Confidence building

[davemailcall]

I've got a veiled who isn't sick or anything. But I think she suffers from a lack of confidence in her climbing ability.

She moves around very deliberately and slowly. She also doesn't climb unless she really needs too, like eating.

I've started letting her free range in a plant in the house (a safe plant) but I want to know if anyone has other suggestions to help her boost her climb experience and abilities.

 

[Cherron]

It isn't that she isn't confident in her climbing abilities. Chameleons stay still or sway slightly as a form of camoflague. They are harder to see to birds and other predators if they are still or moving slowly. Chameleons do a back and forth rocking walk that makes them seem like a leaf being blown around.

Is your chameleon's cage up high? If she is above your head she will feel more secure and less like you are a threat to her and may move around more. I have also noticed that my females move around a lot less than my males. My males seem to almost "patrol" their cage while my females move in and out of the basking spots and not a whole lot more.

I am not claiming to be an expert by any means, but I hope I helped some. As long as her grip seems strong, she isn't falling or missing branches, I wouldn't worry about it

 

[collinbluffs]

I've got a veiled who isn't sick or anything. But I think she suffers from a lack of confidence in her climbing ability.

She moves around very deliberately and slowly. She also doesn't climb unless she really needs too, like eating.

I've started letting her free range in a plant in the house (a safe plant) but I want to know if anyone has other suggestions to help her boost her climb experience and abilities.

Does she appear weak when trying to climb? Possibly not recieving enough uvb lighting? I know that lack of uvb lighting can cause a chameleon or lizard to become lethargic. And eventually develope the MBD (Metabolic bone disease). Not trying to scare you, just want you to be safe then sorry.
I noticed in a local pet store that a veiled was climbing and not moving her back legs. They were just dragging behind her. I'm sure that poor little thing had MBD. I notified the store owner and they took her our of the cage and took her out back. Once they have MBD, life for them is all downhill.

 

[davemailcall]

Well she does get enough UV and heat and stuff. Right now her cage isn't the biggest and the high point in it is roughly chest height to me, but I have plans in the works to build a new one.

Today I bought and started constructing a free range fixture that someone else posted pictures of here on the forums about one year ago. Its going to hang up about 6ft from the floor. Right now I'm just concerned about her falling out from that height and causing some damage.

Being as she's female, Cherron could be right and she's just acting normal and not unconfident. Luckily, she doesn't have any ailments (that I can see) so my guess is that its just my ignorance that is the issue

Of course, more posts are always welcome to fix that!