Quad owners! Need help with handling

ChamomilleCame

Avid Member
I've been trying pretty hard for my q. quad to be OK with me. He is completely terrified of me even though he sees me putting food in his cage. Today, he jumped off a branch and hissed at me pretty loudly when I started moving my hand towards him. How can I make him recognize me as not a threat? I want to take him to the vet before it gets 55F and under every day.
I've had him for around 6wks. Does he just need more time?
 
How old is he? You can try not feeding him for a few days and then try to hand feed him. Sometimes hunger over rides fear. If he is that scared you will have to take your time.

Why do you want to take him to the vet? Is he a WC? If they are healthy, I don't feel the stress is worth it to find out they are healthy. A fecal test is always a good idea, but you don't have to take him in for that.
 
How old is he? You can try not feeding him for a few days and then try to hand feed him. Sometimes hunger over rides fear. If he is that scared you will have to take your time.

Why do you want to take him to the vet? Is he a WC? If they are healthy, I don't feel the stress is worth it to find out they are healthy. A fecal test is always a good idea, but you don't have to take him in for that.

He's close to 8 months old.
I'll try the hand feeding with silk worms. He loves those.

I promised Janet I would take him to Dayna (ferretinmyshoes) because he has a deformed foot and she wanted insight from her. It was one of the conditions of owning the quad :love: He looks great besides that, I just want to get him in as soon as I can, or at least as soon as he is willing to interact with me.
 
He's close to 8 months old.
I'll try the hand feeding with silk worms. He loves those.

I promised Janet I would take him to Dayna (ferretinmyshoes) because he has a deformed foot and she wanted insight from her. It was one of the conditions of owning the quad :love: He looks great besides that, I just want to get him in as soon as I can, or at least as soon as he is willing to interact with me.

I agree with Tylene about the vet visit. I do not think it is much benefit to have a vet say they are healthy. I don't think anyone will be able to tell us why he has a fused foot, etc., but I had incubator temperature fluctuations at the time and that has been blamed on those kinds of congenital issues by other vets and researchers. Also, I think you misunderstood me about needing Dayna to look at him. I just wanted you to use her if he ever needs the services of a vet. One other thing, he will do just fine in cold weather. If it really is cold--just put him in that insulated box he came in and wrap that up in towels inside a few layers of bags. I hope you kept the P22 pack he came with. That can be used to heat or cool his box. Heat it up in cold weather and it will release heat as it solidifies. Cool it off and it will pull heat out as it melts. It changes from a liquid to solid at 72F--perfect for maintaining heat in shipping boxes of reptiles. If you are using public transit, you might want to use a hot water bottle or one of those microwavable heat/cold packs but just be sure you don't overheat him.

I also agree with Tylene about pulling food and using his own hunger to motivate him to be less wary of you. That bailing off a branch is a defense strategy for all chameleons, but quads and graciliors are more noted for using it, especially young ones.

Where is his cage? Can you put his cage beside your desk so he is exposed to you at fairly close range but at the same time you are ignorning him because you are studying? If he sees you close to him but not intruding into his space, he will become habituated to your presence. If every time he sees you, you frighten him--even if unintentional--you will reinforce his fear response to your presence. You want to break that cycle because it is self perpetuating. You can actually make it worse and make him hyper vigilant.

Make sure you always move slowly around him and don't look him in the eye. That's what predators do. If you want to look at him, look at him sideways and avert your eyes.

Is his cage heavily furnished with cover? If he has places to retreat and feel safe inside his cage, he will be less hyper vigilant. If he feels exposed, he will react more quickly and more intensely to his perceived threat. You want to give him choices of how much interaction he has with you. If he controls it--by retreating deeply into cover when you are near--he will be less likely to panic at your presence. If he is in a cage that doesn't allow him to disappear from you or at least that he perceives as being able to become undetectable to you, he will be stressed by your presence which will only reinforce his perceptions of you as a threat.

To give you and example, I have gracilior female that was imported gravid, so an adult. When she first came, I could never see her in her cage because she would hide or hurl herself off branches. If I even looked in the cage, she might fling herself down. The scariest was when I was getting her out of the cage once to weigh her and she dove down and got herself wedged between the wall of her cage and the Dragonstrand ledges. I mean really stuck and gravid to boot. It took a long time to get her unstuck and I was worried she might die because she was struggling to go down which meant she was wedging herself tighter and tighter and she was gavid. I have not worked to make her a pet and my interactions with her have generally been quite stressful for her. What I have done is to give her a heavily furnished cage and I try not to bother her. She now no longer panics when am doing anything inside the cage. She hand feeds. I can even gently touch her sides to try to feel for eggs without restraining her. They will calm down if you empower them by giving them a choice, and that choice might be an escape.
 
Back
Top Bottom