Bonding

[FunkyKangaroo]

Is it better to attempt bonding such as hand feeding and such at a older age or is it better to do when they are a couple months old? I don't want to hold it all day and stuff but i would like to take him on walks in the summer and get him a bit fresh air! any thoughts?

 

[Barb]

I am new to chams. Mine will be shipping out next week. However, I do own tortoises and am on a tortoise forum. The general answer for both chams and torts are not to handle them much if at all. Now that said, I totally feel the opposite. I have handled my tort sense day one. Let him nap on me and hand feed. I personally feel it is important for them to be handle and get used to it, for the reason of if they get sick or something stuck in their throat, etc., they will already be accustomed to be handled and not afraid of you. I will be handling my Cham for the same reasons. I also feel, the sooner/younger the better. That's my opinion for what it's worth

 

[Enochlg]

slow and steady wins the race!

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

The age really doesn't matter much. I have had chams that were very social from a young age and some that were very hostile and then just changed. It is really up to the individual cham. Just offer him a worm and see what he does. If he makes himself big and hisses. Wait a while and give him space. If he starts eyeing the worm, give hand feeding a try.

 

[Julija]

There has recently been made a very nice blog entry that I would really recommend you to read. It is exactly about taming and bonding with your cham:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/psychobunny/746-taming-chameleon.html
I tried a similar approach myself and it worked very well for me and my green veiled friend

 

[Olimpia]

The younger the easier, definitely. It's like attempting to tame any animal, a young one is more easily shaped than a fully grown one.

I agree fully with Barb that acclimitazing your chameleon to some handling and contact goes way beyond just you getting to hold them for fun, it might be vital later to get him to the vet, administering medicines, checking their eyes and mouth routinely to check for early signs of issues, etc. This is the same reason zoos familiarize animals with some mild handling, because everyone needs to get checked out now and then and taking a terrified, hissing, and biting animal to the vet or trying to give it eye drops is going to be 100x worse than with an animal that more or less tolerates human contact.

http://muchadoaboutchameleons.blogspot.com/2012/04/to-handle-or-not-to-handle.html

 

[stalincat]

My girl used to come to see me and walk all over me and now she hates me! I don't know what to do! Sometimes she won't even take worms from me. She comes to see my boyfriend though