extroverted

[didney]

so how friendly are most chams. my little geb absolutely adores to be out and about with everyone. He even enjoys piggy backing on the family golden retriver. how common is it to have an extroverted cham???

 

[calvin]

Wow that pretty cool. Never heard of a cham that likes dog piggy back rides. Would love to see a picture of that. And I am getting my first cham tomorrow and the owner said he is fine to come out of his cage for no more then 5 min then he starts to get grumpy

 

[chameleonfrenzy]

It's about a 50/50 with all of mine, 2 Males and half of my Females love to come out and don't make a fuss, but 1 male and the other half of the Females don't want anything to do with it and will fight to stay in the cage. Of coarse you can break that attitude and eventually they will enjoy coming out.

 

[Diego Lamb]

Of coarse you can break that attitude and eventually they will enjoy coming out.

Well I dont think thats the best advice. Although some Chameleons are far more 'extrovert' than others, I dont believe its wise to force handle chams.

My chameleon loves to roam around. He actively seeks my hand in order to free range. Due to the negative impact of stress on chams you should avoid 'breaking' the attitude in attempt to force tame. In time they seem to become far more relaxed.

Are you sure your chameleon likes to ride on top of a dog!?

 

[didney]

My dog Carly is very gentle and doesn't move quickly or erratically. She's slowing down in her old age and alittle hen thinks she's a play ground since she is covered in grabavle hair. Carly will feeze up or walk extremely cautiously if I put Geb on her. I'll be sure to send pics of them chilling out!

 

[York1]

Ive seen a cham riding on a dog a few times in my life. Not sure why it works or if its safe tho.

 

[calvin]

That's great would love to see some pics!

 

[zlew]

Well I dont think thats the best advice. Although some Chameleons are far more 'extrovert' than others, I dont believe its wise to force handle chams.

My chameleon loves to roam around. He actively seeks my hand in order to free range. Due to the negative impact of stress on chams you should avoid 'breaking' the attitude in attempt to force tame. In time they seem to become far more relaxed.

I think what chameleon frenzy meant by breaking the attitude was by taming the chameleon, i. e. with hand feeding

 

[dragonscales]

My Artemis does not like to be out of her cage. She will take food from my hand when she is in her cage but not outside. It takes me a while to coax her out. She still hisses at me no matter how slow I go. I have had her for about 10 weeks and she is only around 3-4 months old. So I am just going to be patient.
Here is her reaction when I get close.

 

[chameleonfrenzy]

In no way did I mean rip them out of the cage even if they don't like it, but there are steps that can be taken to tame most chameleons without stressing them out and eventually they will learn that you are not a threat. Of coarse if the steps you take are negatively affecting the well being of the cham then stop immediately. But I have not seen any cases like that.

 

[didney]

that seems reasonable. geb took some time to come out of his cage and he usually greets me with his first two feet but it takes some effort for him to realize that if he wants out of the cage he needs to let go of his bendy stick.
he is abit derpy but he will get to have reasonable motor skills...i hope haha

 

[rhachic]

My panther goes through phases. Sometimes he hates me and doesn't even like when I walk by, other times he just watches me but doesn't seem to care much. Regardless of how annoyed he is with me he will always eat from my hands though, so i guess he's just a sucker for food!

 

[Carlton]

so how friendly are most chams. my little geb absolutely adores to be out and about with everyone. He even enjoys piggy backing on the family golden retriver. how common is it to have an extroverted cham???

So, describe for me how you know he "absolutely adores to be out and about with everyone"? How do you know he enjoys riding on your dog? The reason I ask is that you could unintentionally misinterpret his responses to these sorts of things. People often assume that bright colors are a sign of happiness and enjoyment. Not necessarily! Sure some chams are more tolerant than others and that's great. But you can definitely misread him.

Color change is a response to stress. As a cham gets more and more stimulated by activity the stress hormones fire off more and more. And the way a cham communicates its stress level is through color change as well as body posture. Not ALL stress is bad, but too much can be over time. What I mean is that your cham registers mild stress (such as getting excited over hunting food, getting out of the cage to roam free, being picked up) with some color brightening, but if the stress keeps on rising, his color eventually shows that he's defensive, afraid, angry, territorial, or shocked.

It could be he is pretty upset by riding on a very large hairy animal that could well be a predator...after all he doesn't understand how benign your dog is. He would normally show some color brightening when he's being handled and much of this can be OK. As you get to know his moods you'll soon learn when he's telling you he's passed from mildly excited to alarmed and "had enough!".

Just don't assume he loves what you subject him to. Consider how he is probably thinking about it and why. The dog is an unknown animal. Could hurt him, eat him, or ignore him. He's going to assume the worst at first. Let him.