A Parents Guide To Rasing a Friendly Cham??

[insert name here]

I hear of people who have chameleons who absolutely hate their guts and are forced to wear gloves when handling them. Then I hear of others who have chameleons who jump on their hand as soon as it enters the cage. I am just wondering if there are certain things you can do when your cham is young to raise it into a friendly and social chameleon. Or is it just the luck of the draw?

 

[Syn]

I myself believe it's luck of the draw AND certain things you can do. I'm sure someone can chime in on the things, because I don't have a good list.

 

[veiledchamguy]

I hear of people who have chameleons who absolutely hate their guts and are forced to wear gloves when handling them. Then I hear of others who have chameleons who jump on their hand as soon as it enters the cage. I am just wondering if there are certain things you can do when your cham is young to raise it into a friendly and social chameleon. Or is it just the luck of the draw?

when young offer a mealworm or something that wont go far to fast and put it on tip of your fingers and slowly work your way up the arm.

 

[jannb]

Buy them plenty of trees and let them come out of the cage as much as possible. Both my chams free range and they are friendly and all I do is love them and give them the very best care that I possibly can.

 

[luevelvet]

That's funny. I just posted about this in the handling thread...

Our meller's attitude changed from being stressed everytime he saw us, to now being an absolute sweethear every time we walk by. He's exclusively hand fed for now or until I figure a good effective cup method that won't drawn the roaches when his misters pop on...

Luis

 

[Lizardlover]

all three of my chams are in cages larger than needed, are well fed, and have the best care possible, i have one who loves me, when i walk in the room he comes to the screen to come out, i have another who is fine with me as long as i dont hold him, but he'll hand feed and isnt hissy, and i have one who absolutely hates my guts, dont ask me why, i think its just luck of the draw as syn said

 

[yokazooma]

so would you guys say that a chameleon of 1 month is more likely to grow to like the owner with time than one at 4 or 5 months? would the latter aged chameleons be more likely to never like the owner?

 

[CNorton]

Ollie has been in my care for 2 months now (he's 6months old) and STILL hates my guts and puts up a big fuss/chase every time I need to bring him out.

I have tried coaxing him with food aka the association between me and rewarding food items. He absolutely cannot eat, drink, or poop in my presence. Not even if I'm across the room. He must have an extreme distaste for people. I have tried making sure he's really hungry and then hand feeding and Ollie WILL NOT eat...even after a half hour of holding out food.
Needless to say, nothing has helped in making my cham more social.

Anyone have any other ideas? There's gotta be a plant that is cham-nip!

 

[yokazooma]

Ollie has been in my care for 2 months now (he's 6months old) and STILL hates my guts and puts up a big fuss/chase every time I need to bring him out.

I have tried coaxing him with food aka the association between me and rewarding food items. He absolutely cannot eat, drink, or poop in my presence. Not even if I'm across the room. He must have an extreme distaste for people. I have tried making sure he's really hungry and then hand feeding and Ollie WILL NOT eat...even after a half hour of holding out food.
Needless to say, nothing has helped in making my cham more social.

Anyone have any other ideas? There's gotta be a plant that is cham-nip!

how old is your chameleon and what type is it? gender?

 

[CNorton]

how old is your chameleon and what type is it? gender?

Are you serious? or are you joking?

 

[saltykrisp]

Luck of the draw, or can an animal tell what kid of person you are? I have read a post like this before,and i read a reponse saying dont count on your dragon of being a kind beast when the hormones kick in. Only being A new coomer to this site i will say how you treat your animal is key! dont expect but inspect. fullfill the chams needs as needed and no more my cham is about 6-7 months and he expects to be let out of the cage before or after feedings and waterings. I have to say tho he is in a low trafic area and is left alone for hours on end a day and when let out for 15 min or so he is ready to go back to his enviroment. I also have had an igauana ( not the same as a cham) but have had similar results very friendly.

 

[desultadox]

I'm pretty sure it varies by species as well. Panthers and especially Veileds are known to have bad attitudes, but I'm pretty sure Meller's and Rudis, for example, are much friendlier. Those were just a few examples.

 

[yokazooma]

Are you serious? or are you joking?

woah i re-read what you wrote. i guess i'm more tired than i thought rofl
sorry about that. it could be luck of the draw like everyone's been saying but a small part of it coud be that it's male. given how long you've had it though it might just be in his personality.

 

[PantherVeileD]

I would say leave them alone when they are still young. Some animals learn faster then others. I think they just have to get used to your hands and know that your not a threat. With all animals you really got to have patience when training. Don't force the animals to doing what they don't want to do. Some days my chams are not afraid and won't hiss, other days they will. My nosy be male is jumpy and when i pick him up he tries to go back to his cage. If he doesn't run back and crawls forward then I'll bring him out to bask in the sunlight. Sooner or later I hope he gets the idea that nothing will happen to him and that he gets to enjoy the sun if he comes to me.

 

[PantherVeileD]

oh IMO i think the females are more docile then male!

 

[Malicious]

I believe that my female veiled, "Osang" was the victim of my noobishness. In other words, she was handled a bit to often and endured my beginner mistakes. I was learning as I went, even though I spent months prior to her arrival educating myself on chameleon care. There is no training like hands on training.

I know when we all entered this hobby we were faced with new and difficult task, and no matter how many books or articles we read we still had surprises and mishaps along the way. You can only learn so much from a forum and a book. She was not neglected or mistreated, yet handled a bit to often due to cage rearranges and stressed by everyone coming to "ewww'n and ahhhh'n" her when she first arrived. I myself was fascinated by the way they moved and ate, and would stand by her cage and gaze at her for hours. I now know it must have stressed her greatly. The fact that I would get up in the middle of the night to check on her by turning on the bedroom light, and gazing in didn't help either. Have you noticed that you cant really see chams breathing while they sleep?? Well I thought she had died the first time I saw it, and franticly open the cage door only to scare the crap out of her by waking her with my hand. Ahhh...the joys of being a new parent.. We just try to do our best and sometimes do more harm then good. She began to remember me more for the stress I caused her, rather then the treats I gave her. She developed an attitude towards me and doesn't really want to have anything to do with me. She’s a beautiful, healthy veiled chameleon, yet just wants her peace and quite. I now have perfected my husbandry and have two ambilobe's that are the unbelievably beautiful,social and mild tempered. I'm sorry Osang had to be part of my learning curve, but I'm pretty sure she accepts my hornworm apologies. I strive to provide my animals with the best care possible. It doesn't matter how your day was and what fell apart yesterday, they depend on me to provide them with the proper care they deserve. After a long sleepless night your guaranteed to find me at 8am rain or shine, standing in front of 3 cages sorting through bins of feeders preparing breakfast. We all do it because these guys hold special places in our hearts.

-Jay