Wilderness33
New Member
So i got a Male Jackson cham about 3 weeks ago, the store i got him from said he was wild caught. He is very shy and nervous, and i was wondering if anyone could help me out?
Wild Caught Taming?
- Thread starter Wilderness33
- Start date
Wilderness33
New Member
ok, hand feed only? Because I have been free ranging crickets, grasshoppers, and dubia.
Theveiled
Avid Member
You could do a mix of hand feeding and free ranging to give him the hunting feeling
It can take time for any chameleon to gain enough trust or confidence in a new environment to actually "come around" to its provider. Hand feeding is a way to reinforce your role as a food provider and can help them be more at ease. There is no perfect answer, but you will likely need lots of patience and some luck.
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
I think the most important thing you can do with any chameleon but especially a wild caught is to never present yourself as a threat. In a perfect world, if your caging and your home was set up exactly right and you had infinite time, you might be able to never present yourself as a threat but the reality of life gets in the way so there will be times when you threaten and frighten your chameleon. The trick is to try to reduce the negative interactions you have with your animal.
Think of your interactions with your chameleon as almost a financial transaction with trust being the currency. Your chameleon has a bank account where trust is deposited or withdrawn. When you move slowly and bring food, there is a deposit of trust. When you stare directly in his face (just the way a predator does) you withdraw some of that trust. You want to always keep the trust account in the positive and growing.
Lots of people think that hand feeding is the best way to tame a chameleon but I think it is to just always appear as non threatening. You do that by never appearing as a predator by looking directly into their faces or grabbing them especially from above, by moving very slowly and being quick to back away, and just not putting them in fearful or stress filled situations. When the animal is stressed by your presence, you back away. Give it lots of cover and let it choose when to be out in the open or deep in cover.
Do not mistake escape (of the cage) behavior with wanting to come out and socialize. Escaping is a fear/stress response.
Hope that helps.
Think of your interactions with your chameleon as almost a financial transaction with trust being the currency. Your chameleon has a bank account where trust is deposited or withdrawn. When you move slowly and bring food, there is a deposit of trust. When you stare directly in his face (just the way a predator does) you withdraw some of that trust. You want to always keep the trust account in the positive and growing.
Lots of people think that hand feeding is the best way to tame a chameleon but I think it is to just always appear as non threatening. You do that by never appearing as a predator by looking directly into their faces or grabbing them especially from above, by moving very slowly and being quick to back away, and just not putting them in fearful or stress filled situations. When the animal is stressed by your presence, you back away. Give it lots of cover and let it choose when to be out in the open or deep in cover.
Do not mistake escape (of the cage) behavior with wanting to come out and socialize. Escaping is a fear/stress response.
Hope that helps.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree with the above post. Given I have had my Jackson female, who was a long term captive when I received her, though not well cared for, I have had her for about 8 months and just in this last 2 months has she even accepted me hand feeding her. I can attest from caring for one and what I've read about them here, most Jackson's are wild caught, and most do everything extremely slow compared to other chameleons. They grow slow, drink slower, tame slower, trust slower. They are quicker to lose trust but less likely to act aggressively. So you must be very aware of their stress signs and colors. I have yet to meet a Jackson who has ever hissed at me or bit me. However my girl Hope does show her uncomfortableness by puffing, hesitating, darkening, and trying to hide from me. These usually are all during medicating or health checks. Sadly I was not able to slowly build trust with Hope she came to me with severe MBD and I was medicating her and taking her to the vet on a regular basis until about 6 months in. She hated my presence until around the 5th month in. Then as she started to feel better I was finally able to pull back on the medicating and stopped going to the vet. She calmed toward me going toward her cage when before she would hide as quick as possible as soon as I entered the room. Eventually I started trying to hand feeding her silkworms I won her trust enough for her to willingly climb onto my hand. That day I took her outside, and since then we have never looked back. Though I do still medicate her and she hates it still as she should, she accepts it.
