Aggression

[Acottrelll]

Hey everyone. I have a 5 month old ambilobe cham, Rajah. I’m not new to owning chameleons , but this is my first panther. I have had him for a little over a month. Basically as the title says , he is aggressive, and extremely scared of any type of hand movement inside of his enclosure. I have pretty much tried everything to get him to “warm up” and “trust” me even though it hasn’t been that long. I’m not trying to get him to “show me affection and love me” I’m just trying to build some sort of trust so he isn’t constantly striking at me and trying to bite me. I cup feed him, so I can monitor what he eats. I have tried gently offering food on the back of my hand , patiently but the minute he even sees my finger he loses it , puffs up, takes off running or tries to take my hand off. I was actually putting some food in his cup this morning since I didn’t see him and figured he was hiding at the bottom somewhere, and to my surprise he was actually hiding in the leaves near his cup and I just didn’t see him, he quickly took the opportunity to bite my finger and drew blood. Anyways , I was just wondering if anyone has any type of advice on how to properly handle aggressive and easily scared chameleons. If you have a cham who is the same , and if you have successfully managed to make them a little more comfortable with you, or if some chameleons just are this way for life no matter what you do. Thanks!

 

[Syreptyon]

My panther is fairly aggressive, too, but luckily I've been able to avoid a bite so far! I'm sure lots of members will have some good advice, but I would also recommend checking out the most recent episode of the Chameleon Breeder Podcast, which is all about handling and earning your cham's trust: http://www.chameleonbreeder.com/

 

[Acottrelll]

My panther is fairly aggressive, too, but luckily I've been able to avoid a bite so far! I'm sure lots of members will have some good advice, but I would also recommend checking out the most recent episode of the Chameleon Breeder Podcast, which is all about handling and earning your cham's trust: http://www.chameleonbreeder.com/

Thanks for getting back to me I actually have just recently listened to that podcast and I understand what is being said. I guess a part of me just wants to see if other people have had success with their own chameleons. I might just have to accept that this is the way he is, and I am ok with that. I will love him no matter what.

 

[Acottrelll]

By the way, this is him. In his typical grumpy self. Of course, I wouldn’t want a camera in my face either, though.

 

[JacksJill]

Many out grow their aggressiveness after they are a year or so old, some don't.
I have heard of people moving their chameleons to free ranges and having that improve their disposition. I can't verify that personally.
Free ranging can have it's down sides so research it before plunging in.

 

[flowerrpal]

Do you have a front opening tank? I find that chameleons tend to be aggressive if they thing you are a threat, coming from the top. As well even if your tank is front opening try always coming from the bottom, I have scared many chameleons accidentally by coming straight forward or from above with my hands. Also, start slow a new environment is stressful and they can take a long time to acclimate to their new tank as well as a new person. Also did you get him from a breeder or a pet shop?

 

[jajeanpierre]

I think your best chance of getting him relaxed around you is to stop scaring him. Every time you cause him to panic, you reinforce the neural pathways to respond to you with terror. You have to break the cycle.

Just ignore him so he can start to learn that he can be in your presence without fearing for his life. Try to keep your hands out of your cage.

I don't know how old he is and how big your cage is but sometimes giving them a bigger cage helps. Some are just jerks. I have one male that I've had since he was a 16g baby wild caught and if he could get hold of me I think he would try to kill me.

 

[Brokaylacham]

My chameleon is very comfortable with me and he willingly comes up to me even and the way i made him less agitated was to ignore him for like two weeks other than to the nessecary things, i noticed seemed more open to coming to me.