chameleon wishes to leave cage

[longguyland]

Ok so I have a male tamatave chameleon thats about 6 months old. Lately he has had a strong desire to come out of the cage. He was in a 16x16x32 screen to start with so i figured that he must be outgrowing his cage. I moved him into a new cage, things huge, 3ftx3ftx2ft and still, if i leave the door open it will come right out. it doesnt hiss or puff up just seems to want to hangout. The literature i read however generally frowns on holding chameleons everyday so im not lookin to do that, that being said i have a basking light and spot, plenty to climb on, humidity is good, foods dusted im not sure what his deal is. thoughts?

 

[Chameleonpainter]

I had the same issue with one of my panthers around that age, the advice I got was... It's the teenage years. Make sure you have a good gradation of light and temp,places for him to hide etc. check out the dragonstrand custom set ups for me they have been ideal. Otherwise hang in there, my guy calmed down around 16-18mo

 

[jannb]

I recommend setting up a free range for him if you have a safe area free form other pets and children. If you ha e to keep him cage he will need at least a four foot high enclosure as an adult.

 

[MissMeela]

Ok so I have a male tamatave chameleon thats about 6 months old. Lately he has had a strong desire to come out of the cage. He was in a 16x16x32 screen to start with so i figured that he must be outgrowing his cage. I moved him into a new cage, things huge, 3ftx3ftx2ft and still, if i leave the door open it will come right out. it doesnt hiss or puff up just seems to want to hangout. The literature i read however generally frowns on holding chameleons everyday so im not lookin to do that, that being said i have a basking light and spot, plenty to climb on, humidity is good, foods dusted im not sure what his deal is. thoughts?

My male veiled chameleon did the same thing, the older he got, probably around the same age (5-6 months or so) the more he wanted to come out of his cage.. everyday. And, like you, I've read many things stating that they are not to be held, as that can stress them out. But just imagine being locked up in a cage, not being able to get out when you want. Every chameleon is different. If your chameleon is essentially ASKING to be let out, you should try to arrange that. But make sure it's safe for him! I have a set of elk horns on my wall right behind my chameleon's cage, i decided that could be the perfect spot for his free range area. When i open the door, he just climbs on the door and up and over to the sticks and vines I've added to the horns. He loves it! I let him or everyday for about 2 hours at a time, as i don't have any way to have extra lights on him. I just make sure all the windows are open so it's nice and bright for him! If you go to the FreeRoam section of this forum, I've posted pics of "His Free Roam Area". I hold/carry my chameleon every single day that I can. He actually enjoys it! I can tell that there are days that I just leave him alone, but mostly he likes it as he comes right to me! So if yours is asking for it, I'd give him something else to do/place to go! If you think about it, IF anything were to ever happen to him, and he was use to you holding him sometimes, you would be able to administer medication if needed, or even just get him out to take him to a doctor! Good luck! Hope all stays well and you and your chameleon can become better friends!

 

[rocketdog81]

My 5 month old male panther is the same, he spends all day trying to escape his viv. He loves being out but I can only let him out 2 hours a day too. I am now worried he is going to stress himself out but there is no way I can free range him.

 

[caietaro]

My 5 month old male panther is exactly the same. He started doing this a couple of weeks ago. He's in the Dragonstrand Atrium cage which seems like it has plenty of room for him at the moment, but he just wants out. His cage is in my office and I work from home a few days a week, so I bought a large Java Tree stand meant for parrots, then found a huge pothos plant, wrapped the pothos around the Java tree, and use that as a free-range when I'm home. He seems to love it. I also picked up an olive wood branch that sits on my desk and he likes to hang out for for a little bit while I work.

 

[NvC Dex]

Where could one find those branches you have on your desk?

 

[caietaro]

I picked it up at a recent reptile expo in my area, but I think a lot of reptile and terrarium companies sell them. Something like this from lllReptile should be similar: http://www.lllreptile.com/products/243-large-sandblasted-grapewood you just don't get to pick out a specific piece when buying online

 

[JHumm]

I've got the same thing going on with my 6mo veiled boy. Whenever I walk into the room he starts moving toward the door and begs to be let out. At first he would not stop moving. He was constantly exploring, walking from room to room checking everything out. Now he comes out, climbs up on my hat and hangs out while I go about my daily routine. It all began when he started going thru "puberty". We quickly learned to keep him away from mirrors as he gets aroused I read somewhere that an explanation for this explorative behavior is that they're trying to find a mate. I'm curious to see what other people think about this. Also has anyone had a female display this behavior?

 

[Kayroxyoursox]

I went through this with my veiled awhile back, and he has stopped trying to get out so much now. However my panther chameleon has recently just begun doing this hopefully it doesn't last too much longer. It being puberty and them looking for a mate does sound like. Logical explanation to me because they both started doing it around 6 months.

 

[NvC Dex]

I just purchased a fake tree from goodwill ($9.95) Then went to Petsmart to get some Bend-a-branch. I put my boys in the tree last night for a couple hours and they didnt want to leave...