Does my Chameleon hate me?

[Christhechameleon]

Hello, 2 weeks ago I bought a slightly old female chameleon from my local petstore. Ive been standing next to the cage or sitting down doing homework leaving the cage open for about 2 hours or even more everyday. The problem is she still will hiss or open her mouth if im about an inch away from her! Please help! I treat her normaly and careful

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

Hello, 2 weeks ago I bought a slightly old female chameleon from my local petstore. Ive been standing next to the cage or sitting down doing homework leaving the cage open for about 2 hours or even more everyday. The problem is she still will hiss or open her mouth if im about an inch away from her! Please help! I treat her normaly and careful

Chameleons do not like you. They do not even like their own species. However they may learn to tolerate you, but not "like" you as chameleons can not feel emotion. So yes, basically your chameleon hates you

 

[Christhechameleon]

Chameleons do not like you. They do not even like their own species. However they may learn to tolerate you, but not "like" you as chameleons can not feel emotion. So yes, basically your chameleon hates you

No need to be a smart ass, I guess my question is when will I be able for her to walk on my hand and such.

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

No need to be a smart ass, I guess my question is when will I be able for her to walk on my hand and such.

I didn't mean to be rude, I apologize. You can start by hand feeding and work your way up from there! I hope it helps, and again I do sincerely apologize

 

[Christhechameleon]

I didn't mean to be rude, I apologize. You can start by hand feeding and work your way up from there! I hope it helps, and again I do sincerely apologize

Thank you, I guess I'll start by that!

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

Thank you, I guess I'll start by that!

No problem! After she gets used to hand feeding, you can try putting a branch in slowly, and see if she crawls on that

 

[Randall-the-Chameleon]

Is it just my eyes playing tricks or is that a yellow barred male. I see pattern on the legs to.

 

[Nursemaia]

You may never get her to walk on you. Veileds tend to be one of the more hateful species. Some tolerate, at best, being handled most don't. Chameleons really are a look at animal, not a handling and interactive animal.

 

[Nursemaia]

And if that's your cham in the picture it looks like you have a male not a female

 

[Nursemaia]

Here's a link to the care sheet for the veileds.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[Randall-the-Chameleon]

Is that picture of the whole cage? It it tiny and has pretty much no climbing space if it is. Did you read a proper care sheet?

 

[absolutbill]

Welcome to the forums! Caresheets will be your new best friends. It's only been 2 weeks, give your new friend some more time to settle in. Keep doing your homework outside the cage and they will come around. To check to see if you have a male, look at the back of their back feet - males have a spur, females do not. While right now it does look as if you have a male, we have had chameleons on here whose colors are deceiving as to their gender. You will need a larger cage and more foliage. Right now he/she is frightened and doesn't have a place to hide from the big scary monster (you). A larger cage can remedy this.

As to chameleons not being able to be friendly, loving you, etc. there are 2 camps of thought on this forum about this topic. While I can respect that these are reptiles with small brains, I do not believe for a second they cannot come to recognize their owners and even like them. Stepping onto your hand can happen, but it takes a LOT of time and patience. There are keepers on here who I have first hand watched their veileds eagerly climb onto their hands without any hissing or flaring up. They were not enticed with food or a stick to step onto, but just wanted to be with the owner.

From a personal standpoint I just lost a 4 1/2 year old panther who enjoyed nothing more than climbing up my arm and going outside to our lanai for time out there. My veiled has come around, and while we are still battling cage aggression (quite common in veileds and leads to the theory they hate the world), he has done a complete transformation in his attitude towards me. This is just my opinion, take it for what it's worth. Good luck with your new friend, and if you still aren't sure about the gender take a pic of his back feet and post it on here.

 

[rminnis]

Yep good answer^ it can take years of you being patient and slow with your cham to gain its trust I know its easy to get frustrated when you get no love! But just be glad its healthy and try to improve his living conditions that will help him be happier.

 

[Link]

Everybody gets one. That's the way I look at it so you can try try and sometimes they just won't like you no matter what. Try hand-feeding. Try to distract it with one hand and then bring your other hand up from underneath. And then just use your fingers to walk on a ladder hand over hand try just do it every other day. But you have to remember sometimes you get one that just does not want to be touched I have many of those. And they are mostly the females. Hope this helps you will have a lot more advice

 

[KapitalJ]

I didn't mean to be rude, I apologize. You can start by hand feeding and work your way up from there! I hope it helps, and again I do sincerely apologize

I didn't think you were rude at all.

No need to be a smart ass,

This was rude.

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

U just need to be patient. Patient is key! I own a veiled as well and as a baby he was so mean to me! I have a scar on my finger from him biting me! I started to work on hand feeding him and leaving the cage door open and everytime he would come close to comeing out of the cage I would put my hand in front of him and see if he would want to walk on it . It has taken me about six months for him to finally tolerate me . He is nine months old currently and is like the most friendliest chameleons I have ever met in my life!!! He comes out on his own and crawls all over me. I even set up a mini free range for him to climb around on. Spoil your Cham that's a good one

 

[RedMountainHome]

I have a panther who I've recently nick-named the Danger Skittle, cause he's such a colorful little jerk! From what I understand that's just the way some of them are, and there's probably not much we can do about it. Just keep on taking care of them the best we can and enjoy their beauty from outside of biting-range =)

 

[rminnis]

Lol mayb if you roll out a red carpet for him at every feeding and buy him a jeweled crown he will love you more. I think they are just such solitary animals they dont need you! (or so they think)

 

[rminnis]

Danger Skittle is good!

 

[L1z4rdB0y]

I do not believe for a second they cannot come to recognize their owners and even like them.

I'm *very* close to pulling the trigger on my first cham (huge post w/video & pictures coming soon) and this has been my experience with other reptiles, esp. my iguana Alex. The first 10-15 years he was a jerk-face but as he got older he mellowed. The last 10years he was like a dog (my one friend would lug him around like a teddy bear and I'd caught her few times sleeping with him!). He's missed.

I've been reading the heck out of these forums for months and I've come to the conclusion chams just want to be left alone. Watch videos. A cham on cam (lol) seems to be saying "Welll...ooops...who are you? I'm a leaf. Yup. Just sittin' here doing leaf stuff. You can go away now. Thank you. Really. You can leave. bye bye. ok. go. seriously." HOWEVER I have a feeling once the critter starts to associate you with food that might change "Oh...you're back. Sorry, just us leaves here. You...ahhh...didn't happen to bring any creepy-crawly things with you again hmmm? Sure I'm just a leaf and all but some creepy-crawlies would be nice ya know. If you have any. You have some right? Ok...I'm going to do something VERY un-leaf like right now and I'm going creep towards you...don't panic. I'm still just a leaf. A hungry leaf.....annnnnd...bugs? Where are they!"

And...ok this sounds weird...but talk to it. "You want some food? I got food." Stuff like that. IF THE LIZARD TALKS BACK SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP!