last shed a completely different chap. Infact I was going to post about it....
Whereas he is typically just ok about coming out he had never shyed away from me. I never pushed it...just left his door open so he could come out if and when he wanted..he was never quite brave enough.
Last week he came and banged on the door...great I thought he feels safe with me now..so I opened the door and he flew out..like something I've never seen before...launched himself onto my laptop lid ( close to his door ) did a full and instant 180 and threw himself at Norisis's viv..all spots hissing and spitting and positively evil :eek:
He wouldn't entertain me near to him at all was constantly striking and heavily pee'd off. I have never let any of my reps see each other so no idea how he knew Norris was there...but he executed this manoever with military precision and was blindingly fast with full intent.
Because he wanted to kill me too I had a hell of a job catching him..eventually having to just scrunch my eyes shut, prepare for the pain and just grab him after he ran up and over everything and just before he fell off the back of a unit in totally grumpiness.
I was gobsmacked by his change.....his appitite has altered also...he has gone from a gannet, eating anything in his path and a great hunter to not wanting to eat infront of me...to the point I am back to monitoring the quantities as concerned about his weight.
Poor Norris was terrified and it's taken 2 days to get his confidence back.

co

Star trek ?? Basil is now re named satan's spawn in the house :rolleyes:
 
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