Chameleon pawing at the cage door

[dee1]

Hi all,

My chameleon is 10 months old and has been doing some strange behavior for a while.

If I am around to get out, he will paw at the cage window nonstop and be content for a period, but when I put him back in the cage 20 minutes later, he will be pawing at the cage again.

He is also always zooming around the cage when I am around, going to the bottom and then back up to the top.

He was climbing on plants and would fall, so I decided to add more branches, but he has decided to head down there anyway.

He was looked over by the vet a month or two ago with no problems.

The cage temp is 75F, basking is 84F, and humidity is 55%.

I am not sure if he just loves to get out. He doesn't go bright or puffed up; he just chills when he's out and wants to climb everywhere.

I have attached pictures of him pawing the screen.

Thanks,
Dylan

 

[jannb]

What size is that cage? He definitely needs more plants and horizontal branches. Some chameleons don’t like to be caged. Do you have a safe area away from people and pets to make a free range for him?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. It wouldn’t hurt to add more plants and branches. I might be the wrong person to reply to your concern as my experiences with panther chameleons is having a couple that insist on coming out onto me at every chance they get. He’s passed, but if I was sitting on the floor in front of his enclosure, my sweet boy Jack would wedge himself between the screen and his root pouch (bioactive enclosure), not only getting stuck at times but also abrading his crest. I had him in a double sized enclosure and kept looking continuously for something (anything) that he might be trying to escape from and there just was nothing. He just seemed to enjoy sitting on my hand or arm staring at me. I have another little sweetheart, Bart, that also comes running out as soon as I open his door. He wants to eat my eyeballs and climb my head though. Then you have to consider his age. He’s mature enough to start having the urge/instinct to find a pretty girl and pass on his genes. Adult males will patrol the perimeter of their enclosure routinely also. My other male panther is always in a different spot and patrols a few times a day it seems. He’s friendly too, but doesn’t come running to climb on me.