Aggressive chameleon, assistance needed

[Finx]

Hi all,
I have a Male Yemen called Marty, had him from 16weeks and he's got progressively more territorial when ever anyone gets near him.
ESPECIALLY hands! He hates hands, tweezers, twigs he's fine with but wow, put your hand near him you'll know about it, hissing head butting and even biting if you let him. (for such a youngster he has a hell of a lot of jaw strength!)
He's now coming up to 6months old, is there any way to discourage this behaviour? He used to be really placid when we first got him, but now everytime I open the viv he's instantly side on puffed up, and closest front foot tucked into his chest.
I used to hand feed him but now this behaviour has stopped that as he's more interested in having a fight with my hand then the food in it.

Any advice would be fantastic and then I can go back to hand feeding him and both me and him will be happier with each other.

This is my first thread, I've come from the pets and exotics forum who recommended here for my chameleon based stuff.
So hi everyone!

 

[HolyToledo]

Welcome to the forum!

Hope you find your answers here.

Maybe he is just going through his teens and will mellow out some in a while. He is probably just trying to tell you that he is the boss inside his cage. Just don't act afraid. Then he knows his tactics are working on you.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. There's no way you can discipline a chameleon. They can and often do become territorial and cage aggressive. Do you have a room or a safe place you could set up a free range for him? They are normally much nicer once out of the cage.

 

[Kmw]

He's not a dog, you can't smack him with a rolled up newspaper.

I'd just keep trying to offer hand feeding, see if he ever takes. If not just being around him plenty, give him time to realize that you being there isn't the end of his world and he might come around. But you may just have a very anti-social chameleon.

 

[Finx]

Hi everyone,
Thank you for the quick responses.
The odd thing is, if I pull my sleeve over my hand he doesn't freak. He'll just do the normal blank look at my sleeve as there is something new in the viv.
He's let out the viv really often. Maybe 4-5times a week for a good 5-6hr stretch where he will have free roam of the flat. He's quite active and ain't afraid to explore. Example I'll put him by the window in the sun, 2hrs later he's gone and I'll find him in the next room climbing up my bed.
So when I attempt to return him to the area of the room by the window (shade is available if it gets too much, but this is wales in the UK so it's not as hot as the states) or back to his viv, he'll go ballistic at me as if I were trying to kill him because I'm trying to pick him up. Out of his territory so can't be that. But after he's finished snapping at me he'll sit on my sleeve fine (unless he sees my hand behind him then he's off again)

 

[Finx]

Also as am very new is this the correct location for this thread?
Was hoping there was a directory for behavioral topics, as chams are 'complicated' creatures.
I have a couple more threads I want to post that's all and don't want to put the tread in the wrong place.

 

[Carlton]

Welcome to the forum!

Hope you find your answers here.

Maybe he is just going through his teens and will mellow out some in a while. He is probably just trying to tell you that he is the boss inside his cage. Just don't act afraid. Then he knows his tactics are working on you.

I agree. At this age many go through a "terrible teen" phase when their hormones are kicking in and they are realizing they ARE the king of their turf. A cham won't make the connection between a bad behavior and your discipline, so if you react negatively to a lunge or a bite it won't really do anything other than make your cham afraid of you.

 

[BocaJan]

General discussion covers about anything that isn't covered in any of the other more specific areas.

 

[Finx]

I agree. At this age many go through a "terrible teen" phase when their hormones are kicking in and they are realizing they ARE the king of their turf. A cham won't make the connection between a bad behavior and your discipline, so if you react negatively to a lunge or a bite it won't really do anything other than make your cham afraid of you.

Awesome. Good to hear.
I wasn't sure if I should just ignore the behavior and just carry on, or if every time he kicked off just place my hands closer as a kinda 'if you want to fight you can try but it ain't going to work' and 'a display of dominance ain't going to work with me sunshine.'
But either way my hands are going to need to retract from him at some point otherwise my hands would never come out, lol. So can he think he wins each time this happens encouraging this behavior?

To anyone thinking I was meaning to physically harm my Marty this was not what I meant by this thread, more for direction if there is a method in chameleon body language to say 'this behavior ain't going to fly'
I was hoping this was some 'teen angst' I like to handle him and he has a thing for sitting on my shoulder or head while I play Xbox, but his initial "DON'T TOUCH ME!" is sometimes off putting.

 

[Vegun]

Take him to see one of those romantic vampire movies the bopper's love so much these days.


Perhaps that'll snap him out of his funk.