handling/taming agressive veiled

[bork da basher]

i know chameleons dont like to be handled and can and will be hissy and bitey and i knew what i was getting into when i got mine. however eventually id like to be able to handle him and wondered what are peoples experiences on handling and taming chams.

hes 12 months old male veiled. his behaviour is to recoil a little when i put my hand in the tank and go flat and leaf like. if i get closer he puffs up and rears on his back legs then hisses and may take a snap at me.

hes fed from my hand once or twice but ive tried to leave him alone to get used to his new enviroment.

how have u got to tame your cham or is it something im just going to have to get used to. he will have to come out eventually so i can clean him out and id rather it not be such a stress for him all the time.

 

[Branman]

It just takes time. Every veiled chameleon is different. You just keep hand feeding them until they learn you aren't a threat to them. My female took only a week of hand feeding and now she is used to me. She will come out of her cage if I put my hand under her. My male chameleon is a little bit different. It depends on what kind of mood he is in. There are days where he hisses and tries to bite me. But then there are days where he is kind and he will willingly go on my hand and want me to hold him. My male chameleon took about 3 months to get used to my hand. So I would tell you to keep trying and don't give up. It just takes patience. I think veiled chameleons arent really aggressive, they just have attitudes. Whatever attitude they are in will determine if they are aggressive or nice. It's just like a person, you don't wake up everyday in a happy mood.

 

[burnedrose]

Kukui does that quite often, but there are other days when he will waltz out onto my hand, pleased as punch, and sit there. It all depends on the cham. The best idea would be to have started training him when he was a baby, with plenty of hand feeding and casual handling. I've met a few veiled who were handled since they hatched and they love their owners and will just hang out with them and I've met some that won't even let you walk by their cage without gaping and hissing.

 

[Psychobunny]

Your cham is behaving just like mine (and everyone else's!!)

You need to have tons of patience. Put your hand in the cage every day but do not make a motion to touch him.
When you put your hand in his cage, always have a little something nice, a cricket, a worm, whatever.

Once your cham learns that you are not a threat, he needs to learn to associate you and your hand with positive things, like food.

Even if he does not want to eat right out of your hand, they can still make the association.
When he stops hidding when you put your hand in his home, and just stairs at it, that is when it's time to hand feed.

Hand feed his favorite food once every day.
You may have to be still and wait a good while before he eats it, be patient, dont put your hand too close and make him back away.

If he does not want to eat out of your hand, but he is not affraid of you, you can wait until he is very hungry and try.
Eventually he will get on your hand and you can progress from there.

 

[camaleonte82]

if he learns Hand=Food, then eventually Hand=Good. my rescue was SO incredibally scared of any human when we got him. i have no idea what he went through but he was far more aggressive then he should have been. and now after feeding him by hand daily and trying to pick him up everyday to see me getting close wasnt harmful, he is doing much better. he still has his days but at least i can move him from cage to free range and back again

 

[Wykd]

Things to remember I was told by my friend who is a long time herp.

Chameleons respond to colors and are soothed by earth tones vs dark or bright colors. So if you go in wearing a tie dyed shirt you may get a more aggressive response compared to if you had on a tan shirt.

He suggested wearing the same shirt/colors when trying to get the chameleon adjusted to its new owner etc... and as time grows you can get out of that and just wear what you got. He keeps a tan jacket in his reptile room and goes thru that routine when trying to tame new reptiles. He deals with a lot of larger reptiles like monitors though so dunno. /shrug

 

[bork da basher]

thanks guys, i won't give up for sure hes an amazing animal and if all i can ever do is look at him that would be enough for me hes a pleasure just to own. ive started to place my hand in the tank every few hours with a cricket which he just eyes curiously. hes eaten from my hand 3 times now which is great and managed to approach him slowly with just a bit of puffing up to stroke his body or leg.

i think i'll get there with him hes not overly aggressive, doesnt gape or hiss when i go by his tank either although he does flatten himself out like a leaf or puff up occasionally. i'll conquer him with nice big juicy dubias and locusts. the way to a mans heart is through his stomach as they say.

i just introduced him to my 5 year old son who thinks hes AMAZING! hes so into reptiles and is great with his 3 leopard geckos. my goal is to be able to have him handle the cham one day too, i suspect that road is a long way off though.

 

[camaleonte82]

Things to remember I was told by my friend who is a long time herp.

Chameleons respond to colors and are soothed by earth tones vs dark or bright colors. So if you go in wearing a tie dyed shirt you may get a more aggressive response compared to if you had on a tan shirt.

He suggested wearing the same shirt/colors when trying to get the chameleon adjusted to its new owner etc... and as time grows you can get out of that and just wear what you got. He keeps a tan jacket in his reptile room and goes thru that routine when trying to tame new reptiles. He deals with a lot of larger reptiles like monitors though so dunno. /shrug

my friend at work is a year from her herp Phd and she said the same thing. her professor has an obsession with chams and she is always giving me her old notes dealing with them

 

[jannb]

First you need to give him some time to settle in and just leave him alone. It may take him a week or so since he's a year old and EVERYTHING is different and new to him. Then you can start trying to hand feed. You can also leave his cage door open and put a big plant or tree up next to the open door and watch from a distance and he may come out on his own.....when he thinks you are not looking. Once out of the cage they are usually much friendlier. Adult veiled are territorial and can and often do become cage aggressive. Do you have a safe area where down the road you can free range him?

You might find this video below helpful.
http://www.screameleons.com/how-to-handle-your-chameleon-properly/

 

[bork da basher]

yes i found that once hes out hes totally chilled and happily spent 15 minutes on my hands...its just getting him out of his tank in the first place haha.

i might try the coloured clothes thing see if it helps any. great advice guys really great community here

 

[bork da basher]

well this morning i tried again and think ive got a good method. i have a small branch about a foot long which i place in front of him partially blocking his head so if he does bite the stick deflects it whilst my hand goes slowly under his back legs and stomach, lift the stick and he holds on and then move my hand under him he climbs fully on my hand and out of the cage.

once he was out he was totally fine, he puffed down and returned to his normal relaxed colouration and spent a good 10 minutes roaming about on me quite happy.

hopefully a few more times and he will realise im not a threat and will be happier about the situation.

 

[Brown]

My Male Cham is about 4 months old. Iv'e had him for about a month. I tried feeding him meal worms from my hand with no luck. He is very afraid of my hand except, when there are crickets being released. Iv'e never seen him run away so fast until I put my hand in the cage. I would like to hold him at least one more time

 

[ClarkMama]

It just takes time. Every veiled chameleon is different. You just keep hand feeding them until they learn you aren't a threat to them. My female took only a week of hand feeding and now she is used to me. She will come out of her cage if I put my hand under her. My male chameleon is a little bit different. It depends on what kind of mood he is in. There are days where he hisses and tries to bite me. But then there are days where he is kind and he will willingly go on my hand and want me to hold him. My male chameleon took about 3 months to get used to my hand. So I would tell you to keep trying and don't give up. It just takes patience. I think veiled chameleons arent really aggressive, they just have attitudes. Whatever attitude they are in will determine if they are aggressive or nice. It's just like a person, you don't wake up everyday in a happy mood.

 

[ClarkMama]

Hello! im a new owner to two 3 month old veiled chameleons. I bought the bigger one 4 days ago and went back 3 days ago to get the smaller sibling. ive always wanted one but nobody told me theyre for experienced lizard owners. ive been trying to learn and help them the best I can. the bigger one is almost more than double the other ones size. I noticed this morning the bigger one (maybe male, im not sure how to tell) ran up the stick with his mouth open, charging at the girl (smaller one) and kept hitting her with its open mouth. I called the first day I got the girl because he seemed aggressive towards her. but they told me it would stop after the first day. should I be concerned? or is there anything I can do to help them???

 

[Gingero]

Hello! im a new owner to two 3 month old veiled chameleons. I bought the bigger one 4 days ago and went back 3 days ago to get the smaller sibling. ive always wanted one but nobody told me theyre for experienced lizard owners. ive been trying to learn and help them the best I can. the bigger one is almost more than double the other ones size. I noticed this morning the bigger one (maybe male, im not sure how to tell) ran up the stick with his mouth open, charging at the girl (smaller one) and kept hitting her with its open mouth. I called the first day I got the girl because he seemed aggressive towards her. but they told me it would stop after the first day. should I be concerned? or is there anything I can do to help them???

I’d recommend starting your own thread. You also need to separate them immediately. Chams can’t live together and you’re seeing first hand why not.

 

[NFeliciano]

I am very lucky, my my veiled Chameleon has not shown any aggression when handling him. When I reach in to hold him I place my hand next to him and he will get on it. I try my best to balance the amount of times I handle him and leave him be. I started out hand feeding him, then I would touch him lightly just for a few and let him be. I would do this once or twice a day.

 

[jacksonchamnew]

We see these videos of young Cham owners and they can hold and pet their chams. Some got these chams when they were very small and tamed them. Many of these videos are female cham owners. Maybe as older male, I don't stand a chance with my veiled. LOL

 

[NFeliciano]

We see these videos of young Cham owners and they can hold and pet their chams. Some got these chams when they were very small and tamed them. Many of these videos are female cham owners. Maybe as older male, I don't stand a chance with my veiled. LOL

AW so sorry, I hope you can. Mine is Male and about 2yrs old. I recently got him. His handler has a child and the child became allergic. So I agreed since I had Cham in the past.

 

[MissSkittles]

We see these videos of young Cham owners and they can hold and pet their chams. Some got these chams when they were very small and tamed them. Many of these videos are female cham owners. Maybe as older male, I don't stand a chance with my veiled. LOL

It’s all about building trust with them and going at their pace.

 

[kinyonga]

Hello! im a new owner to two 3 month old veiled chameleons. I bought the bigger one 4 days ago and went back 3 days ago to get the smaller sibling. ive always wanted one but nobody told me theyre for experienced lizard owners. ive been trying to learn and help them the best I can. the bigger one is almost more than double the other ones size. I noticed this morning the bigger one (maybe male, im not sure how to tell) ran up the stick with his mouth open, charging at the girl (smaller one) and kept hitting her with its open mouth. I called the first day I got the girl because he seemed aggressive towards her. but they told me it would stop after the first day. should I be concerned? or is there anything I can do to help them???

You might want to answer the questions in the how to ask for help thread near the top of the health forum so we can check your husbandry.

You definitely need to separate them before there are injuries or worse.

Can you post some photos of them and the cage too please?