feisty Chameleon??

[JennaRose]

I am a new owner of an adolescent female Chameleon (name- Babygirl Amber)
I'm wondering how to approach her? She's very feisty and hisses at my hand whenever I reach in her cage or even when my hand is near her cage. If my hands close to her cage she'll try to get as far away from it as she can.
I know that it will take some time for her to become comfortable both with her new surroundings and myself, but I just have a feeling that where I got her from didn't really treat her all that Well. When the lady was getting her out of her enclosure, she grabbed at her almost agressively and they told me that they had had her for a little over a month. I think that Amber now views hands/people as bad things?
I don't know.. is this normal for her to be agressive and fiesty?
Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[jcarlsen]

I am a new owner of an adolescent female Chameleon (name- Babygirl Amber)
I'm wondering how to approach her? She's very feisty and hisses at my hand whenever I reach in her cage or even when my hand is near her cage. If my hands close to her cage she'll try to get as far away from it as she can.
I know that it will take some time for her to become comfortable both with her new surroundings and myself, but I just have a feeling that where I got her from didn't really treat her all that Well. When the lady was getting her out of her enclosure, she grabbed at her almost agressively and they told me that they had had her for a little over a month. I think that Amber now views hands/people as bad things?
I don't know.. is this normal for her to be agressive and fiesty?
Any help would be much appreciated!!

Hey there, I think the best thing would be to give her some space. Chameleons aren't really animals that enjoy being handled much, and some never do. It depends on their personality. Unfortunately, veileds tend to be a bit on the aggressive side at times.

After you've given her time, work on trying to get her to feed from your hand and associate it with food. As for handling, make sure you NEVER approach the chameleon from above with your hand. They always view that as an attack and it will stress them out. Go from underneath very slowly and see how it goes.

Here's a link for some help: http://screameleons.com/how-to-handle-your-chameleon-properly/

 

[JennaRose]

Thank you very much

 

[Grantchameleon]

I was Gunna say try a wax worm from your hand every 2-3 days they love them and it's like a piece offering so they associate your with food and good things worked with mine but he is still grumpy at times and other times he reaches for you as you walk close to him

 

[Grantchameleon]

Don't over do it though or they will never eat anything else but as said befor for first few weeks leave her alone except for feeding and spraying and cleaning poo up

 

[sapphira80]

My veiled chameleon is about 5 months old and he's still grumpy. He has made a ton of progress though. At first he gaped and hissed everytime I opened his cage door. Now he's fine with me (but no one else) getting in his cage if I just clean and change the paper and don't get too close to him. I recently moved him to a bigger cage and I had to butt the smaller one against the new one and let him climb in on his own. He will probably never be okay with being touched or eat anything from my hand, but that's okay. I can only imagine to a chameleon living in a cage and seeing a big giant-eyed face sticking into your home randomly, then a giant hand swooping down towards you must be something akin to being abducted by aliens to us. He's still beautiful, and awesome to watch, and I love seeing him do his morning stretches, picking off crickets and all the weird positions he contorts into for seemingly no reason.

Veiled chameleons are known for being grumpy, more so than any other species. While there are exceptions to that rule, they are the exceptions. Let your girl get used to you and follow her lead for contact and handling. Even if she's a "don't even think about touching me" type like mine, shell be sure to entertain you.

 

[nickypav]

veilds tend to be dicks (i bet alot of people will get mad about this) my cousin had one that very aggressive and the best way to get him comfortable is to put a plant by his cage and let him climb out on it then leave the plant somewhere close to you and let him chill by you and even take it outside, hell maybe learn coming out = daylight. slowly work your way towards picking him up after a few weeks of letting him chill on the plant. they usually tend to be better outside their home.