Agree with food comments above and it would benefit you greatly to provide
@ERKleRose with your completed help form.
I’m about to ruffle some feathers here... 95% of the time we tell all keepers to handle their chams as little as possible, but as with every thing else there is always the exception to the rule. 95% of chams want nothing to do with handeling, the 5% that do allow it are not “enjoying” it, they are tolerating it as a means to an end. They are using you.
Frequency and duration of handeling is dictated by the Cham, not the owner. It’s easy to understand the 95% of chams that don’t allow handeling, no means no. It’s the other 5% that are misunderstood. He is not reaching out to you to play with him, he is reaching out to any one with thumbs because they are literally the gatekeeper. The reason your cham has slowed down on eating and is always wanting out is because he is now sexually mature and his hormones are now driving him to explore his world, defend his territory, and find a girlfriend. This behavior is far more common in males than females. Mine acts the very same way.
It’s important to understand that your Cham has no emotional attachment to you, they are primitive creatures.
So how does all this tie back into handeling? As I said earlier we tell all keepers not to handle their chams as a default position to protect the Cham from stress and give him time to settle in and begin to dictate his own pace for handeling.
It is critical to accept the boundaries the Cham sets, there is no one rule to govern all handeling of all chams. Each is unique. If your Cham is reaching out to you every time you walk past the cage I see no reason not to handle him because he is requesting to be handled.
I want you to do an experiment with us since you are a new keeper. The next time you take your Cham out and it’s just you and him, no other distractions, I want you to take him out a make him stay on your hand. You can do this by raising your hand slightly above your head as soon as he climbs on. Then go stand next to his favorite climbing spot outside of his viv, like a shelf or indoor tree. Whatever you choose must be above your head, and give him the opportunity to climb even higher. hold him there for at least 30 seconds to give him time to choose weather to stay with you or climb higher. Hold completely still, try not to influence his decision by moving your hand.
What did he choose to do?