Taking Uribe to the vet - need advice

[Uribe]

Hi guys,

I'm taking my 4.5 month old ambanja to the vet today to get his eye checked out. I was hoping for some advice about the car ride. It should only be about 40 min each way so I wanted to know what would make him most comfortable. My main reason for concern is that he tends to hate me quite a bit in the first place. He gets pretty stressed anytime I get near him and I've only actually had him out of the cage 2 times in the 6 weeks I've had him and they werent pleasant experiences for him.

So, I guess if anyone has advice around how to make it easier to handle him and what I should keep him in during transit, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Ian

 

[sandrachameleon]

For my cracky ones, I put them in a dark box for my 45 minute drive to the vet and I keep the car relatively warm. being in the dark calms them as if it were sleepy time

 

[Uribe]

Thanks Sandra. Any thoughts on the handling aspect? Any tricks anyone knows of to make him more friendly or more trusting of me? I don't intend on handling him constantly, howver, it makes cage cleaning, misting, and feeding really stressful for him. Something I really want to avoid.

 

[jannb]

Is your cage small enough to fit in the car? If so put a sheet or towel over the cage, and take him and the cage to the vet and let the vet deal with taking him out.

 

[jannb]

Thanks Sandra. Any thoughts on the handling aspect? Any tricks anyone knows of to make him more friendly or more trusting of me? I don't intend on handling him constantly, howver, it makes cage cleaning, misting, and feeding really stressful for him. Something I really want to avoid.

Try hand feeding him some nice silkworms or hornworms. That's a good start to make him friendly.

 

[Rocky]

Try hand feeding him some nice silkworms or hornworms. That's a good start to make him friendly.

this is exactly what made my cham open up i started hand feeding him super worms and now everytime i open the cage he tries to climb out on me

 

[Uribe]

this is exactly what made my cham open up i started hand feeding him super worms and now everytime i open the cage he tries to climb out on me

I can get him to take a waxworm from me from time to time, but it certainly hasnt made him warm up at all (plus I understand theyre not very healthy so I try to offer one maybe once a week). It's kinda disappointing. Pretty much everytime I put my hand in his cage, he starts clinging to the screen and walking in circles. Obviously very stressed. I just hate to see him like that.

 

[hallenhe]

Pretty much everytime I put my hand in his cage, he starts clinging to the screen and walking in circles. Obviously very stressed. I just hate to see him like that.

Poor guy... My panther definitely fell for bribery. What worked with mine was to hold one hand out to him, with some treat (crickets, waxies, superworms) held back at the elbow of the extended hand, so he had to climb on if he wanted the treat. Mine's free range; yours might be getting stressed because he sees your hand as intruding in his safe space (mine didn't become friendly until he was let out of his Reptarium). Maybe try holding your hand, with treat in view, right outside his open cage, so he can make the decision to come out or not? (Suggestion for general getting him used to you, not necessarily for taking him to the vet.) For the vet trip, is there a removable plant in his cage? - I took mine to the vet by getting him to climb on his plant, then toting plant and all to the car and vet (keeping plant in a bucket so he couldn't wander far, and actually seatbelting plant and bucket in place).

 

[sandrachameleon]

Most of mine accept handling. But the one "mean" one gets coaxed onto a branch/stick that I am holding, then I put the stick in the box, quickly slam the lid shut and off I go. Getting her back into the box after the vet is done sometime involves putting a towel over her head. Sounds awful, but is actually fairly gentle and results I think in less stress for her and definately fewer flesh wounds on me!

 

[Uribe]

Poor guy... My panther definitely fell for bribery. What worked with mine was to hold one hand out to him, with some treat (crickets, waxies, superworms) held back at the elbow of the extended hand, so he had to climb on if he wanted the treat. Mine's free range; yours might be getting stressed because he sees your hand as intruding in his safe space (mine didn't become friendly until he was let out of his Reptarium). Maybe try holding your hand, with treat in view, right outside his open cage, so he can make the decision to come out or not? (Suggestion for general getting him used to you, not necessarily for taking him to the vet.) For the vet trip, is there a removable plant in his cage? - I took mine to the vet by getting him to climb on his plant, then toting plant and all to the car and vet (keeping plant in a bucket so he couldn't wander far, and actually seatbelting plant and bucket in place).

My cage really isnt portable nor could my car port it... and the way I have the the ficus situated in the cage prevents me from removing it without freaking him out or scaring him away from it.

I think I'm going to prep a shoebox and be gentle. I suppose if he can survive a Cali to Chicago overnight, he'll manage 45 minutes in a car.

As for holding him... I like your idea about the treat on the arm and will try to work it in during feeding time and see what happens. I just dont like the stand offs when he needs to be removed for cage cleaning. a little cooperation would be appreciated.

Has anyone had one that behaved like this and then warmed up? Or would most of you say, he'll be this way for good?

 

[hallenhe]

Your guy is only 4.5 months; Thaxter was probably 8 or 9 months before he became "friendly". It started with bribing him with the bugs; after a couple months, he was ready and willing to climb on me without the prospect of an immediate treat, and for the past two years, its sometimes all I can do to get out the door for work without him clambering on and settling down!

It helps that in most cases, Thaxter associates climbing on me with something "fun" - bugs, a warm spritzing, a trip outside to sit in the sun (not for the next several months, now, in Michigan) or, at the least, sitting on a human arm that is warmer than he is.

So, short answer, don't give up hope on him yet! There's still plenty of time for him to warm up to you, especially if you can somehow frame it in a "Come out of your cage of your own accord and Good Things Happen" sense.