Handling veild HELP

[NCrosby7]

had my cham around 4 weeks.. settled right in to his enclosure... hes around 5and half months. his diet consists of brown crickets, locusts and waxworms ( as a treat ) hand feeding has never been a problem. Anything i have fed him out of my hand has been done with ease and no problem on both sides. I have an inkling my viv might have too much "traffic" for him as my 2 sons love sitting by the viv staring at him doing his thing! his colour has never changed and always stayed a bright green which in my understanding means there is no stress on the little fella.. but in saying that as soon as my hand gets close to him when im trying to handle him he shows alot of aggression in hissing, puffing etc.. heres a pic of my cham

thanks fellow cham lovers

 

[Pharaoh2015]

Great colors

 

[Hiller]

Good luck, some chameleons are just not handle able. My old veiled would not let me handle him at all. I have panthers and they are also hit and miss. Some let me handle them and some don't. My mellers chameleon that are known to be aggressive has no problem when I handle him at all. It all depends on the chameleon and if they have been handled when they were young and even then they may just not like it. Some people believe you can train a chameleon however I don't believe that is true for most animals but never say never.

 

[tiggerlover85]

I have two veiled chameleons one is a female and one is a male they will let me sometimes feed them by hand but most of the time I will let them stay in their cages. they are both very tamed. they are almost a year.

 

[zlew]

It takes a lot of patience. Some chameleons never become amicable, but I've seen even super-aggressive ones turn into little puppy dogs. Keep hand feeding, and don't try to handle him. He probably shies away from your hand until he notices you have food, right? Once he stops doing that and doesn't shy away from your hand even if you don't have food, that's when you can start the handling process. It takes a good while, but I've had success with this method.

 

[sinbad]

I too almost gave up!! I added some vines attached to the door and the walls and would also take some vines out of the enclousure with the door open when I was around. When he got close to coming outside I gave him a cricket with lots of patience he started to accept me more and now loves to come out of the enclousure and does not mind my handling! At first I used a stick to get him out and he would be less agressive once he was out of the enclosure, now he lets me get him out with my hand! Just use a super slow pace and eventually he may (or may not) give in

 

[ZenChameleons]

He will hiss, always, no matter what. Put your hand in the cage and scoop him from below. Don't show fear or hesitation. When you try to hold your cham and he hisses and you pull back, he will become more aggressive. If you act like you are not scared of his threats he will calm down. For most of our veileds they are only grumpy in the cage once you get them out of their territory they are much better.

 

[joepakaluk]

You should try to get him to crawl up your arm or on your shoulder. When I first got my young veiled i would let it climb all over me and she got used to it. I would just walk around with her on me and she eventually got accustomed.
By the way that veiled has awesome colors!

 

[NCrosby7]

Handle

Thanks guys I will try in the morning . When/if I get him out is there any tips on what to do are just handle him for 10mins and give him a treat like a waxworm ?

 

[Scoobthenoob]

Be prepared to take a nip..

My veiled is mighty antisocial, but we are working on it.

My only advice is, be prepared for him to bite, it will hurt, and will probably break the skin, however it is imperative that you keep your nerve, and override your own reaction to pain.

Once on your hand they usually calm down, just slowly and patiently allow him freedom to roam your body, just be aware they will aim for highest point which will be your head...

So usually a good idea to either prevent him access to your head, or have someone else available prepared to take a bite to remove from head.

Hopefully you will not sustain bites, so long as your environment is about 16-40 C then have him out for as long as you can tolerate, allow him to have some supervised freedom.

And as already mentioned in thread scoop from below.

Persevere if the weather allows take him outside into the garden/yard he will sure love the sunshine..

The warmer it is the safer time exposure he can have outside of his enclosure.

 

[NCrosby7]

Thank you for the comments! Bit tentative now with the information on him biting... I will try tho.

 

[Scoobthenoob]

Pre warned

Just making sure your prepared to be bitten, rather than being bitten and flinging your chameleon from one side of the room to the other.

Sorry to make you tentative, you will be fine.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thank you for the comments! Bit tentative now with the information on him biting... I will try tho.

Scoobthenoob is right--you really need to be prepared for getting bitten so you don't react and hurt him. I have big macaws that can open a Brazil nut as if they were cracking a peanut. They'll bite just because they are over excited. I was shocked at how much an itty bitty chameleon bite could hurt. You natural reaction is to instantly pull away, but you can really hurt them doing that.