friends handling your cham

Sebaslechu

Sebaslechu

New Member
How do you react when you have friends or family over and they ask if they can hold your chameleon? I feel horrible I’m such a nice I person I instantly give in and let people hold my chameleon. Then I’m just stuck sweating the whole time and biting my nails making sure nothing bad happens. ):
 
I just say no. I explain that they are more of a "Look don't touch" type of pet. I will handle them occasionally' but not when people are around. The big exception to this rule are the two veileds I just got from Jann B. They are always wanting to come out. One goes to his pothos and the other one always goes to my wife's head or knee. My panther will come out on occasion, but the graciliors would rather die than come out.
 
It isn't that hard to say 'No', my wife does it all the time... :wideyed:
If you tell your friends that most chameleons don't like human interaction (or any interaction) they'll just have to understand and accept that.

When I have people over wanting to touch one of my animals I will just grab the ackie... The ackie doesn't care.
 
So far the people that come over are more afriad of him and just like looking at him. Argo doesnt mind being held except if the vet tries to hold him than he keeps reaching for the sky trying to grab me or the carry cage.

He really loves to climb up arms and hair :)
 
If you had fish and someone wanted to hold one what would you say? Being handled by strangers isn't as deadly as it is for the fish but it still isn't good for them. If you do give in make sure that anyone that has reptiles of their own washes their hands before handling yours. Beardies are great but most of them have things that chams can't handle.
 
I have 2 friendly chams, because I've taken the time and worked with them. When a father and his 2 EXTREMELY respectful boys came over and were interested I used it as a teaching tool. I took them out, one after the other, and let them climb on my friends. I was there the entire time, showing them what to do, and answering questions. They were very engaged and interested. Sometimes I think we lose sight of the fact that these are creatures that most people have no experience with. If we want the general population to care about conserving the habitats that these beautiful creatures hail from, we have to actually SHOW them what it is that they are protecting. The show and tell went very well, they washed their hands afterwards, and they do not have any reptiles at home that I needed to be concerned about. I know this will rankle some on this forum that I dared to actually hold my chameleon, but to each their own.
 
I wasn't saying never handle yours just that strangers add another level of stress to the mix. If you need a way to say no rather than stress them then the aquarium comparison is a good one. It entirely depends on the attitude of the animal and if you know it well enough to read its stress level. No matter what I would keep the encounter brief and not pass it around too much.
 
I know this might be like totally off topic but since im like kinda new to the forums i was wondering if any of you guys could tell me how to post a thread or something like that because i need to post one..?
 
KalaiDaCham said:
I know this might be like totally off topic but since im like kinda new to the forums i was wondering if any of you guys could tell me how to post a thread or something like that because i need to post one..?
Click to expand...

Go into Forums on the top left. Once you are in forums pick the topic you want to post in and click on it. Once you are there in the upper right corner you will see start new thread. Click there and start you new post.
 
In response to what Absolute Bill said, there are some people that would freak out about handling chams. However I really think it depends on the cham and if their Chams gave them reason to think they should take them.out, they probably would. Everybody here just wants to do right by their animals. Unti I got my Chams from Jann, I was firmly I the "HANDS OFF" camp. Now, I have these extremely sociable veiled that really want to come out. That being said, I will let each individual Cham dictate how I approach this topic. I will NEVER take out or handle my graciliors because I can see they totally hate it. For now, I will let my veileds come out until they show me they want otherwise.
 
With Leon I used to say "no he's not trained yet, we'll see if he warms up to people later". Then as he got older and more comfortable I would say "Sure if he comes to you" And then show them how to place their hand to wait( only for like two minutes, if he didnt come by then id tell them hes not in the mood). Now he just straight up comes to everyone and I just show them how to hold him.
 
absolutbill said:
I have 2 friendly chams, because I've taken the time and worked with them. When a father and his 2 EXTREMELY respectful boys came over and were interested I used it as a teaching tool. I took them out, one after the other, and let them climb on my friends. I was there the entire time, showing them what to do, and answering questions. They were very engaged and interested. Sometimes I think we lose sight of the fact that these are creatures that most people have no experience with. If we want the general population to care about conserving the habitats that these beautiful creatures hail from, we have to actually SHOW them what it is that they are protecting. The show and tell went very well, they washed their hands afterwards, and they do not have any reptiles at home that I needed to be concerned about. I know this will rankle some on this forum that I dared to actually hold my chameleon, but to each their own.
Click to expand...

I 100% agree with this, but at the same time this is the thought that plagues this forum. I have posted almost the exact same thing in other threads as what you just said, yet people would probably lump me in the hands off crowd. This just isn't true, it's not a black and white hold/no hold. I handle my chams, including parson's on a daily basis, and so do many better keepers than me. The point is to have experience, and to do it with purpose. It's not just an arbitrary handle or no handle. I take my chams out for sun, free ranging, to show people(in a safe way), etc. Have the handling rewarding for them and they will recognize that. I don't have veileds, but I'm confident I could free range one and keep it friendly as well. I have taken a panther that would bite me on sight to walking on me immediately when my hand is out, knowing he's going outside. My parson's even does sometimes. The reason we advocate no handling is because much more could go wrong handling right off the bat without having any sort of understanding.

Most of this forum is people that bought chams on a whim and sadly have no clue what they're doing. The chams usually don't last long. It's why we see probably the same 10 members post month after month, but hundreds show up for just a few days/weeks. It's best to not show off chams as toys because the animal is likely already suffering and they aren't going to pick up on stress signals. how many times do we see, "oh my chameleon loves me, hes bright colors when he's on me"? Most of these people bought chameleons as some unique possession of theirs to show off, and will only listen to what they want to hear, ignoring any hard advice. So imo it is terrible to just say chameleons love company because that can easily be taken as, *yay I'm going to bother my animal all day and bring it everywhere!*. It's not like people want to listen to the grumpy guy telling them not to touch their cool new pet for a few months before they know as much as they can about it.

I don't doubt for a second that Jan, Matt, and some other members here, that have been more hands on advocates, love their animals and do them right. I always enjoy reading what they have to say and I may have not always agreed, but I respect them. My main argument has been on the delivery and that sometimes we should remember, most people reading aren't nearly as experienced as most people posting.

I like the mixing species phrase... "if you have to ask, you shouldn't do it".

Definitely mean no offense to anyone! Just felt the need to clear the air on that. Can't sleep lol.
 
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And to answer your question, I usually let my friends/family handle my animals while I'm present. If my panther Is in the mood to come out, I'll let him crawl around on them. They're always very careful. As mentioned it gives them an appreciation for these creatures you can't get from pictures.

Also, if someone hurts my animals... they're done.;)
 
Thank you. I was truly afraid of what I was going to wake up to on this thread based on what I've seen people post on other ones of a similar vein. I agree, it's not a black and white issue, and is 100% dependent on the individual chameleon. My guys are carried through the house to the lanai, and that's about the extent of their handling. They are rewarded at the end of each "journey" by either getting to spend some time on the lanai, or going back to their cages for the night. So far I've let that father and 2 sons hold them, as well as my mother and my mother-in-law, that's it. My husband won't even hold them! :D
 
There's only ever been 3 people to hold Argo(5 if you count the vet and vet tec). Argo was willing to walk onto them. He seems to like to see the people prior to holding though. My hubby he didn't walk on untill he saw him for a few days. My friend also helped me give him meds when he had the uri. I held while she did meds and she held her hand out the first day to see if he would walk onto her hand and he just climbed up me. After 2 days though he decided she wasn't going to hurt him and gladly walked up her arm.

Like I said though, most people that come over seem to be afraid of him(not sure why he's only 20 grams lol) but I do give Argo some goodies when people are over because they do like to see him eat :)
 
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